How To Use Google’s Link Disavow Tool: A Step By Step Guide

here. This tool does just what it says it does, allows you to disavow links coming into your website. The tool was heavily anticipated by online marketers world wide and was announced by Matt Cutts when speaking at Pubcon in Las Vegas.

Who Should Use The Link Disavow Tool?

Many online marketers wondered who should be using this tool. From the feedback we’ve received from the web spam team, the tools was primarily designed for those websites impacted by Google’s Penguin Update, which targeted websites that may have purchased links or built them by spamming the internet. If you believe you were affected by the Penguin update, read on to learn the process of disavowing links.

How To Disavow Links

Before you disavow your links, Cutts warned that the tool should be used with extreme caution and should follow the four step process below:

1. First, you shouldn’t try and remove any links unless you received an unnatural link notice from Google in your Webmaster Tools account.
2. Second, you need to try and remove the links in question. This means you need to reach out to website owners and ask them to remove the links. If you try and skip this step and submit a disavow request, Google will most likely not honor it because they can see if links start dropping off the grid or not.
3. Third, you will need to build a list of the links you want disavowed in a text file. You can do this on an individual basis or you can exclude all links from a particular site using the domain: format like this: domain:stryde.com.
4. Fourth, once you’ve built out your file, you should access the disavow link tool through Google Webmaster Central. You will select your site, go through warnings, then select your file and submit.

That’s it… It’s really that simple. Just kidding, it’s a total pain in the you know what, but we’ve seen sites rebound after going through the process, so we know it works!

How Long With The Disavow Process Take?

The process of disavowing links to your site won’t be immediate. Matt Cutts said that it can take weeks for it to go into effect. The also mentioned that Google reserves the right to not use the submissions if it feels there is a reason not to trust them. After you submit your file, you will have the option to download the file you originally submitted and resubmit it with changes. For more information about the disavow link took, Matt put together this video: If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to add to the conversation below.]]>