If you think your website is getting more and more toxics link that can impact the ranking of your website or you might get then you should remove those links. Backlinks to your website violate the quality guidelines of Google so it’s time to get a little serious and try to remove those toxic links. There is more than one way to do this but the most effective way is to disavow the toxic URLs to your website.
You can remove toxic links within a few steps but before getting into this you need to find out those links that are impacting your website. Also, these toxic links can impact the SEO of your website. To make this blog helpful, I didn’t use any paid tool, so you can remove these links for free.
1. Identify Toxics Link
If you have paid tools like Semrush, Ahref, or Moz then use them to identify toxic links but you have search console as well and it is completely free.
Go to your search console and In the left-hand menu, click on “Links”. This will take you to the Links report where you can see external and internal links. Under the “External links” section, you’ll see categories such as “Top linked pages,” “Top linking sites,” and “Top linking text”. To view the backlinks, click on “More” under the “Top linking sites”.
On the top right corner of the report, you’ll see an export button (usually represented by a download icon or three vertical dots). Click on this button to export the data.
Analyze the Links: Look for patterns indicating toxics link, such as:
- Links from low-authority or spammy sites
- Links from irrelevant sites
- Links with over-optimized anchor text
- Links from link farms or PBNs (Private Blog Networks)
2. Categorize Links
Classifying backlinks into safe, potentially harmful, and toxic categories involves a thorough review process. Safe links typically come from reputable, high-authority sites with relevant content. Potentially harmful links might originate from low-quality sites, directories, or forums. Toxics link often come from spammy, irrelevant, or penalized sites. Review questionable links by visiting the linking pages to evaluate their content and context.
4. Disavow Toxics Link
Prepare a Disavow File: List the toxic links or domains in a text file, using the following format on your notepad
Here is the format you can use for yours
# Disavow file created on [date]
# Individual pages
http://spammydomain.com/toxic-page
# Entire domains
domain:spammydomain.com
It is not necessary to add any comments, you can just easily paste the links in the text form and that is it.
In the below image, I have you can see how your text will
5. Uploading Your Disavow File
To upload a disavow file, follow these steps:
Ensure you are logged into your Google account and verified as the domain owner.
Go to the Disavow tool (it’s not accessible directly from Google Search Console).
You will be directed to the appropriate page to upload your disavow file.
After getting on to this page select property very carefully if you have 2 or more than 2 properties.
Upload the text disavow list you have created
Click the “Submit” button to complete the process.
Google will provide a confirmation message to let you know the file submission was successful.
Now, it’s a waiting game.
Google will receive the disavow file within 48 hours and will take 4-6 weeks to crawl and disavow the URLs and domains in the list.
Wrapping It Up
Removing toxics link is crucial for maintaining your website’s SEO health. First, identify harmful backlinks using tools like Google Search Console. Next, categorize links into safe, potentially harmful, and toxic groups. Prepare a disavow file with the toxic links and submit it through the Google Disavow Tool. After submission, Google will process the file within 48 hours and disavow the URLs and domains over the next 4-6 weeks. Regularly monitoring your backlinks ensures your site remains free of toxic links, safeguarding your rankings and online presence.
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