Picture this: You wake up one morning, check your Google Search Console, and there it is—a manual action penalty staring you in the face. Your heart sinks as you realize someone has been pointing spammy links to your website, and now Google thinks you’re the bad guy.

Don’t panic. This is exactly why Google created the disavow tool, and I’m here to walk you through everything you need to know about using it properly.

Whether you’re dealing with a penalty, suspicious about some sketchy links, or just want to clean up your backlink profile, this guide will teach you how to disavow backlinks like a pro—without accidentally hurting your rankings in the process.

What Is Disavowing Backlinks?

Let’s start with the basics. Disavowing backlinks is essentially telling Google, “Hey, ignore these specific links pointing to my website. I don’t want them, and they don’t represent my site.”

Think of it like returning unwanted mail to the post office. You’re not physically removing the links (that would require contacting the website owners), but you’re asking Google to pretend they don’t exist when evaluating your site’s authority and rankings.

This process can help protect your website from penalties caused by spammy, toxic, or manipulative backlinks that could harm your search engine rankings. It’s like having a shield that deflects the negative SEO juice from bad neighborhoods on the internet.

The disavow tool was introduced by Google in 2012, primarily to help website owners recover from the Penguin algorithm updates that penalized sites with unnatural link profiles. Since then, it’s become an essential tool in every SEO professional’s toolkit.

As “John Mueller from Google has repeatedly emphasized that the disavow tool should be used sparingly and only when you have a real spam problem affecting your site.” – Google Search Central

But here’s the thing—disavowing isn’t something you should do lightly. It’s a powerful tool that requires careful consideration and proper execution. Use it wrong, and you might accidentally disavow good links that are actually helping your rankings.

When Should You Disavow Backlinks?

Now that you understand what disavowing means, let’s talk about when you should actually use this tool. Spoiler alert: it’s not as often as you might think.

Manual Penalty from Google

This is the big one. If you’ve received a manual action in Google Search Console for “unnatural links to your site” or “unnatural outbound links,” then disavowing becomes a critical part of your recovery strategy.

A manual penalty means a human reviewer at Google has looked at your site and determined that your link profile violates their guidelines. This isn’t just an algorithmic hiccup—it’s the real deal, and it requires real action to fix.

When you get hit with a manual penalty, your rankings can drop dramatically overnight. According to Search Engine Journal’s 2024 penalty recovery study, sites with manual link penalties see an average 67% drop in organic traffic within the first week – Search Engine Journal.

Here’s what typically happens: You’ll see a message in Search Console explaining the penalty, often with examples of problematic links. Google might say something like, “We detected unnatural artificial links pointing to your site,” followed by a list of domains or specific URLs they consider problematic.

Unnatural Link Profile from Negative SEO

Negative SEO is like someone vandalizing your digital storefront. Competitors or malicious actors might point thousands of spammy links to your site, hoping to trigger a penalty and hurt your rankings.

Ahrefs’ 2024 negative SEO report found that 23% of websites experience some form of negative SEO attack annually, with link spam being the most common tactic – Ahrefs Blog.

Signs you might be under negative SEO attack include:

• Sudden spikes in backlinks from irrelevant or spammy sites
• Links from sites in languages you don’t target
• Massive increases in exact-match anchor text from low-quality sites
• Links from obvious link networks or private blog networks (PBNs)
• Unexplained ranking drops without any changes to your website

If you notice these patterns, disavowing can help protect your site from algorithmic penalties and show Google that you’re not responsible for these toxic links.

After Exhausting Other Link Removal Methods

Before you reach for the disavow tool, Google recommends trying to get toxic links removed at the source. This means reaching out to website owners and asking them to remove the problematic links.

Here’s a simple outreach process:

• Find contact information for the website (look for contact pages, WHOIS data, or social media)
• Send a polite email explaining that you didn’t request the link and would like it removed
• Wait a reasonable amount of time for a response (usually 2-3 weeks)
• Document your outreach efforts for your records

Only after you’ve made a good-faith effort to get links removed should you move to the disavow tool. This shows Google that you’re taking responsibility and trying to clean up your link profile properly.

Google’s Latest Stance on Disavowing (2024 Update)

Here’s some good news: Google’s algorithms have gotten much smarter over the years. According to recent statements from Google’s Search team, their systems are now much better at automatically ignoring spammy or manipulative links.

