What is a disavow file?
A disavow file is a text file listing backlinks a site owner wants Google to ignore, uploaded through Google's disavow links tool in Search Console. For example, a site that bought hundreds of links in 2018 and later received a manual action can list those linking pages and domains in a disavow file so Google stops counting them [1].
Disavowing does not delete anything. The links stay live on the web and still appear in third-party tools. The disavow file only asks Google to leave them out when it assesses the site.
Google describes the tool as "an advanced feature" that "should only be used with caution" [1], and says: "In most cases, Google can assess which links to trust without additional guidance, so most sites will not need to use this tool" [1].
When should you use a disavow file?
Use a disavow file only when both of Google's conditions are true: the site has "a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links" pointing to it, and those links "have caused a manual action, or likely will cause a manual action" [1].
In practice that means three situations:
- A manual action for unnatural links appears in Search Console's Manual actions report [3].
- You know links were built for ranking (paid links without
rel="sponsored"orrel="nofollow", link exchanges, network links) and a manual action is a realistic risk [1][6]. - You inherited a site or domain with a history of bought or network links you cannot get removed.
Google also asks site owners to try removal first: "we recommend that you remove as many spammy or low-quality links from the web as possible" [1]. The disavow file covers what removal could not.
Does Google recommend disavowing links anymore?
Google does not recommend routine disavowing. Google's help page says most sites will not need the tool because Google can assess which links to trust on its own [1], and Google's link systems have devalued spam rather than demoting whole sites since 2016 [4].
This is the point most guides miss. Many SEO checklists still include a recurring "disavow toxic links" task driven by third-party scores. Google's documentation describes the disavow file as a fix for a manual action, or the clear risk of one, and nothing else [1]. A disavow file built from a tool's toxic link list for a site with no link-building history mostly tells Google to ignore links it was already ignoring.
There is also a downside. A disavow file asks Google to ignore every link it lists, so listing a domain that was sending genuine, useful links asks Google to ignore those too.
What is the disavow file format?
A disavow file must be a .txt file, encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII, with one URL or domain per line, no more than 100,000 lines and no larger than 2MB [1]. Lines starting with # are comments. To disavow a whole domain, prefix it with domain:.
Adapted from Google's own example [1] (comment lines are shown without a space after #, which works the same way):
#Two pages to disavow
http://spam.example.com/stuff/comments.html
http://spam.example.com/stuff/paid-links.html
#One domain to disavow
domain:shadyseo.comPractical points:
- Prefer
domain:lines for spam sites. Spam sites often have many URLs linking to you, and a domain line covers all of them, including pages you have not found yet. - Uploading replaces the old list. To update a disavow file, upload a new complete version; there is no need to delete the previous one first [1].
- The tool does not support Domain properties in Search Console [1].
How long does a disavow file take to work?
A disavow file takes a few weeks to take effect. Google says it "can take a few weeks for Google to incorporate your list into the index as Google recrawls the web and reprocess the pages that we see" [1].
For a site with a manual action, the disavow file alone does not lift the penalty. The site still needs to file a reconsideration request explaining the problem, the steps taken and the outcome, and Google notes that link-related reconsideration requests can take longer than usual to review [3].
When did Google introduce the disavow tool?
Google introduced the disavow links tool in October 2012 [2], six months after the Penguin update began demoting sites for manipulative links [5]. Since Penguin moved into the core algorithm in 2016 and began ignoring spammy links rather than penalizing sites, the tool's role has narrowed to manual actions [4][5].
2012: Penguin creates demand for link cleanup
Google launched Penguin on April 24, 2012, against sites manipulating links to their pages [5]. Site owners hit by it had no way to tell Google which links were not theirs to vouch for.
October 2012: the disavow links tool launches
Google announced the disavow tool in a Search Central blog post titled "A new tool to disavow links" [2]. The disavow file format, one URL or domain: line per row, dates from this launch.
2016: Penguin goes real time
In September 2016, Penguin became part of the core algorithm and began devaluing spam "rather than affecting ranking of the whole site" [4]. Wikipedia's summary notes that this left less need for the disavow tool, since bad links were now ignored rather than penalized [5].
What is the difference between disavowing a link and removing it?
Removing a link takes it off the web, while disavowing a link only asks Google to ignore it. Removal is permanent and visible to every search engine and tool; a disavow file affects Google alone and only for the property it was uploaded to.
| Removing a link | Disavowing a link | |
|---|---|---|
| Who acts | The linking site's owner | You, in Search Console |
| Affects | Everyone (Google, Bing, users, tools) | Google only |
| Google's preference | First choice [1] | For links you cannot remove [1] |
| Reversible | Only by the linking site | Yes, by uploading a new file |
Disavowing is also different from adding rel="nofollow". A nofollow attribute is set by the linking site on its own link; a disavow file is set by the linked-to site. Google's manual action guidance asks site owners to request either removal or a nofollow attribute first, then disavow what remains [3].
How do you build a disavow file?
To build a disavow file, start from the links you know were built for ranking, not from a toxicity score:
- Check the Manual actions report to confirm whether there is a link problem at all [3].
- Export the Links report from Search Console; it shows a sample of linking sites, with exports of up to 100,000 rows [7]. Add exports from other backlink tools if you have them.
- Mark the manipulative links: paid links without qualification, exchanges, network sites and keyword-stuffed placements [6].
- Request removal from the linking sites where possible [1].
- List the rest as
domain:or URL lines, add a dated comment for each batch, and upload [1].
Search Insider does not support or suggest using private blog networks; links from a network are exactly the kind of manipulative links a disavow file exists to deal with.