Disavowing Links
-
I need some advice... I've noticed our link profile has increased with many comments links --- something I certainly have not pursued manually.
I'm new to disavowing links. However, before I go ahead and disavow them, I'd like to ask how harmful these links are and would you recommend this is something I can do myself (relatively novice SEO) or if you'd recommend someone who could do this for a reasonable cost.
In one instance, the link from this comment thread is with the anchor text, "porn"... Certainly not something we want to rank for, haha!
I look forward to your advice
-
I recently had the experience of manually looking at over 3,000 domains. I am a programmer and so I made utility that will scan each domain in a MOZ Linking Domains csv file and search for specified text. It can pick out every Globe.com domain and other spam sites from a list in a number of minutes. I would love the feedback, and so I would share this utility.
I found that in my case using the keywords below got 95% or better of my bad links. It can also use the Spam and DA values etc..
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 would like to give it a try please see https://dynamic.domains/disavow-utility.zip
This is not a commercial application, and although I am working on it to release the same, it just does the one thing right now. It does do it quite well though. It is an .exe in a zip file. I know there are trust issues, but at the same time you cant get a MOZ pro account without CC, and dynamic.domains is mine. I am the author of MintDNS. This app is 100% clean and in no way malicious etc..
Right now it only works with MOZ Linking Domains CSV files. If you have a sample Aherfs file I would love to add support.
If you try it out and find it handy please give me your feedback and suggestions etc..
-
I use the MOZ link explorer to get a report a backlink profile, then I create a shortlist us isolating High SPAM domains, low DA domains.
Then check I check all of these domains & create a Disavow file based on all the domains that are obviously poor quality, rinse & repeat every 3-4 months.
As always the MOZ team have an excellent article on this topic - https://moz.com/blog/links-to-target-with-disavow.
-
effectdigital Nailed it. I couldn't explain it better. One thing I can point out is, once you create the disavow file, update that file and upload. If you have lost your disavow file, download from Google webmaster account and update it, re-upload it.
-
That sounds like a negative SEO attack, let me explain that for you. In the past, the volume of backlinks mattered more than their quality (before PageRank was refined more, before Google's Penguin algorithm updates)
As you can imagine, this was heavily abused so Google took measures to counteract the worst of the SEO industry. They created clever algorithms which attempted to determine, whether links had been built 'just for SEO' or whether the links in question were truly relevant. For sites attempting to manipulate Google's rankings, they de-valued the linking sites or in the worst cases, applied manual penalties - nullifying all their rankings
Again the industry adapted to Google's changes. People learned that if they created links which 'looked like' they had been manufactured to raise Google rankings, they could penalise the site they were pointing to (enter: Negative SEO)
Google's algorithms have come on since then but IMO still take a harsh line and have a very difficult time distinguishing between manipulative links and negative SEO links
As such, it's wise to take action on this kind of stuff. Whilst a disavow project may slightly lower rankings a small amount (as an SEOs view of what's a bad link, is never 'perfectly' aligned to Google's view) - it's still worth doing. If you ignore such things for too long and they mount up, instead of seeing a small dip - you can lose ALL your rankings (when Google's algorithms fail to evaluate the links correctly)
Personally I'd take action, especially as some links are porn related ('bad neighbourhood' links)
The best thing to do is download all links from all the main backlink sources (Ahrefs, Moz, SEMRush, Majestic SEO). Once this is done you can use something like URL profiler to set metrics against each link (adding of course, your referral traffic data from GA). You can weight or balance these metrics in a new column in Excel, and then evaluate which links are good or spammy
At the end of the process, you have a list of domains to disavow. At Effect, we've got really good at this actually. Even though we always tell clients they could see a small dip in results, in many cases they don't even see that. Then they can have peace of mind ,that their backlink profile (at least for a few months, or couple of years) is 'insulated'
Email address is on our Moz community profile if interested
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
Refferal links
I have a site where I can pick up where my hits came from. So if somebody clicks from another website link to visit my website, I will then pick up from which website they came from and also which page they landed on. Will google penalize me for this and see this as paid advertising?
Link Building | | Heinwest0 -
How many links per week/month should a link building campaign acquire?
I am running a linkbuilding campaign for my company. I am mostly focusing on guest blogging opportunities and responding to emails from HARO. How many links would I have to acquire each week or month to be considered doing a good job over a 6 month or a year time period? Thank you,
Link Building | | fersu0 -
Question about placing links
My company have a website about car related business. I have found around 8-10 sites that is car related which can place links to me. I am wondering whats the best way to make this most effective. I have been writing 8 different texts with maybe 200-250 words each which i plan to use on the sites that is going to link to my site. Should i use exact anchors links or should i use different anchors on every site so it looks more natural? My site today does not have much quality links to it which i believe can make problem when you get 8-10 new sites linking that is very related and have a nice content? How long time should i wait when i put a link to each site to make it less unnatural? Happy for any answer! 🙂
Link Building | | Rob-0 -
If i get link pointing to a specific page , will that link add up to the count of linking root domains too ?
If I create a fresh link pointing to specific page on my site, apart from adding a number to "page linking root domains" does it also add up to root domain linking ?
Link Building | | Techbate1 -
Multiple Links from High Ranking Site Vs. Links from Multiple Domains - What's More Important?
I understand it is important to get links from many quality domains. Currently, I do have links from top domains (PR, Trust) and it I can get more from (high rank) pages on these same domains. Would it be better to focus on expanding my reach (find additional domains to link from) or to continue to build links from the current domains I have a connection with? What is weighted more? I realize doing both is important, but trying to figure out how to best use my time. Thanks! David
Link Building | | DWill0 -
Link building
Folks would you recommend i build a link on this site for $30... http://www.web-directory-australia.info please let me know detailed reasons as to your recommendation as I'm a new SEO and learning as much as I can 🙂
Link Building | | PHDAustralia680 -
Will No Follow Links count toward your root domain links for Domain Authority?
I am wondering if no follow links help, hurt, or do nothing when it comes to increasing page and domain authority? I know they are not supposed to pass rank and I have read discussions that some people suspect they still might, but I am wondering if I have a mix of follow plus no follow, will the no follow ones increase the count of the root domains linking to me and help boost my authority? Assuming of course the no follow links are coming from quality sites with high page and domain authority of their own. Thanks.
Link Building | | FastLearner0 -
External link
Hi guys! You must get many questions about external links... This is mine. If I get an external link with good authority ranking in google, but it is not relevant to the site (for example, my site is about marquees, but we could get links from schools, which are our main clients, or any type of client) Does that affect negatively somehow to the rankings? or there is good value on it even is not related? Thanks! Adriana
Link Building | | extrememarquees0