How to disavow a link
Disavowing backlinks is a search engine optimization (SEO) tool that involves using an online tool. This is a disavow tool, to neutralize the influence of one or more backlinks on your website’s ranking in search results. Both Google and Bing offer disavow tools that you can use to specify the location of backlinks that you would like to see removed. Especially when they are harming or have the potential to harm your website’s search engine ranking. Here are some pointers on how to disavow a link.
After a Google penalty
Google’s algorithms penalize you in different ways depending on their criteria. It can be a manual penalty. The Google Search Console lets you know. If the penalty is algorithmic, you will suffer a gradual drop in your positions. In both cases, disavowing toxic links shows that you are serious to Google.
How to start
Anyone who has a Google Analytics tracking tag on their site also has access to the Google Search Console tool. It contains information about the site’s link structure. You can conduct a link audit from the Link Report page of Search Console. Just click on the big “Export External Links” button at the top right of the screen and choose “More Link Examples”. Export it as the file type of your choice. Once you’ve determined which links you want to disavow, you need to list them in a text file (*.txt). It will be submitted to the Google Disavow tool.
What happens after disavowing a link?
After you ask Google to disavow a link, you will have to wait a while before it disappears from your backlink list. A request to disavow a link is only considered a suggestion. Google is not obligated to honor your request.
Watch the manual penalties
If you get a manual penalty, you’ll need to use the disavow tool. Manual penalties are the reason why Google launched the disavow tool in the first place. While the algorithmic penalty is not as bad as the manual penalty, it can still deal a fatal blow to any type of website.
When learning how to disavow a link, remember: the links pointing to your site are beneficial only if they are of “quality”, and the best option is still to get rid of them and show your good faith to Google.