Google introduced the Disavow tool in 2012 to help websites eliminate the impact of external links on their organic rankings. At the time, Google was fighting “link spam”, the act of obtaining low-quality links and link building tactics.
Google clarifies that websites should only use the Disavow Tool after receiving a manual penalty notice via Webmaster Tools (now Search Console) if the penalty is related to backlinks, stating:
You should only disavow a backlink if:
1. Your site has a lot of spam, artificial or low-quality links.
and
2. The link has caused or may cause manual action on the site.
Nevertheless, many website owners have used the disavow tool to proactively avoid penalties after investing in low-quality link building services or after suspecting a “negative SEO attack” from a competitor.
To this day, there is little agreement in the search engine community on whether (or how) to use the disavow tool. Several providers offer disavow services and continue to attract customers. Google's documentation states that the disavow tool is “an advanced feature that should be used with care. If used incorrectly, this feature can harm your site's performance in Google search results.”
In my experience, most companies don't know if a backlink is spam or not, their in-house SEO teams typically don't report on the quality or type of links they get, and third-party services incorrectly classify links as “toxic,” adding to the confusion.
Here are the latest updates from industry experts to help you decide.
Denial is ineffective
The disavow tool is always a request to Google, and there's no guarantee that Google will honor it.
A recent experiment by search optimization expert Cyrus Shepherd proves this point: He disavowed all links pointing to his site and waited seven weeks, but saw little impact on his organic traffic.
Search optimizer Cyrus Shepherd disavowed all known links to his website without any significant change in traffic. Click on image to enlarge.
Shepherd believes Google processed the document because his site saw little traffic. increase He says that shortly after he submitted the disavowal list, the search engines ignored it.
The only change was the number of backlinks reported in Search Console, but since it happened to many sites it may have been a widespread reporting bug.
Therefore, unless your site receives a manual penalty, Google is likely to ignore the disavowal, so there is no reason to invest in a proactive disavowal service.
Manual link-related penalties are rare
Manual link penalties have been largely unheard of in recent years, with only one witnessed this year. This means that Google no longer needs your help or suggestions in determining which links are unnatural or spammy, and it's likely they will eventually phase out the disavow tool.
However, if your site has received a link-related manual penalty (reported in Search Console) and you are unable to remove the unnatural links, the Disavow tool remains an option – there is currently no better alternative.
