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Link spam & risks

Disavow links

Also known as: Google disavow tool, disavow file, reject links

Disavowing links means uploading a list of links to Google that Google should ignore when assessing your site. The list is a plain text file with URLs or whole domains, uploaded through Google’s disavow links tool, which Google introduced on October 16, 2012.

When does Google say to use it?

Google describes a narrow case. You should disavow backlinks only if a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links point to your site, and the links have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action against your site. Google’s help page calls the tool an advanced feature that should be used with caution. Finding a few weak links does not meet that condition.

File format

According to Google’s help page:

  • a plain text file, encoded as UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII
  • one URL or domain per line
  • whole domains with the prefix domain:
  • comment lines start with #
  • a URL can be up to 2,048 characters, the file can hold up to 100,000 lines and be up to 2 MB

After the upload, it can take a few weeks until Google has processed the list. The tool does not support Domain properties in Search Console. According to the help page, disavowed links continue to be shown in the Links report.

Example

Code
# Directory links, owner did not answer removal request
domain:spam-directory.example
https://blog.example/comments/page-17

Common mistakes

  • Adding every domain from a backlink tool’s “toxic” list without checking the links (assessment). Such lists often include harmless links.
  • Skipping a removal request to the site owner first (assessment, common advice from vendors).

FAQ

Does disavowing help after a ranking drop? Google’s help page names spam, artificial and low-quality links tied to manual actions. It does not describe an effect for drops from other causes.

Can I disavow a whole subfolder? No. Google says you can disavow a URL or a domain, not a subpath such as example.com/en/.

Sources

  1. Disavow links to your site – Google Search Console Helpsupport.google.com
  2. Spam policies for Google web search – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
  3. A new tool to disavow links – Google Search Central Blog (October 16, 2012)developers.google.com

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