Most website owners have had to deal with spammy links pointing to their websites. It can be difficult to remove these links even after contacting the webmaster of these sites. In such situations, disavowing these harmful links is the most suitable action.
What is Disavow in SEO? Defining the Term
Disavow refers to informing a search engine that you don’t want to be associated with certain inbound links to your website. Disavowing links helps you take appropriate action against spammy, unnatural links that impact your website’s authority and ranking.
The Importance of Disavowing: Why You Should Consider It
Toxic and spammy backlinks can impact your website’s search rankings. Here are some solid reasons why disavowing harmful links is essential for your website’s SEO:
- Low-quality links can decrease your site’s domain authority and make it look suspicious.
- Spam backlinks will give negative signals to Google that you are paying for irrelevant backlinks.
- Google may also penalize you if your website has suspicious spammy links.
Identifying Harmful Backlinks: Signs to Look For
Determine whether the website is spammy to identify harmful backlinks. If the website looks suspicious and spammy, it probably is. Check the quality as well. If it is very poor, it means that the website is spammy. Moreover, excessive ads on pop-ups on a website are also a sign that it is spammy.
Additionally, spammy sites have suspicious domain names, and the user experience on these websites will also be very bad. Hence, you must also identify whether the site is relevant to your niche.
If it feels like a site is spammy or someone is maliciously using these links to impact your SEO strategies, you’re probably right. Disavow suspicious links to protect your website from negative SEO penalties.
The Process of Disavowing: A Step-by-Step Guide
You can follow the below steps to disavow links on Google’s disavow tool:
- Create a disavow file: Create a text file with the list of URLs or domains you want to disavow. This is a plain text document with a .txt extension.
- Access the Disavow Links tool: Select the “Disavow Links” tool on Google Console. You will find it on the “security & manual actions” option in Google Console.
- Upload your Disavow file: Upload and submit your text file. Now, it is a waiting game. Google will process your disavow file. But it may take time to show the changes. Therefore, you have to be patient with the process.
Impact of Disavowing on SEO: What to Expect
Spammy links often impact the ranking of your page and the overall website reputation. Therefore, you must disavow these backlinks that ruin your page’s reputation. Disavowing these links improves your website’s reputation and can safeguard you from Google penalties.
If bad links are not disavowed, there is a fair chance that you can be removed from Google’s index, and your website can be demoted in the Google search results. Moreover, your site could also receive a manual penalty from Google. Hence, disavowing is a very crucial step to safeguard your website.
Common Mistakes in Disavowing: What to Avoid
- Taking a decision instantly after an update: You mustn’t make a rash decision after every Google update. It has been seen many times that companies go crazy with disavowing links after every Google update. In this process, they end up disavowing the beneficial links. One must be extremely careful while disavowing the link and should have a well-thought-out plan while strategizing a backlink profile.
- Being too lenient: One thing that Google values is the relevancy of the link. Suppose you run an automobile workshop. In this situation, if you get a link from a website that is about fashion and traveling, you will not be able to get any value out of these links for your website. In such circumstances, disavowing these irrelevant links will be the best. An irrelevant link may not seemingly pose any threat to your website, but being lenient with them may cause a lot of harm.
- Not recognizing a bad link: The value of a link is determined by its relevancy to your content. Therefore, you must identify the irrelevant links that are “bad” for your website and disavow them. Your inability to recognize a bad link may lead to a manual action from Google.
Google’s Stance on Disavowing Links
Disavowing bad links is crucial for your website’s ranking. However, you must know which links are causing harm to your website and which are just bad links. The Google Disavow tool on your Google console account is very useful but should be used wisely. Google’s John Mueller has pointed out that most websites don’t need this disavow tool. Website owners must disavow only those links they gain unnaturally or paid for.
Random links collected over the years may not be bad for your website. Therefore, Google supports that random links gathered by your website, which you have nothing to do with, are not bad for your website. Moreover, whenever you find an irrelevant or spammy and harmful link, the first step should be to contact the website’s webmaster. Using the disavow tool should be your last resort.
Expert Tips on Disavowing Links for Maximum SEO Benefit
Here are some expert tips to disavow backlinks to maximize your SEO efforts.
- Conduct a thorough link audit: Conduct a comprehensive link audit for your website. Tools like Google Search Console and Webmaster tools can help you gather the list of backlinks that your site has. A comprehensive audit will help you identify the links that are harmful to your website, Identify spammy domains, paid links, or links that are manipulative in nature.
- Understand Google’s guidelines: Understand Google’s disavowing link guidelines. These guidelines provide essential information on what links you should be disavowing.
- Use disavowing tools sparingly: The disavowing tool should be your last resort. Your first step should be to contact the webmaster of these links and request to remove these links. Further, be cautious while using the disavow tool, and only disavow the links you are certain are harmful.
Conclusion: Disavow for a Healthier Link Profile
The Disavow tool is a great way to safeguard your website from the harmful impact of links that are spammy and bad. Having a backlink profile with irrelevant, harmful links can impact your search rankings and, in the worst scenarios, may also lead to website deindexing and penalties. However, Google advises using these tools cautiously and disavowing spammy and harmful links as the last resort when all the other tactics have failed.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a disavow link?
Disavow link is a tool and process in which you inform Google that you want to disassociate or “disavow” specific links pointing to your site. A disavow tool is for improving your ranking in search engine result pages. It safeguards you from the negative impact of low-quality to spammy backlinks and attempts of negative SEO from your competitors.
What is Google’s disavow tool?
Google’s disavow tool is a feature in Google’s search console that allows website owners to submit a list of specific backlinks they want Google to ignore or disavow. This disavow tool helps owners manage their backlink profile and dissociate from low-quality or spammy links.
Why is disavowing links important?
Disavowing links is important because:
- Helps avoid penalties: Disavowing harmful links helps avoid penalties on Google. Google penalized websites that have low-quality and unnatural backlinks.
- Saves you from negative SEO: Competitors often try to harm your website’s SEO by creating spammy or harmful backlinks. Disavowing harmful links helps you mitigate these malicious practices,
- Better SEO results: By disavowing harmful links, you can build a relevant and authoritative backlink profile. This will help boost your SEO performance.
