Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4. Disavow Tool - WWW or Not?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Disavow Tool - WWW or Not?

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    6
    10
    4027
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • Carlos-R
      Carlos-R last edited by

      Hi All,

      Just a quick question ... A shady domain linking to my website is indexed in Google for both example.com and www.example.com. If  I wan't to disavow the entire domain, do I need to submit both:

      domain:www.example.com

      domain:example.com

      or just:

      domain:example.com

      Cheers!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JaredMumford
        JaredMumford last edited by

        To clear up any uncertainty, I think there are two questions being asked:

        1. Link to be disavowed: Do I disavow both the www and non-www versions of a bad link?
        2. Site you own: Which site in webmaster tools do I upload the disavow list to - www or non-www?

        The link to be disavowed is an easy answer because in most cases if you want a link disavowed, you probably don't want a link from that domain (because its suspect, de-indexed, etc.).  Therefore you can simply blanket it with domain:badwebsite.com. This will be sure to get any link from this site to yours, regardless of the subdomain (i.e. www.badwebsite.com, ww2.badwebsite.com, forum.badwebsite.com, etc.)

        Answer #2 isn't quite as easy. The safest (and arguably proper) way is to link mine both the www and non-www versions of your website and treat each as a separate site (as Google does). Even if you are using 301 redirects or canonicals I still recommend this method. In many cases, one version will have a much smaller backlink volume. In any case, pick out the bad links and try to get them removed by emailing the website. Once the attempt has been made, Compile the remaining backlinks (still in separate lists for www and non-www), and upload them to their respective disavow tool areas.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • MarieHaynes
          MarieHaynes @webestate last edited by

          The correct syntax, whether there is a www or not is to use domain:example.com.  this will disavow both the www and the non www.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • webestate
            webestate last edited by

            Just to be clear can someone answer this for me?

            I am about to disavow some links and when I get to webmaster tools I have both the www.site.com and site.com and it's asking me to select one.  Which one do I pick to disavow the links?........www or non-www?

            MarieHaynes 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • MarieHaynes
              MarieHaynes last edited by

              If you use:

              domain:example.com

              then this will disavow www.example.com, example.com and all pages coming from this domain.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • Bryan_Loconto
                Bryan_Loconto @Carlos-R last edited by

                Based on the situation, I would only disavow the ones that are indexed and be sure to keep track of your work. The Read More link I posted above explains everything you need to know. You should also check both versions (www and non) of the back links to your site.

                another quote from that page:

                'Note: When looking at the links to your site in Webmaster Tools, you may want to verify both the www and the non-vww version of your domain in your Webmaster Tools account. To Google, these are entirely different sites. Take a look at the data for both sites.'

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Carlos-R
                  Carlos-R @Bryan_Loconto last edited by

                  Hi Sean  - Thanks for your reply. That means we'd have to check for all domains we want to  disavow whether both versions are indexed or not. Or disavow both versions just to be be on the safe side...

                  Bryan_Loconto 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Carlos-R
                    Carlos-R @Sean_Dawes last edited by

                    Hi Sean  - Thanks for your reply. I just edited my question, maybe it wasn't very easy to understand. I was just wondering if to disavow a domain that has both WWW and not-WWW versions indexed in Google, I had to disavow both:

                    domain:www.example.com

                    domain:example.com

                    or just:

                    domain:example.com

                    I understand the risks of using the disavow tool and asking for the links to be removed is no longer an option.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Sean_Dawes
                      Sean_Dawes last edited by

                      No do not do this.

                      Which version do you want to keep? You will need to look at the data to determine which version is the most linked to. Than just redirect www to non www or vice versa.  You should also setup both non www and www versions of Google webmaster tools.

                      Also in the version you want to keep, go to your google webmaster tools>configuration>settings and than define which version yo want.

                      Disvow tool should be considered the last resource for removing links to your site that are shady.

                      Carlos-R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Bryan_Loconto
                        Bryan_Loconto last edited by

                        Hi Carlos,

                        Remove both Google looks at them as two separate sites. However, I would not recommend using Google disavow tool unless the linking page is not accessible, or the webmaster of the linking site will not take it down after a couple attempts.

                        "This is an advanced feature and should only be used with caution. If used incorrectly, this feature can potentially harm your site’s performance in Google’s search results. We recommend that you disavow backlinks only if you believe you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site, and if you are confident that the links are causing issues for you. In most cases, Google can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most normal or typical sites will not need to use this tool." Read More

                        This should help.

                        Carlos-R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
                        • 1 / 1
                        • First post
                          Last post

                        Got a burning SEO question?

                        Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                        Start my free trial


                        Browse Questions

                        Explore more categories

                        • Moz Tools

                          Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                        • SEO Tactics

                          Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                        • Community

                          Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                        • Digital Marketing

                          Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                        • Research & Trends

                          Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                        • Support

                          Connect on product support and feature requests.

                        • See all categories

                        Related Questions

                        • netcomsia

                          block primary . xxx domain with disavow tool

                          search results spam spam score disavow seo audit

                          Hi friends I discovered spam url attack on top sites with good google positions for specific keyword. Can I block primary domain like .xxx with disavow tool? There is hundreds of different domains but primary domain is always the same. for example like this domain:xxx? Thanks

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | netcomsia
                          0
                        • kayl87

                          Favourite tool for unlinked brand mentions?

                          Hey Guys, There seems to be multiple tools on the market for unlinked brand mentions for link building e.g. Ahrefs, Moz, etc. Which one is your favourite? Cheers.

