Debunking Disavow Link Myths
Myth 1: The disavow link tool can be used for negative SEO
The only way someone could use the disavow link tool to harm your site is if they gained access to your Google Webmaster Tools account and disavowed a bunch of high-quality links. Now might be a good time to clean up your WMT permissions and ensure noone has access to your accounts that shouldn’t.
In reality, the disavow link tool is more likely to prevent attempts at negative SEO. Notice a deluge of strange linking? You can now disavow those links to prevent them from being evaluated by Google. It’s a defense against negative SEO rather than a weapon.
Myth 2: Google’s trying to find out if you’re a link spammer with the disavow link tool
If you’ve got a dodgy backlink portfolio and you’ve received unnatural link warnings, chances are Google’s already labelled you a spammer. If you’ve put in the effort to get rid of links and are now simply using the disavow link tool for the ones you couldn’t reach, why would Google hold it against you?
You’re trying to shed their label and get your site in accordance with their guidelines, which is exactly what Google’s wanted from the start. In their original announcement Google did actually say that “If you haven’t gotten this notification (unnatural links), this tool generally isn’t something you need to worry aboutâ€. Unless you’ve already been labelled a spammer by Google’s unnatural link notifications, it’s maybe best to steer clear from the tool for the time being.
Myth 3: The disavow link tool is a crowdsourced spam reporter
This one’s still up for debate. It depends really on how Google deals with the data provided by the link disavow tool. Google could be simply sitting on the data, ignoring the links reported, ignoring domains with too many disavowed links or actively using the data to make algorithmic changes.
There’s no doubt that the data Google will be collecting from the disavow link tool is incredibly valuable to their fight against spam but to think Google’s going to do anything more with the data than simply punish those not playing by the rules is absurd. Remember, it’s always those who got caught shouting the loudest after Google’s every move.
Got your own theory? Leave us a comment below!
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
