Every year, Google’s algorithm scans billions of pages and backlinks to detect spam and protect users. If your website is vital to your business, regularly monitoring your link profile is essential to avoid costly mistakes.
If you’ve already been affected or are concerned about potential penalties, don’t panic. Google’s Disavow Tool allows you to disavow backlinks that could harm your rankings. Following best practices ensures your rankings remain intact and supports long term SEO success.
What are Disavow Backlinks and Why Should You Use Them?
Disavowing backlinks refers to the process of telling Google to ignore certain inbound links pointing to your website. Google’s Disavow Links Tool allows site owners to submit a list of backlinks that should be discounted for ranking purposes.
In essence, you are “refusing responsibility” for those links, signaling to Google that you don’t endorse or want credit for them. This tool was introduced after Google’s Penguin algorithm update (which targeted link spam) to help webmasters recover from or avoid penalties caused by harmful backlinks.
By disavowing bad links, you can prevent spammy or toxic backlinks from dragging down your search rankings or triggering manual penalties.
How to Disavow BackLinks in 4 Steps Using Google Search Console?
If your website has spammy, toxic, or low quality backlinks that could harm its rankings, you can use Google’s Disavow Tool to tell Google to ignore those links.
In managing your backlink profile, adding complementary resources to your SEO strategy can make a difference; for instance, integrating affordable Ahrefs alternatives may help streamline the process of analyzing and disavowing harmful links.
Before disavowing links, you need to find the harmful or spammy links pointing to your website. You can do this using:
Here’s a step by step guide on how to do it using Google Search Console.
Step 1: Go to GSC
- Go to Google Search Console
- Select your website.
- Navigate to “Links” in the left menu.
- Under “External Links”, click “Top linking sites”.
- Click “Export” and download the links as a CSV file.
Step 2: Create a Disavow File
Once you’ve identified the bad links, you need to create a .txt file with the list of links you want to disavow.
File Format Guidelines:
- Each domain or URL should be on a separate line.
- Use “domain:” before a domain name to disavow all links from that site.
- Use direct URLs to disavow specific pages.
- The file should be UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII encoded.
Example of a Disavow File:
# Disavowing spammy links
https://spammywebsite.com/bad-link1
https://spammywebsite.com/bad-link2
domain:example-spam.com
domain:lowqualitylinks.net
Step 3: Upload the Disavow File to Google’s Disavow Tool
Now, you need to submit this file to Google Search Console.
- Go to Google’s Disavow Tool.
- Select your website from the dropdown.
- Click “Upload Disavow List” and choose the .txt file you created.
- Click “Submit” and confirm.
Step 4: Wait for Google to Process the Request
- Google may take a few weeks to process your disavow request.
The disavow tool does not remove links; it simply tells Google to ignore them for ranking purposes.
How to Disavow BackLinks Using Ahrefs?
Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool that helps you analyze your backlink profile and identify toxic or spammy links. While Ahrefs does not directly remove links, you can use it to find bad backlinks and create a disavow file for submission in Google Search Console.
Step 1: Identify Harmful Links in Ahrefs
To disavow bad backlinks, you first need to identify them. Follow these steps:
- Log in to Ahrefs.
- Select Site Explorer from the top menu.
- Enter your website URL and press Enter.
- Navigate to Backlink Profile → Backlinks in the left sidebar.
- Use filters to find potentially harmful links:
- DR (Domain Rating) < 10 (Low quality domains)
- Spammy anchor texts (e.g., adult, gambling, or irrelevant keywords)
- “Dofollow” links from suspicious sites
- Multiple links from the same domain (which may be unnatural)
- Click on Export to download the list of bad backlinks in a CSV file.
Step 2: Create and Upload the Disavow File to Google
As explained above submit your disavow file to Google Disavow Tool.
Use Best Links Filter in Ahrefs
You can also utilize the Best Links filter, which enables you to exclude specific backlinks from your reports based on customizable rules. This feature is available in the Site Explorer → Referring Domains reports.
