Disavowing Backlinks Using the Google Disavow Tool

How can I see which backlinks Google has indexed?

You can easily download all backlinks indexed by Google through Google Search Console. Here’s how to download the backlinks:

1. Select the correct Google Search Console property
2. In the left-hand menu, go to “Links”
3. Click “Export External Links” in the upper-right corner
4. Click on “Latest Links”
5. Select the desired format

A file containing all the backlinks will be downloaded.

How do I know which backlinks are harmful?

If your entire website or a specific page on your website suddenly drops significantly in search results for no apparent reason, you may have received harmful backlinks.

It’s important to first check whether anything has changed on your website or whether Google has rolled out an algorithm update. If that’s not the case, it’s important to check the backlinks indexed by Google.

By using common sense in combination with tools like Majestic, you can filter out harmful backlinks from your backlink profile. Backlinks that can result in a (real-time) penalty are often homepage backlinks, backlinks from foreign websites, or footer backlinks.

Where can I find the Google Disavow tool?

Google’s Disavow tool is somewhat hidden and can’t be found directly through Google Search Console. Click this link to open the Disavow tool. Then select the website whose links you want to disavow, and you can upload a text file containing the backlinks to be disavowed.

How do you use the Google Disavow tool?

If you want to use the Google Disavow tool, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

1. All links must be in a text file (.txt); otherwise, you won’t be able to reject the links
2. If you have previously rejected links, those links must also be included in the .txt file; otherwise, the previously rejected links will be accepted by Google again.
3. Each rejection must be on a new line in the document

The easiest way is to create a list in a Word document of all the links you want to disavow and thereby remove from Google’s index. If you want to disavow a specific page, paste the URL into the document.

If you want to reject an entire domain, follow these steps:

domain:{{URL van de domein}}

The image below shows an example of our own Disavow file. The first lines contain URLs that should be disavowed, followed by domains that should be disavowed.

I’ve excluded my URLs—what now?

Once you’ve submitted the Disavow file in the Google Disavow Tool, you’ll receive a notification indicating the number of URLs and domains that are being disavowed. It may take some time—anywhere from a few days to a few weeks—for Google to process the Disavow file.

After submitting the file, you don’t need to do anything else to ensure that the bad backlinks are rejected. However, it’s a good idea to check your indexed backlinks regularly so you can quickly filter out any harmful ones.