How to disavow links from Google?

 

 Backlinks are links pointing to your website from other sites. They play a crucial role in ranking your site on search engines. However, managing these backlinks can sometimes be complex and uncertain.

To optimize your SEO efforts, it’s a good idea to hire a professional copywriter. You can find competent SEO web writers on the Redacteur.com platform, which offers quality article and content writing services.

In this article, we'll explore why and when to disavow links and methods to identify toxic backlinks. We'll also learn how to disavow these links through Google Search Console and discuss the potential risks of doing so.

What is link disavowal?

Link disavowal is a procedure that involves asking Google to ignore certain incoming links pointing to your website. If this approach is used, it is mainly to get rid of toxic or unwanted backlinks which could harm your SEO strategy and negatively impact the ranking of your site in search results.

Disavowing links therefore becomes necessary when you identify toxic links likely to harm your site. This can happen in different situations:

Receiving a Google Penalty

If you receive a warning from Google in your Google Search Console about “unnatural links,” it means you are being penalized for manipulative linking practices. In this case, it is imperative to disavow toxic links to correct these practices and restore your positioning.

Negative SEO Attack

It is possible that unscrupulous competitors are trying to harm you by deliberately creating low-quality backlinks pointing to your site.

If you notice a sudden increase in suspicious backlinks and your traffic and rankings drop, you could be the victim of a Negative SEO attack. Disavowing unwanted links is then a measure to take to counter this malicious strategy.

Cleaning up your backlinks profile

Even if your site is not penalized, it is essential to maintain a clean and quality backlink profile to improve your SEO in the long term.

Link disavowal allows you to take control over the links pointing to your site and remove those that could potentially harm your reputation with search engines.

Identification of artificial links

When analyzing your backlink profile using SEO tools like SEMrush or Majestic, you may spot artificial or suspicious links that don't meet Google's quality guidelines. In this case, disavowing these links is a preventative action to maintain the SEO health of your site.

It must be emphasized that disavowing links is a serious measure and should only be undertaken after careful evaluation of the links to be disavowed. Google considers disavowing an option of last resort, and it is important to only disavow links that are definitely hurting your rankings.

Why disavow links from Google? 

When your website is associated with backlinks that come from low-quality sources, such as spam sites, artificial link networks or penalized domains, this can lead to negative consequences for your own SEO.

Google pays close attention to the quality of links pointing to your site. In some cases, it may interpret these low-quality links as an attempt to manipulate its algorithm.

 Disavowing links with Google is therefore a crucial action to preserve the reputation of your website and maintain a good ranking in search results. This approach aims to report unwanted, toxic or poor quality links to Google so that they are not taken into account in the evaluation of your SEO.

By disavowing unwanted links, you clean up your backlink profile by eliminating links that are low quality or considered manipulative by Google. This way, you improve the reputation of your site and avoid possible penalties that could be caused by the presence of suspicious links.

If your site has been penalized by Google due to sub-guideline linking practices, disavowing links can be a crucial step in rectifying the situation. By removing problematic links, you show Google that you are taking steps to correct your errors and follow the established rules.

How to identify toxic backlinks? 

Identifying toxic backlinks is a crucial step in maintaining the health of your link profile. Two popular methods can help you spot unwanted links: using Semrush and evaluating Majestic Trust Flow.

Find toxic links with Semrush

Semrush is a versatile SEO tool that can help you detect potentially toxic backlinks pointing to your site. Here's how to do it:

1. Analyze your backlinks profile

Start by using Semrush to get a complete list of all the links pointing to your site.

2. Review quality metrics 

Semrush assigns metrics like Domain Authority and Toxicity Score to links. Focus on links with a high toxicity score, as these are the ones that could hurt your SEO.

3. Check the relevance of referring sites

Make sure that the sites that link to you are relevant to your topic. Links from irrelevant sites can be considered toxic by search engines.

4. Identify artificial links

Look for artificial linking patterns, such as links from networks of sites or pages created solely for the purpose of generating links. 

Measure the relevance of links with Majestic Trust Flow

On Majestic, you will find a metric called Trust Flow, which evaluates the quality and relevance of links. By following certain steps, you can use it to identify toxic backlinks.

1. Check Trust Flow

After obtaining the complete report of your backlinks profile on Majestic, take a look at your Trust Flow. The higher the Trust Flow of a referring site, the more reliable it is. Focus on links from sites with high Trust Flow to ensure the quality of your backlinks.

2. Evaluate link diversity

Links from a wide range of relevant sites are usually beneficial. Links from a small number of sites may be considered suspicious.

How to disavow links with Google Search Console ? 

Google Search Console is a set of very practical tools offered by Google to website owners. It allows them to understand how their site is indexed by the search engine and to resolve possible indexing problems.

To disavow unwanted links , here is how to proceed: 

1. Go to Google Search Console

Log in to your Google Search Console account and select the website you want to disavow links to .

2. Identify links to disavow

Using tools such as Semrush or Majestic, spot potentially toxic links pointing to your site. Note the URLs of these links.

3. Create a disavow file

Create a text file containing the URLs of the links you want to disavow. Each URL must be on a separate line.

4. Submit the disavow file

Go to the Disavow Links tool in Google Search Console, select your website and submit the disavow file you created.

5. Monitor results

Google will then review the file and consider your disavow requests.

You should be aware, however, that disavowing is not an absolute guarantee that links will be removed from rankings, but it is an important step in telling Google which ones you want to ignore.

What are the risks when disavowing links? 

Disavowing links can be a necessary step in improving your website's SEO, however, it also carries some risks. Initially, when you disavow links, some of them might be quality links that actually contribute to your traffic and search engine rankings. By disavowing them, you could lose this traffic source. Your positioning in search results could be affected.

Additionally, the long-term effects of disavowal remain unknown. Google does not fully disclose how its ranking algorithm works. It is therefore difficult to predict the long-term consequences of disavowing certain links. 

Once you submit a disavow file to Google, it can also be difficult to go back and reinstate disavowed links. Additionally, if your disavow file is poorly formatted or doesn't contain the necessary information, Google could misinterpret your intentions, which can lead to additional problems.

Our tip for disavowing toxic links

Disavowing links is an essential practice for maintaining a healthy backlink profile and improving your online visibility. However, it is crucial not to rush into this process and to carefully evaluate the links to disavow so as not to disavow links that would be useful for SEO.