How is the score calculated?
DomaineScore cross-checks several families of data (reputation, archives, registry, link index, search index, security), then weights five criteria. Any criterion that cannot be assessed (data unavailable) is removed from the calculation; the score is brought back to 100 and the "reliability" shows the share of criteria actually measured. We do not list the providers we use: the value of the tool lies in cross-checking signals and in the interpretation rules, not in a single source.
| Criterion | Weight | Families of signals | What lowers it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security & blocklists | 25 | Several domain and IP blocklists used by mail servers and browsers; phishing and malware lists; antivirus consensus; current site content; bonus (max +3): HTTP security headers, HSTS preload, MTA-STS/BIMI | Listed on a domain blocklist, toxic current content or consensus of several antivirus engines → 0 points; listed IP, redirect to another domain, isolated suspicious signals → penalty |
| Site history | 25 | Public web archives (monthly coverage since creation + analysed snapshots: language, topic, keywords), public TLS certificate logs | Casino / pharma / adult / counterfeit content, switch to a language typical of expired-domain spam, gaps over 18 months, complete change of topic (light), old domain recently re-registered (expired then bought back: continuity is no longer guaranteed). A young site is not penalised for its short history. |
| Link profile | 20 | Backlink index: referring domains and links, dofollow share, spam score, anchor distribution, top 20 links in detail, monthly curve of referring domains since 2019 | Toxic or advertising anchors (link sellers), high spam score, few dofollow links; anchors dominated by a commercial keyword unrelated to the site's content (current and past): links bought after a takeover; sudden spike of referring domains in one month (campaign); loss of more than half of the domains since the peak. Spam received by an otherwise clean profile is flagged but barely penalised: the owner is not responsible for it. |
| Authority | 15 | PageRank recomputed on a web graph; bonus only: global popularity ranking, known entity (encyclopaedic), real traffic measured by browsers, indexed pages, ranking keywords and estimated organic traffic, 13-month visibility history (established sites) | Low or unknown PageRank; old, well-linked site that is nearly invisible in Google (cap at 58: probable filter, which cannot be confirmed without Search Console); estimated traffic divided by 2.5 or more since a recent peak. No ranking or no ranking keyword is not penalised in itself (normal for a small site or an expired domain) |
| Registration & stability | 15 | Official registry data (dates, registrar, statuses), DNS (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, DNSSEC, wildcard), real HTTP request | Very recent or expiring domain, bought back after expiry with no live site, parking (name servers or "for sale" page), not responding, unauthenticated email, wildcard DNS |
A serious signal (blocklist, browsing flagged as dangerous, toxic past content, mostly toxic anchors, complete absence from Google's index for an old site) caps the score at 45 whatever the rest.
A two-phase analysis
The first phase queries the registry, the DNS, the site itself, certificate logs and web archives, then classifies the domain: live site, offline domain with a past (archives, certificates, age: the case of expired domains) or never-used domain. The second phase adapts the checks: a live site is measured in full (traffic, keywords, indexing, web security, links); an expired domain with a past keeps the full analysis of its history, reputation and link profile (backlinks, anchors, curve), only current traffic and indexing, meaningless for an offline site, being marked "not measured"; a never-used name triggers no costly request, since it has no past and no links to assess. A domain already flagged by security lists is not analysed further either. Visibility history is only requested for established sites, where a drop makes sense. Missing data stays neutral in the score.
Domain status
The registry status tells whether the domain is active, expiring (redemptionPeriod, pendingDelete: it will be available again within weeks), parked (name servers of a parking company) or available to register.
The verdicts
- 80 to 100: Clean: no significant negative signal.
- 60 to 79: Fair, worth checking: one weak point (recent domain, zero authority, missing source) to check.
- 40 to 59: Doubtful: several negative signals or one serious signal.
- 0 to 39: Risky: toxic past, blocklist or spammed link profile.
Why these families of data?
Registry data is the only official source on the age and status of a domain; public web archives are the only way to know what a domain hosted before you; blocklists are the ones mail servers and browsers really use, hence the ones that will penalise you; an independent link index is essential to judge an expired domain (its links are why you buy it); ranking data makes it possible to detect a filtered site without access to its Search Console. We cross-check several providers and never present an estimate as a measurement.
Limits
The analysis is for guidance. It does not replace reading the archives yourself, nor a full backlink audit before a significant purchase: we show the top 20 links, not thousands. Traffic is an estimate based on rankings, not a measurement. A Google filter can only be confirmed in the owner's Search Console: we speak of a "probable filter", never of a proven penalty. Results are cached for 30 days; after 7 days, you can run the analysis again from the domain page. See also our guides: how to check a domain name, buying an expired domain name, domain health check.