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't help it and whose painstaking and diligent work was apparently in vain. If it weren't for Google's Disavow Tool! If webmasters notice negative incoming links that are of inferior quality and on which they have no influence, it helps to remove them.

 

To remove such links, only a few steps and the GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE are required. Here the domain must be added (if not already done) and verified. Afterwards, a so-called disavow file is 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 mentioned above, it is necessary to upload the file with the malicious links in the As mentioned above, it is necessary to upload the file with the malicious links in the GOOGLE DISAVOW TOOL. One link at a time will be listed 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

 

In addition, there is the possibility to provide further information under a link or under a domain. Here it is necessary to put a "#" directly in front of the reference.

 

After the disavow file is uploaded, a check is performed. Afterwards, it can take about 2-16 weeks until the first changes become noticeable and the ranking increases again.

 

If webmasters want to check incoming links, they can do so directly in Google Search Console, among other places. In addition, the online market offers some practical backlink tools that provide professional and detailed backlink information at the push of a button. backlink-profiles at the push 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. For this, it is necessary to simply upload a new link list in the Google Disavow tool. If you want to disavow a link, simply remove it from the list. After that, simply upload the list to overwrite the existing one.

 

When and why should you invalidate a link?

As addressed earlier, links should be invalidated that are most likely to be spam or placed willfully to cause harm.

 

This is how you recognize bad or broken links:

 

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