My site is linked from over 900 "The Globe"-domains - disavow or not?

[Sindre]

Hi!

As some of you may be familiar with, there is a giant spam-network with the same design and same page title on all domains: "The Globe - The world's most visited web pages". For example:

theglobe.at
theglobe.co.za
www.internet-search.us

I've now discovered that over 900 of these spam-domains link to my site. My plan was of course to disavow them all, but Google is explicit on telling me to be careful. «Only disavow if you are certain that the links are damaging to your rankings». And to be honest, I'm not sure.

Also: it seems drastic to disavow almost a thousand pages. I'm afraid to mess something up. What would you do?

[Mark-Delton]

I don't entirely agree with this approach when it comes to disavowing links. In disavowing, a more strategic approach is crucial.

If you or your team of SEOs have intentionally built links to manipulate SERP rankings, particularly if they fall under Google's definition of a Link Scheme, it is advisable to disavow them.

Google takes a dim view of such manipulative tactics, and disavowing these links can help protect your website's SEO integrity.

As for links from low-quality or junk websites, they may not always be directly harmful, but it's important to exercise caution.

While Google's algorithms are smart enough to recognize and often ignore such links when calculating page rank, it's still a good practice to periodically review your backlink profile and consider disavowing links from spammy or irrelevant sources.

This helps to maintain a healthy and authoritative link profile, which is essential for long-term SEO success.

[HostColor]

It is worth mentioning that whoever owns these websites does mass linking on purpose. They have introduced a charge for a 'Delete Link' service that costs $36. This is a textbook example of a soft form of "digital extortion".

[samdland]

I have read all over the place how ignoring these domains Is the best policy, but disavowing the globe does improve search presence, so always disavow them. I have built a utility to target the globe and others.

https://dynamic.domains/disavow-utility.zip

• The utility is hardly refined, and a work in progress but entirely functional and will make short work of the Globe. It can scan all domains in your linking domains file and search for specific text. If you are like me and sorting through thousands of links this can be  life saver, as it will open each domain and scan for whatever keywords you like

  You can search multiple keywords, just separate by comma. The below search text will weed out the Globe and a ton more.

  keyword research,See related links to what you are looking for,popstripeRs,Search_Engine_Optimization_Services,Keyword Suggestions,This domain may be for sale,data-adblockkey,List website,complete online resource for web host providers,URLs categories for query and submission,Estadísticas web y datos de valoración simplificados,Ashibka.ru,Check Website IP on Server,Recently Analyzed Sites,research and analysis,Tools check keyword with Search Engines,1000 domain,the_worlds_most_visited

  If you want to just single out the globe use the_worlds_most_visited, and it will get them all, and build a nice list for you.

[WallpaperBlvd]

I just did the same thing today. I re-signed back up with Moz today and noticed 900+ spam links that I didn’t even know existed. It’s from weird sites that I never heard of before. I put them all in the .txt and uploaded the list. Let’s see what happens

[Your_Workshop]

Thanks, Sindre! Our current visibility is high and I am not sure these are actually hurting us, but there are a lot of them and I am nervous. Great to know that you didn't see any negative results from doing this. I really appreciate your help!

[Sindre]

Hi!

Yes, I did actually. After disavowing all the "The Globe"-domains + a hundred other spam domains, our visibility in Google organic actually went up quite a bit. So it was a success, and I recommend doing the same thing seeing as we seemed to be punished for the links.

For me this makes sense. Yes, I believe Google is extremely good at finding and diminishing these domains. On the other hand; if 1000 spam domains link to my site, they should be disavowed. If that didn't work, I would probably never bother to disavow again.

My concern in this whole thing was that we would lose visibility instead of gaining. But seeing as these are 100 % spam domains, I trusted Google to know this as well.

Best regards!

[Your_Workshop]

Did you ever see a result from this? I am in the same situation and trying to decide if I should just ignore them or if I should disavow. Would love to know what happened with your website.

[Sindre]

Thank you your answer!

We actually went ahead and disavowed them. A total of 916 domains. I will make sure to post the results her (if there are any). I personally don't think there will be any effect, but time will show. No matter what happens, it's nice to be sure that we aren't getting punished for the links.

[GastonRiera]

Hello Sindre,

TL;DR;
I wouldn't worry that much for those links as long as you find them spammy probably google will consider them as spam and don't consider them when ranking your page.
Only if you consider that those links are hurting your rankings use the disavow tool.

Long explanation:
On one hand, Google (though their spokesman) said that the algorithm is pretty good finding and diminishing the strength of spammy links. So, if you talk to someone from Google right now, they might said: leave them, probably the algorithm will consider those as spammy and there will be no harm.

On the other hand, If you are absolutely sure that those links are spammy and malicious... then go ahead and disavow them. Remember that it's possible to disavow an entire domain.
More info here: Disavow backlinks - Search Console Help

Hope it helps.
Best luck
GR