Should I disavow these links?
-
Hi all, I have a site that is a year old, we have been building backlinks organically - probably around 50 or so - then almost overnight we had100s of spammy links. Screenshot here: https://ibb.co/cijiub
My questions:
- Should I disavow these?
- What happens if I don't disavow these?
- Can I work out where they came from?
- If I disavow a few of them, is this a token offering to the Google Gods that will lower my risk of being penalised?
Thank you.
-
Hi there,
Gaston's reply below is very helpful so I don't have too much to add apart from a couple of points.
Personally, I think I'd disavow these links a bit at a time - perhaps submit a few of them to start off with and make sure there are no negative effects, then add more over time. Right now, no one really knows how Google handles disavow because on one hand, Google say they handle things automatically, but on the other hand they still provide the tool for us to use...
1. If you don't disavow now, just make sure you keep a note of all of these kinds of links (and watch for new ones in the future) and if you do experience any penalty problems, you have a list ready to go to submit.
2. If you do disavow now, take your time to get the list right and make sure you only disavow links which are purely manipulative and / or look spammy. If you haven't seen any traffic or penalty problems, you want to be extra careful when using disavow. At the same time, if links are clearly spammy, they're unlikely to help long-term anyway, so disavowing them may not hurt at all.
I hope that helps!
Paddy
-
Hi Bee,
1.- Yes, please disavow those! I do not recommend to wait.
The awful quality of them is by default harming. Also the amount, if you have 50 good inbound links, I mean that you worked hard for getting them, having 100 low quality, that is a great proporcion. Please do it carefully, include only the spam ones. You can use Moz´s Open Site Explorer for verify the spam score. Never use "disavow all".How: verify into the Google Search Console:
a) Search Traffic, b) Links to Your Site, c) Who links the most, d) All domains.
There you will get a list of all domains.
Download it, erase from the list all the good inbound domains. Then you will have a list of domains for disavow, save as .text and upload to Google Disavow Tool.
You have to verify in all the properties, just in case. If it is necessary repeat the process in the affected property. Remember that for Google, every possible version of your website is a different property, for this purpose and many others.
Remember to disavow into Bing Websmasters too.
2.- Google might notice those as spammy or might "think" that you bought those.
3. It is possible, by the police or a highly skilled hacker. Therefore not many options.
4.- On the contrary. You notice them you took action. Good luck!
Mª Verónica
-
Hello Bee159,
On one hand, Google (though their spokemen) said that the algorithm is pretty good finding and diminishing the strenght 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 HelpAnswering the list:
- Its up to you.
- Google might eventually recognize them as spammy and ignore them in your site's backlink profile
- I don't know any good way of reverse engineering how backlinks end up in spammy sites.
- I don't believe that Google might think more of your site just if disavow some links. Sure, if the penalty is caused by any of those links, then you will lower that risk.
Hope it helps.
Best Luck.
GR.
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
-
Link Exchange
Is link exchange always bad? What if I want to add a link for other related products on my site which I do not offer, and the other site does the same for me? Will it be better to rather an article for each other product and link to somebody, than have one page with a list of other products to other sites. For example. We do training. Lets say we offer computer training. We search companies that does health and safety training offer to put their course on our site with a link to them, if they do the same.
Link Building | | Heinwest0 -
Links from my Own Blog to my Own Website and Link Scheme
Hi There, I use my own blog to give advices and offer information related to my business service. Of course in terms of SEO my blog is useful not only to expand my brand presence but also to acquire long-tail traffic. I use to insert a maximum of one link with a relative matching anchor text in every article of my blog pointing to my own webpage. Said that, the questions are as follows: Am I involuntarily participating in a Link Scheme with my blog? And If so, how many links can I send to my own webpage ? Shall I limit the number of links to a minimum? Thanks a lot for your advices.
Link Building | | Midleton0 -
"Activating" Links - Do External Links Have to Be Clicked On to Really Have Value?
I heard an SEO talk about the concept of "activating" a link - meaning that if an external link to your site exists, but google doesn't detect that it has gotten any actual clicks, they will significantly discount or ignore the value of the link. Obviously between Chrome, toolbars, and GA, google does have a lot of ways to detect whether a link has gotten clicks. What is the SEOmoz take on this issue?
Link Building | | kbrake0 -
Does a hashtag link pass the same amount of link juice as a link without a hashtag?
Example 1: link to: http://www.domain.com/#something-inside-the-page Example 2: link to: http://www.domain.com/
Link Building | | adriandg0 -
Too Many Links???
SEOMOZ is telling me I have more than 100 links on quite a few of my pages, and I cant seem to find out what links they are finding. Like for instance on this page http://standupguys.biz/what-we-haul/commercial-junk-removal-services/computer-removal-recycling/ It is telling me that I have 117 hyper links (which is WAY too high). Can anyone explain to me where these are coming from, and how I can avoid this?? Please and thank you.
Link Building | | Caseman0 -
Where to link?
Hi I need to gert this page up in the rankings http://www.kerryblu.co.uk/wedding-headbands-70-c.asp but am getting no where fast. When applying for links should I direct them to this page or to the homepage, and let them filter through. Thanks
Link Building | | Yorkie0 -
Juicy Link Finder..
I notice the Juicy link finder is going to be phased out from this September. What other SEOMoz tool offers the same results that you would recommend and when in September will this be phased out? Thanks! Simon
Link Building | | simonsw0 -
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