How to Identify and Disavow Toxic Backlinks
Toxic backlinks are links that come from an external website that can negatively impact your online ranking in search results, along with your online reputation. Search engines, such as Google, see toxic backlinks as red flags, associating your site with spammy content, which can drop your ranking, making it harder for your potential customers to find you online.
Studies have found that websites that rank in first position on Google have 3.8 times more backlinks than the second position. It is important to remember not all backlinks are equal and in order to achieve online success, you need good quality links from high rated domains.
Toxic backlinks can be detrimental to your online success. They can lead to:
When you know how to spot toxic backlinks, you have the power to maintain a healthy backlink profile, protecting your SEO efforts. There are two options you can use:
This option can be time consuming, as you manually examine each link that points back to your website. While it is a time consuming process, it will help you understand your link profile.
You can use an online tool to carry out the process. A good option is Sagebrush’s Backlink audit tool, which identifies toxic backlinks, helping you manage your backlink profile in one place.
It's important to understand where toxic backlinks come from, enabling you to avoid them.
The first step is going to SEMRush and using the Backlink Auditing tool to create a disavow file. Choose the toxicity between sixty and one hundred in the toxicity score drop down file.
Once your file is generated, upload it to Google Search Console and upload your list as a .txt file. Once the file is successfully uploaded, you are safe. Google incorporates your list into its index. The search engine then considers your disavow requests, recrawling and reindexing your pages. Please note this process can take a few weeks to complete. If you notice any mistakes in your file, you need to reupload the file.
Having a healthy backlink profile is an excellent way to improve your ranking in search results. When you know where to find and how to identify toxic backlinks, you have the opportunity of asking Google to disavow them, ensuring they don't negatively impact your online success. If you need help identifying and disavowing toxic backlinks on your website, get in touch with the expert team at Genie Crawl for assistance.
Complete the form and a member of our team will be in touch shortly to discuss your enquiry.