How to disallow links in Google Search Console? Renzo Cardozo SEO expert tells you!

If you're not sure if a link is bad, leave it. Google is pretty good at discriminating between natural and artificial links.

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What does it mean to “deauthorize” a backlink?

Deauthorizing (or disavowing) a backlink is a process by which you tell Google to ignore certain links that point to your website. This is mainly done when you detect low-quality, manipulated links, or links that could negatively affect your positioning.

Google doesn't always ignore these links on its own. That's why, if you've identified harmful backlinks pointing to your domain, the Search Console tool allows you to report them and explicitly ask that you ignore them. Let's take a closer look at it 👇

When should you disallow backlinks?

You should not use this tool as a first line of defense. It is only necessary when:

• Your site has been the victim of an attack by Negative SEO ^1.
• You have backlinks from spam sites, farm links, or irrelevant domains.
• You've used unethical link building techniques in the past and now you want to clear your profile of links.

And what we consider most important: You must take this action if you have been penalized for unnatural links. If you haven't been penalized, perhaps the work of deauthorizing links doesn't have as much effect on your website and is a waste of time.

Pro tip: Before deauthorizing, try contacting webmasters to remove links. Use tools like MAKE IT TOOL to find out who links to your site.

Step by step: How to deauthorize backlinks from Google Search Console

1. Access the Google Search Console

Sign in with your Google account to the Google Search Console panel. There you must enter the property you want to review (if you have more than one website on the platform).

2. Go to the Link Reports section

In the side menu, click Links > Sites with the most links.

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3. Analyze incoming backlinks

Review the list of domains and URLs that link to your website. Look for suspicious patterns such as:

• Domains with no real content.
• Irrelevant or very low-authority sites.
• URLs with excessive exact keywords.

4. Export the list of backlinks

Click Export Data > Download Full CSV to work offline.

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5. Filter the links you want to disallow

Use Excel or Google Sheets to filter out links that you consider harmful.

6. Prepare the disavow.txt file

Create a text file (.txt) where you include one URL or domain per line.

Example ⬇

domain: spammysite.com

http://ejemplo-bajo-quality.com/link-malo.html

domain: farm-links.net

You can deauthorize both full domains and specific URLs. When you enter the domain: command followed by the URL of a site, you're asking me to disauthorize all links that come from that domain.

7. Upload the file using the deauthorization tool

Go back to Google Search Console and go to the Link Deauthorization Tool. This is in this URL:

https://search.google.com/search-console/disavow-links

Click Upload deauthorization list and select your .txt file.

Confirm that you accept the terms and submit the file.

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Useful tools for identifying harmful backlinks

In our article on What's the difference between links and referring domainsunto we have already mentioned some tools with which we can analyze our backlinks.

Here we briefly mention them again:

- Ahrefs: For detailed link profile analysis.

- Moz Link Explorer: Good alternative to see the authority of the links.

- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Useful for internal and external audits.

- Google Analytics + Search Console: Identifies suspicious traffic from strange links.

- MAKE IT TOOL: Identifies spam scores, observes the trend of authority according to the referring domains of a domain and visualizes traffic based on the number of backlinks.

How long does it take for Google to deauthorize links?

The deauthorization process can take anywhere from a few days to two or three months to begin to see the result. That's why it's important to react quickly if we see that our site has been attacked with spam links. However, Google is getting smarter every day and ignoring some worthless links.

Important Considerations About Deauthorizing Links

👉 You don't need to do this on a monthly basis. Cleaning every 3-6 months is usually sufficient.

👉 If Google is already ignoring those links, disallowing them will have no impact.

👉 Never use this tool as a way to compete against other sites. It's to protect your own domain.

Common mistakes when deauthorizing backlinks

• Disavow good quality links for fear of penalties: you have to be very careful when using this tool, because we may be disavowing useful links for our website. Check the links one by one if necessary, with a tool such as MAKE IT TOOL.
• Using the domain: command without actually verifying if the entire domain is harmful: Maybe not the entire domain is harmful, but a link out of context within it, or completely empty. There may be another link on the same website that does have value and we would be losing authority by disauthorizing it.
• Doing the process too many times without evaluating previous results: Since it is not immediate, neither are the results immediate. Patience, as good SEOs have.

Deauthorizing backlinks isn't a routine task, but it's an effective measure when your site receives toxic links. Google Search Console offers a clear and straightforward tool for doing so, but requires technical judgment before applying it.

The key is to prioritize quality over quantity in your link building strategy, and to act only when necessary.

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¹ This term refers to unethical techniques in which actions are carried out that lead to a website being penalized, so that the penalty falls on the competing site. In this case, it would be buying links on questionable sites, entering the domain of your website.