The Best Links filter does not influence the calculation of key metrics like Domain Rating (DR) or URL Rating (UR). However, it does impact the number of backlinks displayed in reports and historical charts.
This filter allows you to automatically hide links based on various metrics, including DR, Traffic, Keywords in the Top 100, and more.
Any new backlinks that match your specified criteria will also be filtered out, eliminating the need for manual monitoring and updates to your referring domain list.
Fun Fact 💡
A survey revealed that 38% of SEO specialists choose to disavow spam backlinks, while another 38% opt to take no action against them.
How to Disavow BackLinks Using Semrush?
Semrush makes it easy to identify and disavow toxic backlinks using its Backlink Audit tool. Here’s how you can quickly find and remove harmful links to protect your website’s SEO.
Step 1: Open the Backlink Audit Tool
- Log in to Semrush.
- Navigate to “Backlink Audit” under the SEO section in the left hand menu.
- Select your project or create a new one by adding your domain.
- Click “Start Audit” to analyze your backlink profile.
Step 2: Identify Toxic Backlinks
- Once the audit is complete, Semrush will categorize backlinks as Toxic, Potentially Toxic, or Non Toxic.
- Click on the Toxic Score filter to focus on the most harmful backlinks.
- Review the flagged backlinks and decide which ones you want to disavow.
Step 3: Submit the Disavow File to Google
Decide whether to exclude specific URLs or entire domains before exporting them into a preformatted .txt file. Make your submission to Google’s Disavow Tool.
6 SEO Best Practices for Disavowing Unwanted Backlinks
Disavowing backlinks is not a decision to be taken lightly. It is a significant action that can impact your search rankings, positively or negatively, depending on how it’s done.
In general, you should only disavow backlinks that are clearly detrimental to your site’s SEO. Google’s Quality Guidelines outline the types of backlinks that can be considered harmful, such as spammy, manipulative, or low quality links.
1. Audit Your Backlink Profile Thoroughly
Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz to analyze your backlinks. Identify spammy, toxic, or unnatural links that could be harming your rankings.
2. Try Removing the Link Before Disavowing It
Before deciding to disavow a link, a simpler approach is to reach out to the website owner and request its removal.
The best way to do this is by contacting the site owner directly. Most websites provide an email address, contact form, or phone number on their Contact, About Us, or Footer sections.
Once you find the right contact information, send a polite and professional email explaining why you’d like the link removed. Be clear about your request while maintaining a respectful tone.
If you can’t find direct contact details, you can try alternative methods:
- Reach out via social media, especially LinkedIn.
- Leave a comment on a blog post, if applicable.
- Search Google for the website owner’s name to find other contact details.
If none of these options work and you can’t reach the site owner, then using Google’s Disavow Tool is the next best step.
In the best case scenario, the owner removes the link, resolving the issue effortlessly. In the worst case, if you receive no response or cannot contact them, disavowing the link is a necessary backup option.
3. Disavow Only Harmful Links
It’s important to note that a link from a low traffic or low domain authority site is not necessarily harmful. While it may not provide much value individually, every backlink serves as a vote of confidence in your site, which Google considers in its ranking algorithm.
4. Use the Correct Format for the Disavow File
- The disavow file must be in .txt format, encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII.
- Add one link per line, specifying entire domains using domain:example.com.
Example format
# Disavowing toxic links
https://spammywebsite.com/bad-link
domain:example-spam.com
5. Submit the File via Google’s Disavow Tool
- Go to Google’s Disavow Tool.
- Select your property, upload the .txt file, and submit.
6. Be Patient, Results Take Time
Processing takes a few days, but SEO improvements may take 2 3 months. Regularly monitor your backlink profile to prevent future issues.
By following these best practices, you can effectively disavow harmful backlinks, protect your rankings, and maintain a strong SEO foundation.
