What is the Disavow Tool?
The Disavow tool is a web tool that bloggers use to instruct Google to ignore links they paid for or gained using techniques that are considered unnatural. Google may ignore the links you disavow, absolving you of any SEO benefit or penalties you may have received.
Google recommends that you only use the disavow tool to disavow black hat links you created or that someone else created on your behalf. For example, if you hired an SEO who used link-building techniques that violate Google Search Essentials guidelines.
That said, Google has clarified that the links entered into the disavow tool are considered strong suggestions rather than instructions. You can access the disavow tool over here. You would need a Google Search Console account to use it.
Google’s Guidelines on Using the Disavow Tool
Google discourages bloggers from using the disavow tool as Google itself can ignore spammy links. Google further assures that it has sophisticated algorithms to identify such links and prevent them from hurting their rankings.
However, if you insist on removing spammy links, Google recommends that you reach out to the site from which they originate and request them to remove the links. If they refuse or do not reply, Google then recommends that you use the disavow tool.
Specifically, Google prefers that you only use the disavow tool when two conditions are met:
- There is a considerable amount of spammy links pointing to you
- Those spammy links have caused or will likely cause Google to issue you with a manual action penalty
Google further recommends that you only use the disavow tool for links you paid for. So, you can ignore disavowing links you did not pay for and were not involved in their creation.
However, the specific situation in which you should use the disavow tool is often a cause for speculation among SEOs. Some recommend using it when you experience a sudden drop in rankings and a rapid increase in low-quality links pointing to your site. Others recommend only using it when you are issued a manual action penalty.
Google issues this warning because the disavow tool can hurt your rankings when used incorrectly. Google also menzioni that disavowed links are hard to unavow. Google will take time to unavow those links. When it finally does, the links will have less weight than before you disavowed them.