How to Disavow Bad Backlinks: The Complete Guide

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How to Disavow Bad Backlinks: The Complete Guide

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Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for SEO. However, not all backlinks are beneficial. Bad backlinks — links from spammy, low-quality, or irrelevant websites — can actually harm your site’s rankings. If you’ve been hit by a manual penalty or suspect that toxic links are dragging down your search visibility, disavowing those bad backlinks can help protect and even improve your SEO.

In this complete guide, we’ll cover:

  • What bad backlinks are
  • How they harm your site
  • When you should consider disavowing them
  • How to identify toxic backlinks
  • How to disavow bad backlinks step by step
  • Best practices and mistakes to avoid
  • What to do after disavowing links

Let’s dive in.

What Are Bad Backlinks?

Bad backlinks are inbound links from sites that violate Google’s guidelines or are considered spammy, manipulative, or irrelevant. Instead of helping your rankings, these links may trigger penalties or hurt your SEO performance.

Common examples of bad backlinks include:

  • Links from spammy directories or link farms
  • Links from hacked websites
  • Paid links that are not marked with “nofollow” or “sponsored” attributes
  • Links from adult, gambling, or illegal sites
  • Sitewide footer or sidebar links from irrelevant websites
  • Links from foreign-language sites that have no relation to your content
  • Links from private blog networks (PBNs)
  • Automatically generated links or comment spam

How Do Bad Backlinks Harm Your Website?

Google’s algorithms are designed to detect unnatural backlink profiles. If they see too many spammy, low-quality links pointing to your site, it can result in:

  • Algorithmic suppression: Your rankings could gradually drop without a manual penalty.
  • Manual actions: Google Search Console may notify you of unnatural inbound links and issue a manual penalty that tanks your rankings.
  • Loss of trust: A spammy backlink profile signals manipulation, reducing trust in your domain.
  • Wasted crawl budget: Googlebot might spend time crawling irrelevant, low-quality links, which could reduce crawl efficiency.

In short, bad backlinks dilute the authority and trustworthiness of your site, and if left unchecked, can significantly impact your SEO.

When Should You Disavow Bad Backlinks?

Google states that the disavow tool is an advanced feature and recommends using it with caution. In most cases, Google’s algorithms are good at ignoring bad links.

However, you should consider disavowing backlinks in these situations:

  • You’ve received a manual action in Google Search Console for unnatural inbound links.
  • You notice a sudden surge in spammy backlinks (possibly from negative SEO attacks).
  • After a backlink audit, you find a significant number of toxic links that could pose a risk.
  • You’re recovering from a previous penalty and need to clean up your backlink profile.

How to Identify Bad Backlinks

The first and most critical step before disavowing is conducting a thorough backlink audit.

Step 1: Export Your Backlink Profile

You can export your backlink data from tools such as:

  • Google Search Console
  • Ahrefs
  • SEMrush
  • Moz
  • Majestic

For the most comprehensive view, use multiple tools and merge the data.

Step 2: Look for Red Flags

When analyzing backlinks, watch out for:

  • Low domain authority (DA) or domain rating (DR) sites
  • Spammy domain names (e.g., free subdomains, nonsense URLs)
  • Irrelevant industries or niches
  • Links from foreign domains with no relation to your site
  • Over-optimized anchor text (e.g., exact match anchors used repeatedly)
  • Sudden spikes in backlinks that seem unnatural
  • Links from sites with thin or plagiarized content
  • Redirect chains from spam sites to yours

Step 3: Check Manually

Automated tools can flag potentially toxic links, but manual review is crucial. Sometimes a link might look spammy to an algorithm but may actually be harmless. Open suspicious links and check:

  • Does the site have real content or is it full of ads and spam?
  • Is the domain indexed in Google?
  • Is there a contact page and genuine editorial content?

Tools to Identify Toxic Backlinks

Some popular tools that make backlink auditing easier include:

  • Ahrefs’ Backlink Audit Tool
  • SEMrush Backlink Audit Tool
  • Moz Link Explorer
  • Majestic SEO
  • CognitiveSEO Unnatural Link Detection
  • Monitor Backlinks
  • LinkResearchTools (LRT)

These tools score links based on trust, toxicity, and relevance, making it easier to shortlist links for disavowal.

Step-by-Step: How to Disavow Bad Backlinks

Once you’ve identified the toxic links you want to disavow, here’s how to do it properly.