Common Challenges in Disavowing Backlinks & How to Overcome Them
Several domain owners have discussed various challenges encountered during the process of disavowing backlinks. Below is a summary of these challenges and their corresponding solutions:
| Challenge | Solution |
| Frustration arises when competitors with questionable backlinks maintain higher rankings. | Focus on Building High Quality Backlinks Prioritize acquiring backlinks from reputable, high authority sites. Quality often outweighs quantity in SEO performance. |
| Some users experience a decline in rankings and traffic post disavowal, possibly due to disavowing beneficial links. | Exercise Caution and Seek Professional Advice Before disavowing, ensure the links are indeed harmful. Consulting with SEO professionals can provide clarity and prevent potential negative outcomes. |
| Webmasters notice a persistent increase in unwanted backlinks, making it challenging to maintain a clean link profile. | Regular Monitoring and Reporting Regularly monitor your backlink profile and use tools to disavow harmful links. Additionally, report spammy links to Google to aid in their identification and neutralization. |
| Users often struggle to determine which backlinks are genuinely detrimental, as metrics like “toxic score” can be misleading. | Focus on Relevance and Quality Instead of relying solely on automated tools, assess backlinks for relevance and quality. Links from spammy or unrelated sites are more likely to be harmful. |
What Happens When You Disavow a Link?
Disavowing a backlink essentially tells Google to ignore specific links pointing to your domain. If successful, these links will neither help nor hurt your rankings in search results.
However, Google is not required to honor your disavow request. Their official documentation states that submitting a disavow file is merely a suggestion.
That said, they also describe it as a tool for correcting bad linking practices or undoing the impact of poor SEO work, so in most cases, Google is likely to respect the request rather than penalize your site.
Can You Undo a Link Disavow?
Yes, in most cases. You can remove a previously uploaded disavow file, but it’s unclear whether Google retains a record of the disavowed links or if their influence on your ranking is restored immediately.
Because of this uncertainty, using link disavowal as an SEO experiment to manipulate rankings is not advisable.
AI Powered Predictive Disavow: The Future of Backlink Management
Most SEO strategies for disavowing backlinks are reactive, webmasters analyze their backlinks, identify toxic ones, and manually create disavow files. However, predictive disavow strategies using AI could revolutionize this process.
What is Predictive Disavow?
Predictive Disavow uses AI and machine learning to analyze backlink patterns and forecast which links might become harmful in the future before they actually cause damage. Unlike traditional disavow methods, which rely on static backlink audits, AI can:
- Detect link building anomalies before Google penalizes them.
- Identify “latent” spam links, which seem harmless now but exhibit risk factors for future devaluation.
- Assess backlink volatility, predicting the likelihood of a link turning toxic based on historical spam trends.
- Automate disavow file updates based on real time threat assessment.
How Does It Work?
- AI Powered Backlink Health Score
- Instead of simple DR (Domain Rating) or spam score metrics, an AI model assigns a dynamic health score to each backlink.
- Factors include unnatural anchor text changes, high link churn rate, and domain ownership shifts.
- Anomaly Detection for Backlink Patterns
- AI continuously scans backlinks to spot sudden surges in low quality links, detecting negative SEO attacks before Google does.
- Auto Generated Disavow Files
- AI suggests disavow lists with confidence scores, allowing SEOs to approve or modify AI generated disavow recommendations instead of manually compiling lists.
- Integration with Google Search Console & SEO Tools
- AI models can sync with Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and Semrush to automatically track risky links and notify users of recommended disavow actions.
AI powered predictive disavow is the next step in SEO link management. By shifting from reactionary to preventive backlink audits, websites can maintain a clean link profile without waiting for Google penalties.
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FAQs
How Long Does It Take for Google to Process Disavowed Links?
What are the potential risks of not Disavowing harmful backlinks?
Is it necessary to regularly monitor and update my Disavow file for backlinks?
Conclusion
Toxic backlinks can harm your site’s rankings, but regularly auditing your link profile helps you stay ahead. When manual removal isn’t an option, using Google’s Disavow Tool to disavow backlinks can prevent penalties and protect your SEO.
However, use it wisely, removing harmful links manually is always the best approach. Stay proactive to safeguard your site’s future.