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | kayl87
                          0
                        • Marta_King_ruiz

                          Disavow 401, 403, 410, 500, 502, 503

                          Dear people, I am cleaning my backlink profile and I am not sure if I should disavow links that drive you to a: 401, 403, 410, 500, 502, 503. I do understand that since last Penguin update, it won't be necessary, but I would like to be sure about it. Any hints out there? Thanks in advance 🙂

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Marta_King_ruiz
                          0
                        • NeatIT

                          6 .htaccess Rewrites: Remove index.html, Remove .html, Force non-www, Force Trailing Slash

                          i've to give some information about my website Environment 1. i have static webpage in the root. 2. Wordpress installed in sub-dictionary www.domain.com/blog/ 3. I have two .htaccess , one in the root and one in the wordpress
                          folder. i want to www to non on all URLs Remove index.html from url Remove all .html extension / Re-direct 301 to url
                          without .html extension Add trailing slash to the static webpages / Re-direct 301 from non-trailing slash Force trailing slash to the Wordpress Webpages / Re-direct 301 from non-trailing slash Some examples domain.tld/index.html >> domain.tld/ domain.tld/file.html >> domain.tld/file/ domain.tld/file.html/ >> domain.tld/file/ domain.tld/wordpress/post-name >> domain.tld/wordpress/post-name/ My code in ROOT htaccess is <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews RewriteEngine On
                          RewriteBase / #removing trailing slash
                          RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
                          RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ $1 [R=301,L] #www to non
                          RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.(([a-z0-9_]+.)?domain.com)$ [NC]
                          RewriteRule .? http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L] #html
                          RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
                          RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
                          RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.html [NC,L] #index redirect
                          RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /index.html\ HTTP/
                          RewriteRule ^index.html$ http://domain.com/ [R=301,L]
                          RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} .html
                          RewriteRule ^(.*).html$ /$1 [R=301,L]</ifmodule> The above code do 1. redirect www to non-www
                          2. Remove trailing slash at the end (if exists)
                          3. Remove index.html
                          4. Remove all .html
                          5. Redirect 301 to filename but doesn't add trailing slash at the end

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NeatIT
                          0
                        • morg45454

                          Robots.txt - Do I block Bots from crawling the non-www version if I use www.site.com ?

                          my site uses is set up at http://www.site.com I have my site redirected from non- www to the www in htacess file. My question is... what should my robots.txt file look like for the non-www site? Do you block robots from crawling the site like this? Or do you leave it blank? User-agent: * Disallow: / Sitemap: http://www.morganlindsayphotography.com/sitemap.xml Sitemap: http://www.morganlindsayphotography.com/video-sitemap.xml

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | morg45454
                          0
                        • jameswesleyhunt

                          Switching site from non-www to www

                          Howdy folks, I've got a website that is roughly 3 months old. I created it as a naked URL as I often prefer the look but I've noticed that a lot of my competition has www and also some of my clients seem to prefer it as well. I feel like switching it to www will be of long-term benefit for my site. The problem is that I currently have several pages with first page rankings and a backlinks. I am wondering what the negative effects of switching it to www would be, and how I can minimize any issues. I am guessing I should do a redirect, and I have access to some of the backlinks so I can change those as well, but is there anything else? Thoughts? I appreciate the feedback!

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jameswesleyhunt
                          1
                        • bjs2010

                          Limit on Google Removal Tool?

                          I'm dealing with thousands of duplicate URL's caused by the CMS... So I am using some automation to get through them - What is the daily limit? weekly? monthly? Any ideas?? thanks, Ben

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjs2010
                          0
                        • rahul11

                          How to do geo targeting for domain and sub directories in Webmaster tool?

                          Hello All, How can i do geo targeting in multiple countries on my ** root domain and sub **directories in Webmaster tool. My domain is "abc.com" and i want to target three countries UAE , Kuwait, Saudi arabia. So, Can i assign geo targeting in Webmaster tool ,  Root domain for UAE country and make other two sub directories for Kuwait and saudi ? abc.com - UAE (geo targeting) abc.com/kw - Kuwait (geo targeting) abc.com/sa - Saudi  (geo targeting) Or Root doamain should be not assign for any country and Make three sub directories for UAE, Kuwait , and saudi and targeting them there geo locations. abc.com - Unlisted (geo targeting) abc.com/uae/ - UAE (geo targeting) abc.com/kw/ - Kuwait (geo targeting) abc.com/sa/ - Saudi  (geo targeting)

                          Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rahul11
                          0

                        Get started with Moz Pro!

                        Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                        Start my free trial
                        Products
                        • Moz Pro
                        • Moz Local
                        • Moz API
                        • Moz Data
                        • STAT
                        • Product Updates
                        Moz Solutions
                        • SMB Solutions
                        • Agency Solutions
                        • Enterprise Solutions
                        Free SEO Tools
                        • Domain Authority Checker
                        • Link Explorer
                        • Keyword Explorer
                        • Competitive Research
                        • Brand Authority Checker
                        • Local Citation Checker
                        • MozBar Extension
                        • MozCast
                        Resources
                        • Blog
                        • SEO Learning Center
                        • Help Hub
                        • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                        • How-to Guides
                        • Moz Academy
                        • API Docs
                        About Moz
                        • About
                        • Team
                        • Careers
                        • Contact
                        Why Moz
                        • Case Studies
                        • Testimonials
                        Get Involved
                        • Become an Affiliate
                        • MozCon
                        • Webinars
                        • Practical Marketer Series
                        • MozPod
                        Connect with us

                        Contact the Help team

                        Join our newsletter
                        Moz logo
                        © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                        • Accessibility
                        • Terms of Use
                        • Privacy

                        Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.