In this presentation, I have explained what is a disavow file and how the disavow tool of Google can be used to clear off spammy links from your link portfolio.
2. A Short History
• Before 2012, the number of links to a site was a
measurement of popularity of the site and hence the site
was ranked higher
• People started using various wrong methods to gain
backlinks
They got bulk backlinks of low quality and those that were
non-relevant for the website or web pages
Disavow file
3. So, Penguin Algorithmic Update
was rolled out
- This update penalized buying backlinks, manipulating links and
creating an unnatural link portfolio.
- The only way to avoid being penalized was to disassociate with any
spammy backlinks that had been added to your link profile.
- Now, for dissociating from such links present in your link profile,
Google created the disavow file tool which allowed webmasters to
clear of spammy backlinks and retain only genuine ones to avoid
penalty
4. Disavow File
“A disavow file is a text (. txt) document which lets you deactivate
chosen links (or domains) that link from another domain to your
website. Using a disavow file you can let major search engines know such
as Google or Bing which links or domain names should be removed from
your website's backlink profile.”- Innovation Visual
(Refer.. https://www.innovationvisual.com/knowledge/what-is-a-disavow-
file#:~:text=A%20disavow%20file%20is%20a,from%20your%20website's%
20backlink%20profile.)
Disavow file
5. How to disavow links to your site?- The
Process
• Collect all your backlinks in a single excel spreadsheet.
• You can directly export your backlinks in an excel spread
sheet with the help of tools like
MOZ
•Majestic
•Ahrefs
•SEMRush
Disavow file
6. How to disavow links to your site?- The
Process
Search for these protocols and replace them with a blank
space
https://www.
http://www.
https://
http://
Use CTRL+F and Replace
Then remove the duplicate domain names
Highlight all the backlinks from the spreadsheet that you
want to disavow or remove from your profile
Disavow file
7. How to disavow links to your site?- The
Process
Transfer all the domain names you want to disavow into
a separate excel sheet
For example, if you want to disavow domains of abc1.com,
abc2.com and abc3.com, then your spreadsheet should look
like following:
domain:abc1.com
domain:abc2.com
domain:abc3.com
Disavow file
8. Copy these domain names in the prescribed
format in a text editor of your choice and
save it as disavow.txt file
9. Submit Disavow files to Google
Submit this text file to Google using the Google Disavow tool
Google recommends – “that you only disavow backlinks if you
believe that there are a considerable number of spammy, artificial,
or low-quality links pointing to your site, and if you are confident
that the links are causing issues for you.”
https://search.google.com/search-console/disavow-
links?resource_id=sc-domain%3Adigilacious.com
Disavow file
10. Check before using the tool
It is better to disavow at domain level as that will help disavow any future poor
quality or spammy links generated by the website
It is better not to use this tool if you have only a handful of links to disavow
You should check your disavow file multiple times as you wouldn’t want to
disavow a quality link, accidently.
Disavow file
