Disavow

[usef4u]

When we disavow a file with certain domains, and then after a couple of weeks find new domains which have newly arrived in our back-links profile, and again disavow those new domains.

So, basically we are over writing the complete file, will Google take this as a complete new file?
Or will they have domains stored from previous file, and take these new domains as an addition from the new file submission?

[usef4u]

Hi All !
Just an update. I did ask John Mu about the question. Would updating disavow on a regular basis have a negative effect on site rankings. He Said No. The reason to share this video here is because, this subject is so hot and i was curious to know the answer. Hope this thread can answer queries of others ppl as well who were confused.

You can see the answer to my question here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYys6QWYbvo&t=41m25s

But, as Robert and Pete said, and i do agree with both of them, that disavow should be used as a last resort, and its better to do a complete check of backlinks and then try to remove them first and use disavow as the last option, for the domains which can't be removed.

watch?v=FYys6QWYbvo&t=41m25s

[Dr-Pete]

I think actual removal of the worst offenders is a better step all-around. Leave Google out of it (at least in a direct sense).

I think there is such a thing as "natural" sitewide links. For example, I once made a comment on a pretty well-trafficked blog, and that got promoted to a "top comment" which went into a sitewide sidebar. I got a lot of links from that site for a while, and it was fine. Google can see that it's just one site.

It's when you're obviously using this tactic repeatedly that the trouble starts. In most cases, I think it's just devaluation. There's not, in theory, anything wrong with a design company putting "Designed by Company X" in a footer to drive some business. Google doesn't value those links, because they're too easy to get in some industries. On the other hand, you aren't necessarily trying to cheat the system. In general, I'd be cautious these days, but sitewide links aren't an instant penalty.

[Jeepster]

Hi Peter, thanks very much for the response.
My gut feeling is that if the links were a serious problem, Google would already have notified me.
In line with your advice, I'll try to gradually approach the worst offenders with link removal requests but I'll stop short of using the Google Disavow tool.
Any of that sound sensible?
Related question: are there any circumstances in which sitewides from a site highly relevant to mine are a good or even acceptable thing?
Thanks

[Dr-Pete]

That's a really tough call. Truthfully, even links that could potentially harm you down the road might actually be helping you short-term. So, you could proactively disavow the sitewide footer links and lose ground, even if it's a smart long-term move.

In most cases, these links are devalued, so odds are that they aren't helping you much and the risk is low. I'd just urge caution. You may want to ease into it with links from a few sites that you know for a fact are low quality.

[Jeepster]

I know this thread's answered but I'd like to pitch a related question.
.
Would you delete/disavow links without having received a warning in GWT?
I've an 8-year site; we've some spammy sitewide footer links (created six years ago by some "SEO" were were suckered in by; some on sites with 10,000+ pages) and some article directory links (again about 3+ years old).

[usef4u]

Thanks Robert and Pete to look into my query and sharing your expertised answers

[Dr-Pete]

To answer the technical aspect of the question, Google does not seem to store previous files or maintain a historical record of disavowed links. You should consider the current submission to be the only submission, and keep it as complete as possible.

I'm not overly concerned about disavow coming back to bite people (I haven't seen any reports of that floating around the industry), but down the road, I think Robert's concerns are valid. If you're constantly adding to new links to disavow, Google may start to wonder if there's anything fishy going on.

Maybe the bigger question is - why are people consistently building these links? Is this a negative SEO attack or is something about your business model, content, structure, etc. creating quality problems with your link profile. If there are deeper issues, better to address them than put a bandage over them.

[RobertFisher]

I really think you could be creating a problem for yourself using the disavow file this way. My concern is that you are drawing attention to the site you may not want and if you truly needed it, I worry about having submitted it and changed it over and over having a negative effect.

Remember, the disavow tool was created as a mechanism of last resort. Also, some spammy links should not affect the site overall as everyone is going to have some "bad" links. If you think someone is purposefully doing this to you, you may want to approach it differently.

Is there a reason you originally started using the disavow tool? What are you wanting to accomplish with it now?

Best,

Robert

[usef4u]

Robert,

Links are sometimes un-controllable, we can't control that. After looking at complete backlinks profile, we disavow domains, but after a couple of weeks, some shady affiliate pages throw links back at our pages, so at that time we need to re-evaluate the backlinks and submit the disavow file.

Sometimes even when some webmasters respond and remove the links, we remove the domains from the disavow file as well. So disavow files do gets updated. Technically when the webmasters have removed the links pointing to our pages, we then have to remove that domain from disavow as well, because its sitting there for nothing.

[RobertFisher]

Usef4u,

I think the first thing to look at is you are very likely misusing the disavow tool. (It is a single file with all disavowed links/domains on it). There should be no reason to be resubmitting with new links/domains every couple of weeks. This was intended to be a tool of last resort. 
First, you should contact the domain's webmaster and seek to have them take the link down, etc.

Is there a reason you think you need to do this regularly?

Best,

Robert