SEO Glossary: Disavow

What is a disavow?

Experienced website owners in particular have heard of it before: a website ranks on the first page of the SERPs. Suddenly, the ranking collapses unexpectedly. A detailed analysis reveals: The domain has unintentionally received inbound links that an unknown person apparently wanted to use to cause damage (links that violate Google's guidelines).

 

Much to the annoyance of the owner, who can do nothing about it and whose painstaking and diligent work was apparently in vain. If it weren't for Google's Disavow Tool! If webmasters notice negative inbound links that are of inferior quality and over which they have no influence, it helps them to remove them.

 

To remove such links, just a few steps and the GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE is required. The domain must be added here (if not already done) and verified. A so-called disavow file is then uploaded, which contains all "harmful" links.

 

The result: Google devalues the links in the list and ensures that they no longer have any influence on the ranking.

 

 

How does the Google Disavow Tool work?

As already mentioned, it is necessary to upload the file with the malicious links in the GOOGLE DISAVOW TOOL. One link is listed after the other in each line. If a complete domain is to be included in the disavow, the addition "domain:beispieldomain.de" is also required.

 

The whole thing can then look like this

 

https://www.spamdomain.com/unterseitexyz

https://www.spamdomain2.com/unterseitexyz

domain:domain.com

 

It is also possible to include further information under a link or domain. Here it is necessary to place a "#" directly in front of the reference.

 

After the disavow file has been uploaded, a check is carried out. It can then take around 2-16 weeks until the first changes are noticeable and the ranking increases again.

 

If webmasters want to check incoming links, they can do this directly in the Google Search Console, among other things. In addition, the online market offers a number of practical backlink tools that provide professional and detailed backlink-profiles at the touch of a button. Unwanted, harmful links can be identified in this way.

 

Is it possible to undo the Google Disavow file?

Yes, this is done quickly and easily. To do this, simply upload a new link list in the Google Disavow tool. If you no longer want to disavow a link, simply remove it from the list. Then simply upload the list to overwrite the existing one.

 

When and why should a link be declared invalid?

As already mentioned, links should be declared invalid if they are likely to be spam or have been deliberately placed to cause damage.

 

This is how you recognize bad or broken links:

 

• Links from spam comments
• Pages that seem to serve exclusively to distribute links
• Links from domains that do not match your target country