What is Disavow Tool?

Google's Disavow Tool lets site owners ask Google to ignore specific backlinks. It's meant only for sites with a manual action for unnatural links or a known history of paid or spammy link building.

Disavow Tool — SEO Library | Iftikhar Qureshi

When you should (and shouldn’t) disavow#

Google’s systems already ignore most spammy links automatically. For the vast majority of sites, disavowing is unnecessary and can even hurt if you remove links that were helping.

Use the disavow tool if…	Don’t bother if…
You have a manual action for unnatural links in Search Console	You simply see random spammy domains linking to you
You (or a previous agency) bought links or ran link schemes at scale	An SEO tool shows a high “toxic score”
You’re cleaning up before requesting reconsideration	Rankings dropped and you’re guessing at causes

How it works#

Export your links from Search Console (Links → Export) and from a backlink tool.
Identify links you created that violate Google’s spam policies. Try to get them removed first.

Create a plain-text file, one entry per line:

# Paid links from 2023 campaign
domain:spammy-directory.example
https://blog.example/paid-post/

Upload it in the Disavow Tool for the right Search Console property. Uploading replaces the previous file.
If you had a manual action, submit a reconsideration request explaining what you did.

When you should (and shouldn’t) disavow#

Google’s systems already ignore most spammy links automatically. For the vast majority of sites, disavowing is unnecessary and can even hurt if you remove links that were helping.

Use the disavow tool if…

Don’t bother if…

You have a manual action for unnatural links in Search Console

You simply see random spammy domains linking to you

You (or a previous agency) bought links or ran link schemes at scale

An SEO tool shows a high “toxic score”

You’re cleaning up before requesting reconsideration

Rankings dropped and you’re guessing at causes

How it works#

Export your links from Search Console (Links → Export) and from a backlink tool.

Identify links you created that violate Google’s spam policies. Try to get them removed first.

Create a plain-text file, one entry per line:

# Paid links from 2023 campaign
domain:spammy-directory.example
https://blog.example/paid-post/

Upload it in the Disavow Tool for the right Search Console property. Uploading replaces the previous file.

If you had a manual action, submit a reconsideration request explaining what you did.