Disavowing Backlinks: The Safe Way to Remove Toxic Links and Protect Your SEO
The Ultimate Guide to Disavowing Toxic Backlinks for SEO Health : How disavowing backlinks can help protect your website from SEO penalties. The safest way, things to be wary of, and speedy measures on how to spot detrimental links
If all the traffic from Google search results is all you want, then you probably want to work to meet all or exceed all of Google's guidelines.
There are a number of them on that list, with the backlink one being the most debated, yet still barely understood.
So, if there are links pointing toward your website from some other website, then you have backlinks.
Backlinks can give some SEO to a website by transferring link equity (basically, a positive vote for your site) to help it rank further up in SERPs. Google trusts quality backlinks from reputed sites to be one of the major ranking algorithms.
Malicious or spammy sites (those either intent on stealing data, distributing malware, or using deceptive tactics to corral traffic) can just as well link to your site than the legitimate ones with good intent. Even worse, you can sometimes fall victim to a spam attack where spam links are being built purposefully towards your site in an attempt to demote it in search result rankings.
Say you are a local business. Then a link from the local chamber of commerce website would be a great, positive backlink from your end. Conversely, a link from a spuriously generated online directory that keyword stuffs or, by means of a bot, builds thousands upon thousands of links in blog comments and forums for the sake of increased traffic is a spammy backlink.
Then what is the best SEO technique to rid yourself of these links? The answer is the link disavowal.
Well, luckily a tool exists that the site owners like you can resort to in order to disavow those malicious links from Google, thereby virtually removing them from your backlink profile; we shall look at this in a minute.
The questions that follow are: Should you disavow bad links? Is it a "good" SEO strategy to use? If so, how would one go about disavowing them?
Let’s find out.
What is link disavowal?
- Link disavowal is simply a process of requesting Google to disregard backlinks that are harmful to your SEO.
- It is done only after the site has received (or is due to receive) a manual action (penalty) from Google, the submitter of the disavow file through the Google Search Console clarifies that the site does not endorse the spammy or low-quality links directed towards it.
- There is a Disavow Links Tool available to upload a list of links to disavow. More details on that later.
What is the Disavow Tool?
- The Disavow Tool, designed by Google, was made available in 2012 in response to the Penguin update. The Penguin update was an algorithm adjustment to penalize sites employing manipulative link-building tactics to artificially raise rankings, thus encouraging sites to focus on producing high-quality and relevant content, along with genuine SEO practices.
- Before the launch of the update, it was possible to get to the top of the search results by indulging in a few unethical and manipulative link-building techniques called "link schemes".
- Link schemes are manipulative tricks aimed at artificially boosting the search rankings of a site through the acquisition or exchange of backlinks. They can include buying links, excessive link exchanges, or the use of programs to build links. Google considers link schemes as violations of Webmaster Guidelines and punishes the websites concerned.
- With the Penguin update, Google wanted to help webmasters disavow those penalties from bad or spammy backlinks that were beyond their control and also give an opportunity to those sites that had participated in link schemes before it was widely known as a no-no to correct their misdeeds. Enter the Disavow Links Tool.
- Disavowing harmful links means uploading a list of backlinks that you want Google to disregard so as to keep your SEO squeaky clean and higher in the rankings. When exactly is it necessary to disavow links? You should only disavow links when your site has received or is likely to receive a manual action penalty from Google. A manual action penalty from Google is applied when a human reviewer determines a site violates Google's Webmaster Guidelines, which can be a signal to reduce search rankings or outright remove your site's pages from search results.
How to identify toxic backlinks?
- If you wish to check which of your backlinks are toxic and send them to disavow (or just out of curiosity, see if you have any), it's best to use a tool like Semrush or Google Search Console, which can help you notice unnatural anchors or so sudden spikes in link volume, or links from sites that are outright malicious with viruses or hold adult content.
- The Backlink Audit tool, for example, divides your links into Toxic, Potentially toxic, and Non-toxic.
- Disallowed or spammer links classify themselves as toxic based on parameters such as low domain authority, off-topic or foreign-language content, high levels of exact-match anchor text, links from link farms, penalized sites, or automated link-building patterns.
How to disavow Backlinks:
1. Identify toxic backlinks: Use backlink analysis tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify links that can potentially harm your backlink profile.
2. Create a disavow file: Create a plain text file (.txt) that contains a list of URLs or domains that you want to disavow. You may disavow at the URL level (specific pages) or at the domain level (the entire domain).
3. Upload the file: Use Google's Disavow Links tool within Google Search Console and upload your disavow file.
4. Monitor and follow up: Keep an eye on your site's performance and search rankings after submitting the disavow file. Sometimes it takes a while for Google to fully process the disavow file.
2. Create a disavow file: Create a plain text file (.txt) that contains a list of URLs or domains that you want to disavow. You may disavow at the URL level (specific pages) or at the domain level (the entire domain).
3. Upload the file: Use Google's Disavow Links tool within Google Search Console and upload your disavow file.
4. Monitor and follow up: Keep an eye on your site's performance and search rankings after submitting the disavow file. Sometimes it takes a while for Google to fully process the disavow file.
FAQs:
❓ 1. What does it mean to disavow a backlink?
Answer:
Disavowing a backlink tells Google to ignore specific inbound links when evaluating your website's SEO. This helps prevent low-quality or spammy backlinks from negatively impacting your rankings.
❓ 2. Can disavowing backlinks hurt my SEO?
Answer:
Yes, if used incorrectly. Disavowing good or neutral backlinks can reduce your site's authority. Always analyze links carefully and disavow only those that are harmful or unnatural.
❓ 3. Should I try to remove backlinks manually first?
Answer:
Yes, it’s best to contact webmasters and request removal before using the disavow tool. Google prefers link cleanup via outreach when possible.
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