Step 1: Make a Disavow List

Format your disavow file as a plain .txt file (UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII), with one URL or domain per line. You can disavow either individual URLs or entire domains.

Example format:

makefile
# Disavowing spammy backlinks
domain:spammydomain.com
domain:anotherbadsite.net
https://badsite.com/spammy-page
  • Use domain: if you want to disavow all backlinks from a domain.
  • You can add comments by starting a line with #.

Step 2: Upload Your Disavow File

  1. Go to the Google Disavow Tool.
  2. Select your website property.
  3. Click “Upload Disavow List.”
  4. Upload your .txt file and submit.

Important:

  • Only one disavow file can be active at a time.
  • If you need to add or remove URLs later, download the current file, edit it, and re-upload the updated version.

Disavow Best Practices

1. Try to Remove Bad Links First

Before using the disavow tool, reach out to webmasters and request link removals. The disavow tool should be the last resort.

2. Focus on Domain-Level Disavows

Disavowing at the domain level is often more efficient than listing hundreds of individual URLs.

3. Don’t Overdo It

Be cautious not to disavow good links or neutral links. This can harm your rankings. Err on the side of caution and review each link carefully.

4. Keep Your File Clean

Use clear comments in your file for future reference. Example:

makefile
# Disavowed domains identified in March 2025 audit
domain:spammywebsite.com
domain:lowqualitylinks.org

5. Regularly Audit Your Backlinks

Backlink profiles change over time. Set a schedule (every 3–6 months) to conduct a backlink audit and update your disavow file if needed.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  1. Disavowing Good Links: This is one of the biggest errors. Double-check every link before disavowing.
  2. Disavowing Links Without Manual Review: Don’t rely entirely on automated tools. Always inspect questionable links.
  3. Ignoring Manual Penalties: If you’ve received a manual action, disavow is crucial — ignoring it can prolong ranking issues.
  4. Not Following Up: After submitting a disavow file, monitor your rankings and backlink profile. Continue auditing.
  5. Using the Disavow Tool Prematurely: If you don’t have a penalty or a toxic link issue, disavow might not be necessary.

What Happens After You Disavow Links?

After uploading your disavow file, Google will start ignoring those links during indexing and ranking calculations. However:

  • The effect is not instant; it can take weeks or months.
  • You will not receive confirmation that Google has processed your disavow file.
  • Continue monitoring your rankings and backlink profile for changes.

If you had a manual penalty, you can file a reconsideration request after disavowing and cleaning up bad links.

How to Monitor Results

1. Track Rankings

Watch for improvements in keyword rankings over the next 1–3 months.

2. Monitor Google Search Console

Look for any changes in manual actions or security issues. If you previously had a manual penalty, you might receive notification that the penalty has been lifted.

3. Reassess Backlinks

After a few months, download your backlinks again and check for any new toxic links.

4. Use Google Analytics

Look for signs of improved organic traffic and user engagement.

Preventing Bad Backlinks in the Future

While you can’t fully control who links to you, you can minimize bad backlinks with these best practices:

  • Avoid link exchanges and paid links from questionable sources.
  • Don’t use automated link-building tools.
  • Build white-hat links through high-quality content, PR, and outreach.
  • Regularly audit your backlink profile.
  • Disavow suspicious links before they become a bigger problem.
  • Set up alerts with tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to monitor new backlinks.

Conclusion

Disavowing bad backlinks is a powerful but delicate process. It can protect your website from penalties, help restore lost rankings, and keep your backlink profile healthy.

The key steps are:

  1. Conduct a thorough backlink audit.
  2. Identify toxic links.
  3. Attempt link removals where possible.
  4. Create and upload a disavow file.
  5. Monitor your site’s performance and backlink profile.

Remember, disavowing isn’t something to take lightly — but when done correctly, it can safeguard and strengthen your SEO efforts.

FAQ About Disavowing Bad Backlinks

1. How long does it take for disavow to work?
It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on Google’s re-crawling and indexing cycles.

2. Will disavowing links improve my rankings?
If toxic backlinks were holding your site back, disavowing them can help restore or improve rankings over time.

3. Should I disavow links if I don’t have a penalty?
Not necessarily. Google is good at ignoring low-quality links. Only disavow if you identify clear risks or see signs of a negative SEO attack.

4. Can I undo a disavow?
Yes. Just download your disavow file, remove the links you no longer want to disavow, and re-upload the revised file.

5. Does disavowing links affect my site instantly?
No. It’s a gradual process. Be patient and continue to monitor results over several months.