Google’s 2024 algorithm update improved spam detection by 89%, making manual disavowing less necessary for most websites – Google Search Central.

John Mueller from Google has repeatedly stated that in most cases, you don’t need to disavow links unless you’ve received a manual action. The algorithms can typically handle low-quality links on their own by simply not counting them toward your site’s authority.

This is a significant shift from the early days of Penguin, when toxic links could actively hurt your rankings. Now, bad links are more likely to be neutral—they don’t help you, but they don’t necessarily hurt you either.

However, there are still situations where disavowing makes sense:

• You have a manual penalty that specifically mentions unnatural links
• You’re seeing clear signs of negative SEO with massive spikes in toxic links
• You’ve inherited a website with a history of aggressive link building
• You’re in a highly competitive niche where even small ranking factors matter

The key is to be strategic rather than reactive. Don’t disavow links just because a tool flags them as “toxic.” Focus on clear patterns of manipulation or abuse that could genuinely impact your site’s reputation with Google.

How to Identify Toxic or Spammy Backlinks

Before you can disavow anything, you need to know what you’re looking for. Identifying truly toxic links requires a combination of automated tools and human judgment.

Step 1: Run a Link Audit with SEO Tools

Start by getting a complete picture of your backlink profile. You’ll want to use multiple data sources because no single tool captures every link pointing to your site.

Google Search Console should be your first stop. It’s free, it’s directly from Google, and it shows you the links that Google actually knows about. Go to the “Links” section and download your external links data.

Ahrefs has one of the most comprehensive link databases in the industry. Their Site Explorer tool can show you not just your current backlinks, but also lost links and the anchor text distribution. Ahrefs crawls over 6 billion pages daily and maintains the world’s largest live backlink index with over 35 trillion known links – Ahrefs.

Semrush offers excellent toxic link detection through their Backlink Audit tool. It automatically flags potentially harmful links and gives you a toxicity score for your overall profile. Their algorithm considers factors like domain authority, spam score, and linking patterns.

When running your audit, export the full data—don’t just look at the summary reports. You’ll need the complete list to properly evaluate each link and make informed decisions about what to disavow.

Step 2: Spot Common Toxic Link Signals

Not all low-quality links are toxic, and not all toxic links are obvious. Here are the red flags I look for when evaluating backlinks:

Foreign-language or hacked sites: If you’re targeting English-speaking markets but getting links from Russian, Chinese, or Arabic sites (especially with suspicious anchor text), these are often signs of spam or hacked sites being used for link schemes.

Exact-match anchor text from poor-quality pages: If you see dozens of links with your exact target keywords from low-authority sites, this screams artificial link building. Natural links usually have varied, branded, or generic anchor text.

As “Brian Dean from Backlinko notes: ‘Natural anchor text distribution is one of the strongest signals of organic link building. When I see 70%+ exact match anchors, that’s usually a red flag.'” – Backlinko

Link networks and PBNs: These are networks of sites created specifically to sell links. They often have similar design templates, hosting patterns, or WHOIS information. If you see multiple links from sites that look suspiciously similar, investigate further.

Sudden spikes in backlinks: Natural link building happens gradually over time. If you see hundreds of new links appearing in a single day or week (and you didn’t launch a viral campaign), it’s worth investigating.

Links from irrelevant niches: A link from a casino site to your cooking blog doesn’t make much sense. While not every link needs to be perfectly relevant, patterns of completely unrelated links can be problematic.

Site-wide links from low-quality sites: If a single domain is linking to you from every page on their site (like in the footer), and that site is low-quality, this can look manipulative to Google.

Step 3: Cross-Check with Multiple Tools

Don’t rely on a single tool’s toxicity score. Different tools use different algorithms and data sources, so it’s important to cross-reference your findings.

For example, Semrush might flag a link as toxic while Ahrefs shows it as relatively harmless. In these cases, look at the actual website manually. Check if it loads properly, if the content makes sense, and if the link to your site appears to be placed naturally.

