DIsavow links even without a penalty?
-
This is a sort of follow-on question from a previous one I asked, where I was being advised to do this.
I've inherited a poor client link profile from a previous provider, with tons of partial match links for "IT support" on a lot of low quality directories. It has been at least a year now since they were built, and I'm concerned that the abundance of them will make it harder to rank for any "IT support" keywords due to over-optimization. This is frustrating since "IT support London" is the main keyword for the home page.
On the previous thread, I was advised to disavow these old links and move on, though I have heard from many in the SEO community (and read) that using the disavow tool unless absolutely necessary (i.e. In the case of a penalty) is a mistake, since it is effectively notifying Google that you have been "misbehaving" and you should stay away from sending these types of signals altogether.
Can anyone with experience in this matter please advise on this?
Thank you in advance.
-
I would try and be as on the ball as possible with disavowing links that need it, even if there has been no penalty. One of the first things I look to do when onboarding a new client is review the current disavow file (if there is one) or looking at their backlink portfolio to find potential spam. The spam tool on Moz is quite good at finding these links but make sure you cast your eye over them first as it's likely some good links will have got caught up in there.
Just be careful - it's hard to come back from making a mistake with the disavow process!
-
There have been some great responses so far--overall, you should be proactive with your clients (and even your own sites) when it comes to links. If you do see spam links or the types of links that Patrick has suggested, be proactive and disavow them.
If you do feel there are links that need to get removed, though, then i would go ahead and try to get those removed.
-
OK... take your chances. Thousands of people are still being flogged by Penguin after two years.
-
I agree with EGOL, why wait to be penalised? Just disavow them and move on. Any drop in rankings should be able to be recovered by securing a few solid authoritative links
-
Hi there
For me, it comes down to the links in question. No, you will not get penalized for disavowing links - the tool is there to help you and there to help you stay in the clear.
That being said, you need to assess links with the following things in mind:
-
Does this link help my website?
-
Is this link relevant to my website?
-
Would I trust this site (that's linking to me) if I landed on it?
-
Is the website or content in which I am being linked from topically relevant to my website?
-
If you check metrics - does anything about the metrics (domain authority, page authority,Majestic, SEMRush traffic/ranking data, etc) make me feel uneasy?
-
Are the links from directory templates? (example)
-
Inspect URLs with blatant spam words
-
Free
-
Porn
-
XXX
-
Submit
-
Directory
-
Paid
-
Links
-
URL
-
Sex
-
etc.
-
Check for multiple domains and URLs on the same IPs
-
This can usually show link farms or spam
-
Am I getting traffic / conversions from this link?
From there, that should give you a better idea of what links need to stay, need to be removed, or what need to be disavowed. Use it wisely, but don't be afraid to use it if you find multiple links that could negatively impact your SEO, especially if you have asked to have those links removed before. It's really up to you and your expertise!
Let me know if this helps! Good luck!
Patrick -
-
Thank you, but that isn't true - I had another client who was hit by Penguin and we recovered after a disavowal.
Also, it has been over a year sinc those link were built, so I think if we were going to get a penalty, it would have happened by now.
Many of these links, even though spammy, may be propping the site up. We have page 1 rankings for a couple of keywords and disavowing a lot of them I am concerned will send our rankings down.
-
If you wait until you get a penalty for bad links you have a huge problem.
Current people suffering from Penguin have been under a penalty for TWO YEARS.
-
Thanks, Gaston. I haven't heard or read that you get a penalty for disavowing (and wouldn't believe it) - just that it potentially affects your spam score or sends an overall negative signal to Google about whether your domain is to be trusted or not... There are a lot of experienced SEOs who believe this.
-
Hi there,
On one hand, disavowing links doesnt necessarly mean that you've been misbehaving. It is possible that you've been target of black hat SEO or someone that wants to hurt you has created many links.
In my opinion, you must disavow links when spotted and and analized to be potentially harmfull.On the other hand, I've never heard or read anyone that was penalized for disavowing links. That should be a huge piece of news, that Google penalized you for doing something they want you to do.
Hope i've helped.
GR.
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
-
If I use links intag instead of "ahref" tag can Google read links inside div tag?
