Why twelve and not three
Three checks feel efficient. They also let through the sites that look fine in a spreadsheet and fail in a browser, where a human can see the thin content and the paid-link banner within seconds.
Take referring-domain spikes. Google's Penguin-era lessons still apply here, and a site that jumped from 200 to 4,000 linking domains in one cycle may have bought a package, and its DR then says more about the package than about the site. You can test this by calling refdomains and reading the list rather than the total.
A related trap is age. A domain registered last spring with a DR of 60 is possible, but it deserves a closer look at who links to it and from which top-level domains, because organic growth that fast is rare. Compare it with sites of known age in the same niche, and treat the outlier as a question, not a prize.
Say you want to test domain name strength on a single suspect. Quick job. Use the free domain action first, which needs no key and costs nothing, then compare the answer with an Ahrefs or Moz number if you already pay for one. The paid calls are for the shortlist. In Search Console, your own property will show which of the sources you landed already link to you, a useful cross-check in 2026 and later.
Each check has a reason behind it, and the reason matters more than the box. A DR floor protects your time. The anchor check protects the page you are building links to. The outbound-link check protects against sites that exist only to sell placements. Pair this page with the bulk recipe for the scoring step and the reference for what each action costs.