Guide to Disavowing Backlinks

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The Complete Guide to Disavowing Backlinks

The Complete Guide to Disavowing Backlinks

Your step-by-step walkthrough for cleaning up your backlink profile.

Use with Caution

The Disavow tool is an advanced feature. Most websites do not need to use it. Disavowing links unnecessarily can harm your site's performance. Only proceed if you have a manual action for unnatural links or are confident you have a significant number of spammy links that could cause one.

1

Conduct a Thorough Backlink Audit

Before disavowing, you must identify which links are harmful. This involves a deep dive into your entire backlink profile.

  • Gather Data: Export your backlink data from tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush.
  • Analyze for Red Flags: Scrutinize your list for low-quality signals like links from spammy domains, irrelevant sites, or sites with excessive exact-match anchor text.
  • Create a "Bad Links" List: Compile a spreadsheet of all the links you've identified as potentially harmful.
2

Attempt Manual Removal

Google recommends trying to remove bad links manually before using the Disavow tool. This is the safest first step.

  • Contact Webmasters: Find contact information for the sites with bad links and send a polite email requesting removal.
  • Document Everything: Keep a record of your outreach attempts. This can be useful if you need to submit a reconsideration request later.
3

Create Your Disavow File

For links you couldn't get removed, you'll create a simple text file (`.txt`) to upload to Google.

  • The file must be a .txt file encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII.
  • List one URL or domain to disavow per line.
  • To disavow an entire domain (recommended for spam sites), prefix it with `domain:`.
  • Use `#` to add comments for your own reference.
# Contacted owner of spammywebsite.com on 10/10/2025, no response
domain:spammywebsite.com
domain:another-bad-site.net

# Specific spammy link from an otherwise okay site
http://goodwebsite.com/spammy-comment.html

Error Fix: "Domain properties are not supported"

This common error occurs because the Disavow tool is a legacy feature that only works with **URL-prefix properties**, not the newer **domain properties**. Here’s the simple solution.

  1. Go to your Google Search Console dashboard.
  2. In the property selector (top left), click "+ Add property".
  3. Choose the "URL prefix" option on the right.
  4. Enter your site's full, primary URL (e.g., `https://www.yourdomain.com`).
  5. Follow the steps to verify this new property. You can have both a domain and a URL-prefix property active simultaneously.

Once verified, you will be able to select this new URL-prefix property in the Disavow tool.

5

Upload Your Disavow File

With your URL-prefix property active and your `.txt` file ready, it's time to submit it.

  1. Navigate to the Google Disavow Tool page.
  2. Select your newly created URL-prefix property from the dropdown menu.
  3. Click the button to upload your disavow list.
  4. Choose your `.txt` file and confirm the submission.

Note: Uploading a new file will completely replace any previous one. Ensure your new file includes all links you still want to disavow.

6

Be Patient and Monitor

The process is not instant. Google needs time to recrawl the web and process your request.

  • It can take several weeks for the changes to take effect.
  • The disavowed links will still show in your Search Console reports, but they won't be factored into your site's assessment.
  • Keep an eye on your site's performance and organic traffic for any changes over the following months.
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