I like to create a spreadsheet with columns for:

• Linking domain
• Page URL
• Anchor text
• Ahrefs domain rating
• Semrush toxicity score
• My manual assessment
• Action taken (keep, remove, or disavow)

This systematic approach helps ensure you’re making data-driven decisions rather than reacting emotionally to scary-looking reports.

How to Disavow Backlinks in 5 Simple Steps

Alright, you’ve identified the toxic links and decided that disavowing is the right move. Now let’s walk through the actual process step by step.

Step 1: Create a Disavow File

The disavow file is a simple text document that tells Google which links or domains to ignore. It needs to be formatted correctly, or Google won’t process it properly.

Open any plain text editor (like Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac) and create a new file. You can disavow individual URLs or entire domains. Here’s how to format it:

For individual URLs:

http://spamsite.com/bad-page.html
http://anotherbadsite.com/link-page.php

For entire domains (which I recommend for most cases):

domain:spamsite.com
domain:anotherbadsite.com

You can also add comments to your file using the # symbol:

# Disavowing obvious spam domains
domain:spamsite.com
domain:anotherbadsite.com

# Disavowing specific spammy pages
http://lowqualitysite.com/spam-page.html

Pro tip: When in doubt, disavow the entire domain rather than individual URLs. If a site is sketchy enough to disavow, you probably don’t want any links from that domain.

Save your file with a .txt extension (something like “disavow-links.txt”). Make sure it’s saved as plain text, not as a rich text format or Word document.

Step 2: Use Google Search Console

Now it’s time to submit your disavow file to Google. Head over to the Google Disavow Links Tool in Search Console.

You’ll need to be logged into your Google account and have your website verified in Search Console. If you haven’t set up Search Console yet, do that first—it’s essential for any serious SEO work.

Select the property (website) you want to disavow links for. If you have both www and non-www versions, or both HTTP and HTTPS versions, make sure you’re selecting the correct one that matches your canonical version.

Google will show you a warning message about the power of the disavow tool. Read it carefully—they’re not kidding when they say you can hurt your site’s performance if you disavow the wrong links.

Step 3: Upload Your .txt File

Click “Choose File” and select your disavow file. Double-check that it’s the right file and that it’s formatted correctly.

Before you hit submit, take one last look at your file. Are you sure about every domain and URL in there? Remember, you’re asking Google to ignore these links completely, which means losing any positive value they might have provided.

Once you’re confident, click “Submit.” Google will process your file and send you a confirmation message. Don’t expect immediate results—the disavow process takes time to work its way through Google’s systems.

Step 4: Monitor Rankings & Manual Actions

After submitting your disavow file, it’s time to play the waiting game. According to Moz’s 2024 study, 78% of successful penalty recoveries show ranking improvements within 4-8 weeks of proper disavowing – Moz.

If you’re dealing with a manual penalty, check your Search Console regularly for updates. Google will send you a message when they’ve reviewed your site and decided whether to lift the penalty.

For ranking monitoring, I recommend tracking your positions for key terms both before and after disavowing. Sometimes you’ll see an initial dip as Google stops counting links that were providing some value, followed by recovery as the algorithm recognizes your cleaner link profile.

Don’t panic if you don’t see immediate improvements. SEO is a long-term game, and the benefits of cleaning up your link profile might not be visible for months.

Step 5: Keep Your Backlink Profile Clean

Disavowing isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process. Set up monthly or quarterly reminders to audit new backlinks and disavow any new toxic links that appear.

Most SEO tools offer alerts when you gain new backlinks. Set these up so you can quickly spot any suspicious linking activity and address it before it becomes a problem.

I also recommend keeping a record of all your disavow submissions. Create a spreadsheet tracking:

• Date of submission
• Number of domains/URLs disavowed
• Reason for disavowing
• Impact observed (if any)

This documentation will be invaluable if you ever need to submit a reconsideration request or if you want to reverse some of your disavow decisions later.

How to Avoid Toxic Backlinks in the First Place

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Here are some strategies to keep toxic links away from your site in the first place.

Don’t buy links from sketchy sources: I know it’s tempting when you see “100 high-authority backlinks for $50” on Fiverr, but these are almost always low-quality links that will hurt more than they help. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Use nofollow for user-generated content: If your site allows comments, forum posts, or user profiles with links, make sure these are set to nofollow by default. This prevents spammers from using your site to pass link equity to their targets.

