Rank Fast with these Topical Authority Tactics Ep.589
In this podcast episode featuring SEO Specialist Matthew Bertram, the focus is on demystifying Topical Authority in SEO and providing actionable…
Link Building
Disavowing Harmful Website Links: How to Identify Them Ep. 603
To disavow harmful backlinks, upload a UTF-8 .txt file listing unwanted domains to Google Search Console, using tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to identify spammy or toxic links first.
Key takeaways
- Upload a UTF-8 notepad .txt file to search.google.com/search-console/disavow-links to submit a disavow request.
- Use SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, or SERanking to identify low quality or spammy backlinks pointing to your site.
- Disavowing too many links, including legitimate ones, can cause your site to tank just as badly as having toxic links.
- Do not disavow all low quality links because a naturally mixed link profile is expected and removing everything looks manipulated.
If you have a lot of low quality and spammy links, they can negatively impact your site.
About this episode
Tune in to understand the basics as well as the intricacies of identifying and neutralizing harmful website links. Matt outlines what is the difference between beneficial and harmful links, offering actionable strategies grounded in Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Whether you're a website owner, SEO professional, or digital marketer, this podcast help you safeguard your online presence by mastering the art of…
Questions this episode answers
How do I disavow bad backlinks in Google Search Console?
Go to search.google.com/search-console/disavow-links, select your property, and upload a UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII .txt notepad file listing domains or URLs to disavow. Use a hashtag before comments, omit www and trailing slashes from domain entries. Google treats the submission as a suggestion and is not obligated to honor it.
What tools can I use to find harmful or spammy backlinks?
Matt Bertram recommends SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, and SERanking to analyze your backlink profile. Google Search Console itself also shows a list of links pointing to your site. Reviewing links visually, by clicking through to the actual page, is also suggested to judge quality.
Should I worry about negative SEO attacks from competitors pointing bad links at my site?
If a large burst of low quality links arrives all at once and you have not been involved in link schemes yourself, Google can typically identify and discard it easily. However, if low quality links accumulate over a long period of time, they can result in a penalty, so monitoring your backlink profile regularly is recommended.
In their words
It's better to try to get people to actually remove that link versus disavow it. That's the best thing possible.
Matt Bertram
I have seen people disavow too many links or the wrong links and sites tank from this as well
Matt Bertram
Terms defined in this episode
- PBN (Private Blog Network)
- A network of sites all associated with each other, linking to each other and pointing to a particular site to artificially boost its rankings. Google classifies this as a link scheme and black hat SEO.
- Disavow Tool
- A Google Search Console feature where webmasters upload a .txt file asking Google to ignore specific backlinks. Google treats the request as a suggestion and is not obligated to honor it.
- Negative SEO
- An attack strategy where a competitor purchases large volumes of low quality backlinks and points them at a rival domain to trigger a search engine penalty against that site.
- Manual Review Penalty
- A human-reviewed action by Google against a site, distinct from an algorithmic penalty, triggered when a site is found to be manipulating search rankings, such as through unnatural link schemes.
Full transcript is being added.
This episode answers
Matthew Bertram
AI keynote speaker · Owner & CEO, EWR Digital · President, ModalPoint
Matthew Bertram is an AI keynote speaker, creator of DIG™ (Digital Information Governance), and owner and CEO of EWR Digital. He helps energy and industrial leaders win visibility in AI search (GEO and AEO), is President of ModalPoint and CMO of the Oil & Gas Global Network, hosts The Best SEO Podcast, and has authored eight books including LLM Visibility. More about Matthew Bertram.
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