Hi All, Need a suggestion on it. For buttons, I am using links in tag instead of "ahref". Do you know that can Google read links inside "div" tag? Does it pass rank juice? It will be great if you can provide any reference if possible.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | pujan.bikroy0 -
400+ deleted pictures, 404 on URLs, can they be deleted without penalty?
A client had a website redesign and over 400 pictures (she's a photographer) were lost. The URL's (ending in .png) are hanging out there and according to the site scan, they have a matching current URL. Since the pictures are gone can the URL be deleted?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fcromwell0 -
How do you handle a site with inherited negative links, but no penalty?
I'm trying to rank a new client for various key phrases that contain "it support." The problem is that about 100 of their 180 total referring domains have links that include "it support" (usually as partial match, or if exact then for uninteresting terms with low traffic), mostly on quite low quality directories. So, no penalty, and not much exact match I'm worried about, but I'm concerned that there's too high a percentage overall of partial match or simpy "it support"-based links for me to continue building keyword-optimized links to try and rank for the much harder terms we need to rank for... Despite the large number of low quality directories, a disavowal does not seem like a good idea since there is no penalty, but how does one avoid being handicapped by such bad links that came before one's time?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | zakkyg0 -
Does Disavowing Links Negate Anchor Text, or Just Negates Link Juice
I'm not so sure that disavowing links also discounts the anchor texts from those links. Because nofollow links absolutely still pass anchor text values. And disavowing links is supposed to be akin to nofollowing the links. I wonder because there's a potential client I'm working on an RFP for and they have tons of spammy directory links all using keyword rich anchor texts and they lost 98% of their traffic in Pengiun 1.0 and haven't recovered. I want to know what I'm getting into. And if I just disavow those links, I'm thinking that it won't help the anchor text ratio issues. Can anyone confirm?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MiguelSalcido0 -
Spam Links? -115 Domains Sharing the Same IP Address, to Remove or Not Remove Links
Out of 250 domains that link to my site about 115 are from low quality directories that are published by the same company and hosted on the same ip address. Examples of these directories are: -www.keydirectory.net -www.linkwind.com -www.sitepassage.com -www.ubdaily.com -www.linkyard.org A recent site audit from a reputable SEO firm identified 125 toxic links. I assume these are those toxic links. They also identified about another 80 suspicious domains linking to my site. They audit concluded that my site is suffering a partial Penguin penalty due to low quality links. My question is whether it is safe to remove these 125 links from the low quality directories. I am concerned that removing this quantity of links all at once will cause a drop in ranking because the link profile will be thin with only about 125 domains remaining that point to the site. Granted those 125 domains should be of somewhat better quality. I am playing with fire by having these removed. I URGENTLY NEED ADVICE AS THE WEBMASTER HAS INITIATED STEPS TO REMOVE THE 125 LINKS. Thanks everyone!!! Alan
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan10 -
Subdomain Metrics Links??
I have been analysing my companies website against our competitors and we beat them hands down on everything apart from the total links in the subdomain metrics. Our competitor jumped above us a couple of months ago to grab the number one spot for our industries most valuable keyword. They have had a new website designed and after looking at the source code and running it through SEO MOZ in comparison to our site I can't see how they have manged to do it. We beat them hands down on all factors apart from subdomain metrics > Total links where they have twice as many. When it comes to Page Specific Metrics and Root Domain Metrics we easily beat them on all factors. Does anyone have any ideas what I need to do to improve the subdomain metrics? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Detectamet0 -
Are links from pages in other languages ok?
Hey everyone, what are your thoughts on this? If a bunch of links from another language, say the site is in Canada and is in English but we have french links pointing to the site with english keywords...is that ok? Will that harm us? Opinions? Facts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jhinchcliffe0 -
Best links to gain?
Hi, Just a quick one to see what peoples thoughts are regarding links. I have just gained a free link on a .gov website in the UK. In one of their offers pages, will this provide any link value or domain trust to me and what can the benefits be SEO wise from having a link on a government domain? The link is just the website url with a a few lines of text detailing our address etc... so its not got any anchor text regarding targetting one of our brands. It is equallly, less or more important to target anchor text links to specific brands or to get good high quality links from trusted sites such as the .gov one I have linking to my root domain? The website is a local council website in the UK. And was listed by a member of their staff, who only list in the offer page if your offering discount to council members etc..., so its not a spammed page or anything like that. What are peoples views on anchor text links vs domain url links? Cheers Will
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | YNWA0