Why does GWT still show some links from a disavowed domain?

[ResumeGenius]

We have disavowed a lot of spam links that were pointing to our website.

We've disavowed on a domain level and a lot of links have now disappeared on GWT.

However, there is a domain that we disavowed where MOST of the links have disappeared in GWT but there are STILL some remaining even a month and a half after disavowing.

The disavow file has been sent in numerous times since then with new domains.

Is there an explanation as to why some links still remain on this domain even though most of them have been disavowed and removed from GWT?

[ResumeGenius]

Thanks Peter

[Dr-Pete]

Unfortunately, there's very little transparency on this topic. Google may not remove them at all in GWT, in some cases, and even if they do, it can take a very long time. There's no great way to tell whether Google has actually disavowed a link, other than the end result of a penalty being lifted, etc.

[ResumeGenius]

"When you disavow links or domains it doesn't cause them to be removed from your webmaster tools list of links. "

That's strange because most of the links we've disavowed have disappeared from our GWT. How can this be?

[MarieHaynes]

"We've disavowed on a domain level and a lot of links have now disappeared on GWT."

When you disavow links or domains it doesn't cause them to be removed from your webmaster tools list of links.  Google will apply an invisible nofollow tag to the links but there is no outward evidence of this being done.

[Kurt_Steinbrueck]

What is OPE?  Are you referring to Open Site Explorer?  If so, you should note that the disavow tool in GWT doesn't remove links from the sites, it's just supposed to remove them from your Google link profile.  So, any outside link aggregator (like Open Site Explorer or Majestic SEO) will still show those links because they report what links actually exist (the one's they've found) not what links Google is counting.  They don't have access to the disavow request or Google's link profile.

As to the original question, Google can take a while to process disavow requests.  So, it may just be a time thing.  I'm also wondering if Google filters new links it finds through the disavow list?  This isn't based in experience or even anything I've read, I'm just wondering.  If you disavow a domain and Google removes those links, but then later they crawl that site and find more links (new to them), do they automatically not include those links because you've already disavowed the site or does the crawler add it to your link profile and then they filter those links through the disavowed list after the fact, if at all?  If they add the links and then filter it later, that could explain what you're seeing.

Perhaps there's someone out there who's tested or observed this who could provide more clarity.

[PremioOscar]

GWT does take time to update its data. Use OPE and see if those links still appear on your back links profile