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Disavowing Links for Beginners
Having links that point to your website is one of the most powerful seo tools. But irrelevant or poor quality backlinks may be detrimental to your search traffic. If you have used unethical link-building techniques, the best thing you can do is to remove as many spammy links as may be possible. However, you can remove links that come from sites that you do not control, hence the need for disavowing.
Google cautions that you should use the disavow tool only to eliminate bad links. Taking down good backlinks may also have negative consequences. Hence, you should deploy the tool once you are sure that you will improve the reputation of your site rather than harm it.
How to Check Backlinks Using Google Webmaster Tools
Google webmaster tools is one of the many options that you can use to ascertain who has linked to your site or sub-domain. To use this tool, you need to log in to your account and select the website for which you want to check backlinks. On the top left in the selection panel, press “Search Traffic” to open the drop-down. Then select “Links to Your Site”.
Three columns will open after you click on the links. On the left, you will find part of a list of domains that link to your site. On the right side will be the pages they link to. You can get a preview of each item in these columns by placing your cursor over it. At the bottom is the anchor text that they use. Under each column, you will find “More>>”. This button will expand on the column to unleash the entire list.
To disavow all bad links, follow the following steps:
Step 1: Download the Links File
Once you select “Links to Your Site”, click “More»” under “Who links the most”. Then hit the button with “Download more sample links” at the top of the page. Select the download format as CSV and press Ok.
Although the second option of downloading the links file as Google docs may also have its advantages, that choice is not discussed in this article. The CSV format is simpler to work with. This is because you edit it on your computer just like any other document and then upload it.
Step 2: Edit the File to Leave Only the Links You Want to Disavow
If you are using a Windows operating system, open the links document using Microsoft Office Excel. Remove all the lines containing only the good links and leave those that you wish to disavow. To locate the blacklisted links more easily use CTRL+F on your keyboard and key in the name of the domain on the text box.
To remove good links from the file, place your mouse at the far left (where you find the numbering) until you see a black arrow. Holding the left button, move your mouse up or down to highlight the lines you want to remove. Don’t use the back-space button to clear. Use the “DELETE” key at the middle of the keyboard.
Step 3: Upload the Links File
If you edited the links document in Microsoft Office Excel, hitting save will ensure the file remains as a CSV. You will not be able to upload it in this format. Once you are done editing, select file at the top left and choose “save as”. Under “Save as type”, choose “Unicode Text” and press save. The edited document will be a .txt file which is the acceptable format for Google.
In case you wish to add notes for your own reference, open the new file using a program like Notepad. In order for the disavow tool to differentiate the links and your notes, start with “#” before each note. Place each corresponding note above the link.
Your document is now ready for uploading. Open the Google Disavow Tool and follow the simple steps. You’ll be prompted to choose the file and then upload it. Once you are done uploading, you will receive a confirmation of the number of links or domains that you have disavowed.
Any disavow file uploaded revokes all the ones that were uploaded in the past. If you wish to edit your disavow list in future, you may repeat these steps and the preceding file will be ignored. Else, you may download your previous file, edit and upload it. Links disavowed will still be visible in Google webmaster tools. It may take several weeks before you can see any results of a disavow request.
Should You Disavow All Backlinks?
The file you upload should contain only the links you want taken down. If you would like google to ignore all links from a certain website, you don’t have to include the individual links. You can simply add the domain address in one line. For example, http://spamlinks.com on a single line will ensure google does not consider links coming from the site. This also includes any future backlinks from the same domain.
While it is also possible to disavow all backlinks that point to your site, such practice is not recommended. These links are a vote of excellent on your side. Apart from links which seem spammy, irrelevant or malicious, all others are promoting your site. Removing all may be dangerous for your business.
When doing your own link-building campaign, it is highly advisable to use only acceptable strategies. This will keep you away from penalties while your ranking and business will grow. If you still feel stuck, do not buy low quality links. Opt for seeking the services of experienced linking sites like LinkAuthority or LinkResearchTools.
According to Google, the majority of sites may not require the disavow tool. Google's systems can detect the links to take into account with no need for instructions. That’s why they give a warning to all webmasters to use the tool with maximum caution. If you must, disavow links only if you have a reason to believe that they are harmful to your site. Otherwise, disavowing links without prior reflection may hurt your ranking.