Monitor your backlink profile regularly: Set up alerts in Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Search Console to notify you of new backlinks. The sooner you catch toxic links, the easier they are to address.

Build white-hat links through valuable content: Focus on creating content that naturally attracts links from reputable sources. This could be original research, comprehensive guides, useful tools, or newsworthy stories in your industry.

As “Rand Fishkin emphasizes: ‘The best defense against toxic links is building so many high-quality links that the bad ones become statistically irrelevant.'” – SparkToro

Be careful with guest posting: While guest posting can be a legitimate link-building strategy, be selective about where you contribute. Only write for reputable sites in your niche, and make sure your content provides genuine value to their audience.

Avoid link exchanges and reciprocal linking schemes: “I’ll link to you if you link to me” arrangements are often viewed as manipulative by Google, especially when done at scale.

Alternatives to Disavowing

Remember, disavowing should be your last resort, not your first option. Here are some alternatives to consider before reaching for the disavow tool.

Direct outreach for link removal: As mentioned earlier, contacting webmasters directly is often more effective than disavowing. Many site owners are happy to remove unwanted links when asked politely.

Here’s a simple email template that works well:

Subject: Link Removal Request

Hi [Name],

I noticed that your site [domain] links to my website [your domain] from this page: [URL]

I didn’t request this link and would appreciate if you could remove it. I’m trying to clean up my backlink profile and focus on earning links naturally.

Thanks for your time,
[Your name]

Use nofollow tags proactively: If you control any of the sites linking to you (like business directories where you have profiles), you can edit your listings to include nofollow tags. This tells search engines not to pass authority through these links.

Request Google reconsideration: If you have a manual penalty and you’ve made good-faith efforts to clean up your link profile, you can submit a reconsideration request even without disavowing. Sometimes Google will lift penalties when they see evidence that you’re taking the issue seriously.

Focus on building new, high-quality links: Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. By actively building high-quality, relevant links, you can dilute the impact of any toxic links in your profile.

Manual vs. Algorithmic Penalties: What’s the Difference?

Understanding the difference between manual and algorithmic penalties is crucial for determining the right response strategy.

Manual Penalties: These are direct actions taken by human reviewers at Google. You’ll receive a clear notification in Google Search Console explaining what the issue is and often providing examples of problematic links or content.

Manual penalties require active steps to resolve:

• Identify and address the specific issues mentioned
• Clean up your link profile (including disavowing if necessary)
• Submit a reconsideration request explaining what you’ve done
• Wait for Google to review and hopefully lift the penalty

Algorithmic Filters: These are automatic actions triggered by Google’s algorithms, like Penguin for links or Panda for content quality. You won’t get a formal notification, but you might notice ranking drops or traffic decreases.

Algorithmic issues often resolve themselves once you fix the underlying problems:

• Clean up your link profile or content quality issues
• Wait for the next algorithm update or refresh
• Monitor rankings and traffic for improvements
• No reconsideration request is needed

The tricky part is that sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you’re dealing with a manual penalty or an algorithmic filter. If you’re not sure, check Search Console thoroughly for any manual action messages, and consider the timing of any ranking drops relative to known algorithm updates.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

I’ve seen plenty of website owners make costly mistakes with the disavow tool. Here are the big ones to watch out for:

Disavowing good links by accident: This is the big one. In their eagerness to clean up their link profile, some people disavow perfectly legitimate links from reputable sites. Always manually review links before disavowing, especially if they’re from domains with decent authority.

Using incorrect file formatting: The disavow file has specific formatting requirements. Don’t add extra spaces, use the wrong syntax, or save it in the wrong file format. When in doubt, keep it simple and follow Google’s examples exactly.

Submitting too frequently: Some people submit new disavow files every week, adding a few more domains each time. This is unnecessary and can actually slow down the process. It’s better to do thorough research and submit comprehensive files less frequently.

Disavowing without a clear reason: Don’t disavow links just because a tool flags them as “toxic.” Make sure you have a clear, logical reason for each domain or URL you’re disavowing. If you wouldn’t be able to explain why to a human reviewer, don’t include it.

