<\/span>What Does “Disavow” Mean In SEO? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIn the Oxford dictionary, disavow means to state publicly that you have no knowledge of something or that you are not responsible for something. If we are going to think about it for SEO’s sake, it can be similar to this definition in a more specific context. To Disavow link<\/strong> in SEO<\/a> basically means asking search engines not to consider some backlinks you have while they are deciding on your rankings. In other words, search engines overlook some backlinks you have while ranking you on SERPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"what](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2023\/12\/what-is-disavow-link-in-seo.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nSo, to be able to do that, you might need a disavow links tool <\/strong>to inform search engines. Since Google is the biggest search engine today, the Google Search Console Disavow Tool<\/strong> might be your biggest help. The disavow links tool<\/strong> helps you to reach Google about which backlinks you don’t want to be considered by submitting a disavow list <\/strong>to Google. Of course, this step does not guarantee they will one hundred percent accept your request, but there is a chance they will do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHowever, it is also important to note that overlooking some backlinks does not necessarily mean that they are ignored forever. Unfortunately, they continue to be on your backlink profile. Nonetheless, the disavow links tool <\/strong>helps you manage those ‘bad backlinks’ to your website, thus protecting its reputation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Why You Might Want to Disavow Links? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAs we said earlier, the quality of the backlinks to your website is crucial to determining the ranking. There are basically two types of backlinks: The good and the bad. Good backlinks are the ones that rank your website in the ranking list, while the bad ones (spammy, from bad sources, etc.) can negatively affect your website through algorithms, penalties, or manual actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since Google launched its PageRank<\/a> algorithm, backlinks have become one of the most influential elements in ranking websites. Most people are aware of this, and there might be some who exploit this to undermine their competitors. This is called the “blackhat” technique embraced by competitors to harm other sites. Those people can create backlinks from spammy or toxic websites to your site and try to decrease the rankings of their competitors. To avoid that, you can disavow backlinks <\/strong>you consider harmful. However, this is not the only reason: <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Decreasing traffic<\/em> \u2013 if your website suffers from a sudden change in the organic traffic it attracts, and your backlink profile looks suspicious, you might want to disavow backlinks<\/strong>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Just for the protection <\/em>\u2013 maybe everything is going fine with your website, but you want to protect it to prevent other harmful backlinks. For example, let’s say you used a link-building tool to increase your backlink profile, and now you regret it because the links look shady. Then, you can disavow links <\/strong>to diminish the effect of those backlinks. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
With those three scenarios in mind, you might want to consider using Google Search Console Disavow Tool<\/strong> to decrease the amount of spammy backlinks you have. Believe us, you might get shocked when you see those in the tool itself! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>How Can You Identify Bad Backlinks? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nEven though the process of disavow links <\/strong>might be easy, deciding on which links are bad backlinks and should be disavowed can be harder than expected. The main reason to disavow link <\/strong>is them being spammy or low-quality links. Since both of them can negatively affect the user experience and your credibility. You might be wondering how I can understand which backlinks are bad and which are not. Here are a few categories you can be cautious about: <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Obvious spam websites <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Links appearing in spam comments <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Websites that are just found for backlinking <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Backlinks from websites that come from other than your target country or region <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
![\"how](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2023\/12\/how-can-you-identify-bad-backlinks.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nIf you have found which websites are spammy or toxic, you have two options to disavow link. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- You can disavow a specific URL. For example, you can disavow website.com\/spammy-content. This way, this link won’t affect your ranking, but website.com\/good-content will continue to appear. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Another option is disavowing a whole domain. For example, you can target website.com wholly as a domain and disavow any links from there. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nSo, to be able to do that, you might need a disavow links tool <\/strong>to inform search engines. Since Google is the biggest search engine today, the Google Search Console Disavow Tool<\/strong> might be your biggest help. The disavow links tool<\/strong> helps you to reach Google about which backlinks you don’t want to be considered by submitting a disavow list <\/strong>to Google. Of course, this step does not guarantee they will one hundred percent accept your request, but there is a chance they will do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, it is also important to note that overlooking some backlinks does not necessarily mean that they are ignored forever. Unfortunately, they continue to be on your backlink profile. Nonetheless, the disavow links tool <\/strong>helps you manage those ‘bad backlinks’ to your website, thus protecting its reputation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we said earlier, the quality of the backlinks to your website is crucial to determining the ranking. There are basically two types of backlinks: The good and the bad. Good backlinks are the ones that rank your website in the ranking list, while the bad ones (spammy, from bad sources, etc.) can negatively affect your website through algorithms, penalties, or manual actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Google launched its PageRank<\/a> algorithm, backlinks have become one of the most influential elements in ranking websites. Most people are aware of this, and there might be some who exploit this to undermine their competitors. This is called the “blackhat” technique embraced by competitors to harm other sites. Those people can create backlinks from spammy or toxic websites to your site and try to decrease the rankings of their competitors. To avoid that, you can disavow backlinks <\/strong>you consider harmful. However, this is not the only reason: <\/p>\n\n\n\n With those three scenarios in mind, you might want to consider using Google Search Console Disavow Tool<\/strong> to decrease the amount of spammy backlinks you have. Believe us, you might get shocked when you see those in the tool itself! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though the process of disavow links <\/strong>might be easy, deciding on which links are bad backlinks and should be disavowed can be harder than expected. The main reason to disavow link <\/strong>is them being spammy or low-quality links. Since both of them can negatively affect the user experience and your credibility. You might be wondering how I can understand which backlinks are bad and which are not. Here are a few categories you can be cautious about: <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have found which websites are spammy or toxic, you have two options to disavow link. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Why You Might Want to Disavow Links? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/span>How Can You Identify Bad Backlinks? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"Disavow](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2024\/03\/disavow-step-1.webp\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n![\"Disavow](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/dopingcloud\/blog\/en\/2024\/03\/disavow-step-2.webp\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n