Do you disavow links?

[MichaelCorfman]

Just over seven years ago we ran a poll asking Have many times have you disavowed links to your site(s)?

About 60% of those responding said they had disavowed links, about 15% said they had not, but planned to do so, and about 25% said they had not and had no plans to do so.

Since it has been a long time, and the world has evolved, I figure it is time to ask about disavowing links once again.

Search Engine Land published the following article this week: Google disavow link tool will go away at some point

According to the article, Google Search Analyst John Mueller stated on Monday “At some point, I’m sure we’ll remove it. I'm tempted to add something snarky regarding the conspiracy-posts, but I'll hold my tongue.”

Bing has actually beaten Google to the punch, removing their disavow links feature in October of last year, as noted in the article Bing Webmaster Tools disavow link tool is going away.

According to Bing spokesperson Fabrice Chanel “We have invested heavily in developing and improving our artificial intelligence capabilities, which enables us to better understand the context and intent of links, as well as the trustworthiness and authority of their sources. We can now differentiate between natural and unnatural links, and we can ignore or discount the latter without affecting the former.”

Besides voting in the poll, please share your reasons for using or not using disavow tools. And, especially if you have used them, please share our thoughts about the tools and the extent to which you have used them.

Michael

[idanbraun]

I use the disavow tool when I see spammy links in my Search Console. If I will not check my Search Console backlinks list for some time, I will have not only a large amount of spammy links, but also I will suffer from a decrease in my Google result positions.

The main purpose of those spammy links, is negative SEO from competitors. Until now I disavowed 592 domains.

[universal4]

I recall using the disavow tool some years ago but had not spent a great deal of time or research of it.

Since most people that had used it, most often disavowed those who would use spammy or invalid links to others not caring if they hurt them as a method to boost themselves on terms most likely of topics their sites had zero to do with.

What I had hoped this tool would have led to, was that those who would use spammy or invalid links to others would have been hurt by being disavowed on many sites.

Not sure this had that effect, but some parts of logic suggest it should have.

I don't think the tool will be missed when it does disappear.

Rick
Universal4

[newcustomeroffer]

I recall a number of SEO speakers at conferences basically saying that the disavow tool was giving google far too much information that they could use for other purposes. Whether that's correct in some capacity or just paranoia is impossible to tell really, but it certainly made me think twice before using it. As Rick says, not likely to be missed when it's gone.

[universal4]

I recall a number of SEO speakers at conferences basically saying that the disavow tool was giving google far too much information that they could use for other purposes. Whether that's correct in some capacity or just paranoia is impossible to tell really, but it certainly made me think twice before using it. As Rick says, not likely to be missed when it's gone.

So seo's are admitting that a lot of untrusted sites are linking to others and they don't want google to catch what they are doing? If a lot of seo's feel that way, the tool should be kept.

I lean toward the theory of paranoia also, since the tool only reveals 2 domains, the one linked to and the one linked from (as well as the first party not trusting the second party)

Rick
Universal4

[NoDepositCasinos]

I have disavowed links in the past but have not in more than a year. I only did it when the links looked undoubtedly spammy, and I prefer having the tool and being able to do something if I notice a problem or just don't want to be linked to a certain site.

What I had hoped this tool would have led to, was that those who would use spammy or invalid links to others would have been hurt by being disavowed on many sites.

Not sure this had that effect, but some parts of logic suggest it should have.

Sadly, logic does not always prevail when it comes to business.