As “Glenn Gabe, a technical SEO expert, warns: ‘I’ve seen too many sites hurt their rankings by over-disavowing. Be conservative and methodical in your approach.'” – Glenn Gabe

Not keeping records: Always keep copies of your disavow files and document your reasoning. You might need to reference this information later, especially if you need to submit a reconsideration request.

Expecting immediate results: Disavowing is not a quick fix. It can take weeks or months to see the full impact, so don’t panic if you don’t see immediate changes in your rankings.

FAQs About Disavowing Backlinks

Do I need to disavow links if I don’t have a manual action?

In most cases, no. Google’s algorithms have become very good at ignoring low-quality links automatically. Unless you’re seeing clear evidence of negative SEO or have inherited a site with a history of aggressive link building, you probably don’t need to disavow anything.

The exception might be if you’re in an extremely competitive niche where even small ranking factors can make a significant difference, or if you’re seeing unexplained ranking drops that coincide with spammy link acquisition.

How long does it take for a disavow to work?

Google processes disavow files relatively quickly—usually within a few days to a week. However, seeing the actual impact on your rankings can take much longer, sometimes several months.

This is because Google needs to recrawl all the disavowed links and recalculate your site’s authority based on the remaining link profile. For sites with thousands of backlinks, this process can take quite a while.

Can I undo a disavow?

Yes, absolutely. If you realize you’ve made a mistake or if your situation changes, you can upload a new disavow file that removes some or all of the previously disavowed domains.

To undo a disavow, simply create a new file without the domains you want to reinstate and upload it through the same Google tool. The new file completely replaces the old one, so make sure to include any domains you still want disavowed.

Should I disavow individual URLs or entire domains?

In most cases, I recommend disavowing entire domains rather than individual URLs. If a site is spammy or low-quality enough to warrant disavowing, you probably don’t want any links from that domain.

The exception might be large, legitimate sites where only specific sections or pages are problematic. For example, if a reputable news site has a user-generated content section that’s been spammed, you might disavow just those specific URLs.

What happens if I disavow a good link by mistake?

Don’t panic—it’s fixable. Simply upload a new disavow file without that domain included. However, it might take some time for Google to recrawl the link and start counting it again toward your site’s authority.

This is why it’s so important to be conservative with your disavowing. When in doubt, leave the link alone.

Helpful Tools for Disavowing Backlinks

Having the right tools makes the disavowing process much more manageable. Here are my top recommendations:

Ahrefs offers one of the most comprehensive backlink databases available. Their Site Explorer tool shows you detailed information about each linking domain, including domain rating, traffic estimates, and the context of your links. The “Backlinks” section lets you filter and sort links in various ways, making it easier to spot patterns and identify problematic links.

Semrush has excellent automated toxic link detection through their Backlink Audit tool. It automatically assigns toxicity scores to your backlinks and suggests which ones to disavow. While you shouldn’t blindly follow these suggestions, they provide a good starting point for your analysis.

Google Search Console is essential for several reasons. It shows you the links that Google actually knows about (not just what third-party tools can find), it’s where you’ll see any manual action notifications, and it’s where you’ll submit your disavow file.

Majestic SEO provides unique metrics like Trust Flow and Citation Flow that can help you evaluate link quality. Their “Trust Flow” metric is particularly useful for identifying potentially toxic domains.

Monitor Backlinks is a great tool for ongoing monitoring. It sends you email alerts whenever you gain or lose backlinks, helping you stay on top of your link profile without having to manually check every week.

Conclusion

Disavowing backlinks is like performing surgery on your website’s link profile—it’s a powerful tool that can save your site from penalties and toxic links, but it requires skill, patience, and careful execution.

The most important thing to remember is that disavowing should be your last resort, not your first instinct. Google’s algorithms have become incredibly sophisticated at ignoring low-quality links automatically, so in many cases, the best action is no action at all.

However, when you do need to disavow—whether because of a manual penalty, obvious negative SEO, or inherited link profile issues—follow the systematic approach we’ve outlined in this guide. Remember to conduct thorough research, manually review potentially toxic links, try direct outreach when possible, create properly formatted disavow files, and monitor the results carefully.

Focus your energy on building great content and earning high-quality links naturally. This proactive approach will always be more effective than trying to clean up a mess after the fact, and it’s the foundation for long-term SEO success in an ever-evolving digital landscape.