Google’s New Tool For Bad Links

Google recently announced it has launched its Disavow Tool which allows webmasters to alert Google of any backlinks they think may be harming their website. When Google rolled out their Penguin algorithm update, many webmasters saw their search engine rankings plummet as Google was penalizing their website because of the types of links pointing at their website. This algorithm update created a lot of stress for webmasters as they were not entirely sure which links were causing their rankings to decline.

Now, thanks to the Disavow Tool, webmasters can tell Google which links to ignore when assessing their backlink profile in an effort to improve their rankings.

 Why you Should Use the Google Disavow Tool

If you were one of the many webmasters who was hit hard by the Penguin update, you will want to use the Disavow Tool to help your website recover. This tool is sort of a way for webmasters to wipe the slate clean if they happened to build backlinks for their website using automated tools or link-building services.

By providing Google with a link of links to ignore when deciding where your website should rank for a specific keyword, you should be able to clean up your backlink profile and only be left with high-quality links from relevant websites. When your backlink profile is cleaned up, you should see your rankings improve. Your rankings may not rebound to the levels they once were before the Penguin update, but they should be higher than what they currently are.

How to Use the Disavow Tool

Using the Disavow Tool can be a cumbersome task at first, but once you use it for the first time it should be easy for you to use it again for another domain that you own. The first thing you need to do in order to use the Disavow Tool is to gather a list of URLs that contain a link pointing to the website that you believe is hurting your website’s rankings. These URLs can be gathered using a backlink profile tool.

Once you have a list of low-quality URLs that contain a backlink for your website, you will want to open up a text file and paste those URLs in that file using the following format: http://www.domain.com/pageA.html where the entire URL is the location of the page where your backlink resides. If you want to disavow all links from an entire domain, you can do so by including a line in your text file that reads domain:TheDomainYouWantToDisavow.com. At the top of your text file, you can create comments for yourself and set those aside by placing a hashtag (#) before the line that contains the comment. In the end, your file will look something like this:

# Comment goes here

# Tried removing links from www.domainD.com but the owner was unresponsive

Domain: TheDomainYouWantToDisavow.com

http://www.domain.com/pageA.html

http://www.domain.com/pageB.html

http://www.domain.com/pageC.html

Once you have saved your text file with all of the URLs where you believe there is a backlink that is harming your site’s search engine ranking, you will then need to open up the Disavow Tool while signing into your Google account. After you navigate to the Disavow Tool, you will then go through all of the prompts and warnings and upload your text file for the appropriate domain that you own.

It is important to remember that it can take up to several weeks for the Disavow Tool to take effect, so you will not see an immediate increase in your website’s rankings. Just keep a watchful eye on your rankings to see if they improve in the next couple of weeks. If your rankings do not improve, you can try disavowing more links.

Richard H. blogger, writer, hobby photographer. He enjoys life as much as he can, the biggest happiness for him is when he helps others. Currently working for Samuelson Hause & Samuelson as a content contributor.