Link-graph risk
Moz's Spam Score — the share of sites with a similar link profile that were penalised or banned — with Domain Authority and Page Authority, for a domain or a single page.
The call
GET /v1/backlinks/{domain} returns moz_spam_score, moz_domain_authority and moz_page_authority for a domain; its Page Authority is the home page's. Each field names the vendor that supplied it and when in sources, so a number is never mistaken for another vendor's. The samples are abridged; the API reference lists the fields.
$ curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" https://seometricsapi.com/v1/backlinks/example.com{
"data": {
"domain": "example.com",
"moz_domain_authority": 91,
"moz_page_authority": 72,
"moz_spam_score": 2,
"sources": {
"moz_spam_score": { "provider": "moz", "fetched_at": "2026-10-07T10:14:02.000Z", "status": "ok" }
}
},
"meta": { "resource": "backlinks", "cache": "miss", "cost_units": 1, "degraded": false },
"error": null
}GET /v1/moz/url-metrics?target=… answers the same three scores for one URL: that page's Page Authority, its domain's Domain Authority and the Spam Score Moz reports for it. A bare domain works too. The names are Moz's own, under a vendor-named path.
$ curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" "https://seometricsapi.com/v1/moz/url-metrics?target=https://example.com/pricing"{
"data": {
"endpoint": "moz.url-metrics",
"request": { "target": "https://example.com/pricing" },
"rows": null,
"metrics": { "domain_authority": 91, "page_authority": 58, "spam_score": 2 },
"row_count": 1,
"units": { "vendor": "moz", "billed": 1, "blocks": 1 },
"source": { "provider": "moz", "fetched_at": "2026-10-07T10:14:02.000Z", "status": "ok" }
},
"meta": { "resource": "moz", "cache": "miss", "cost_units": 1, "degraded": false },
"error": null
}| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
moz_spam_score · spam_score | Moz Spam Score, 0–100: the percentage of sites with a similar link profile that were penalised or banned. Bands: 1–30 low, 31–60 medium, 61–100 high. null when Moz has no score. |
moz_domain_authority · domain_authority | Moz Domain Authority, 0–100: how likely the domain is to rank. Not the same scale as Domain Rating. |
moz_page_authority · page_authority | Moz Page Authority, 0–100: how likely the page is to rank. By domain, it is the home page's. |
Reading it
Use the score to vet link prospects before you build or buy a link, to audit your own referring domains for networks you did not choose, and to flag domains worth a manual look. A high score on a domain you were about to link from is a reason to look closer, not proof of anything; a low score does not make a link worth having.
Pair it with Domain Rating and traffic from /v1/domains/{domain}: a domain that is strong, trafficked and low-risk is a different proposition from one that is strong on paper and nothing else. To judge one linking page rather than its whole domain, ask /v1/moz/url-metrics for that page's Page Authority.
Access and cost
Both endpoints need the backlinks:read scope, which every paid plan carries — the vendor behind them is metered on our side, so the free plan does not include it. A fresh answer costs the credits set for Moz data on the pricing page (1 credit per vendor call by default); cache hits cost 0.
FAQ
That 40% of sites with a link profile similar to this domain's were found penalised or banned by Google. Moz's bands: 1–30 low, 31–60 medium, 61–100 high. It is a risk flag drawn from the link graph, not a penalty and not a verdict on the site's content.
Domain Rating (Ahrefs) and Domain Authority (Moz) measure link strength; Spam Score measures how much a link profile resembles ones that got penalised. A domain can score high on both — strong and suspicious — which is exactly the case the score exists to catch.
They are Moz's own metrics, never recalculated. Every answer names its provider and fetch date, and a Moz score is never mixed with another vendor's.
One domain or page per call, at your plan's request rate; there is no batch call. Answers are cached, so re-checking one inside the cache window costs nothing.
Both need the backlinks:read scope, which every paid plan carries, from Basic at $5 a month; a free key does not. Move to a paid plan from your dashboard's Billing section and the keys you already hold gain the scope as soon as the plan is live.
Create a key, then pick any paid plan from your dashboard: your keys carry the backlinks:read scope from then on.
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