Can I Just Disavow Bad Links?

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLcxcrXgnvg”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]The last of our whiteboard series on Penalty Removal features the question we get asked most frequently: Can I just disavow?

Some people want to skip link removal and move straight on to the disavow. And why wouldn’t you? Its quicker, easier, and far less stressful.

However this would be a mistake. The simple answer is no, you cannot just disavow. Its based on a lot of experience in penalty removal.

Take a look at the video to find out more…

We’ve transposed the video below for your convenience…

The third question that we get asked, perhaps the most, is “Can I just disavow?” That refers to after you’ve identified all of your bad links that you would like to remove; can you just add them to the disavow file? The disavow file demonstrates to Google that you have a set of links that you don’t want to be associated with anymore, and in theory, that would remove any sort of link juice from those links pointing to you. Many people argue that that would safeguard you from a penalty.

We say, no. You can’t just disavow. In our experience, throughout all the projects that we’ve been running, you have to make a concerted effort to do link removal. You have to show you’re working, and you have to record everything in a clear and methodical manner, and you have to combine that with a well-documented disavow file.

Only by doing that can you really successfully get out of a manual penalty within the first couple of attempts. If you are not showing that you are serious and you are not showing that this isn’t going to happen again, then you won’t get taken seriously.

I’d like to just reiterate that if you don’t think these issues have affected you yet, it’s still worth investigating, because everybody has back-links. You don’t really know what’s out there until you start digging around. Some of the links I’ve seen that have been particularly awful come from 2007. So depending on the age of your site, depends on the risk, and there’s always a risk. It’s about managing that risk.

So I would like to state that go out there, have a look at your profile; if you think you’re at risk, get an expert to help you. Don’t try and do this yourself. It’s too difficult.

And that concludes everything. I’m Alex from WMG, and I’ll see you next time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]