DIsavow links even without a penalty?

[zakkyg]

This is a sort of follow-on question from a previous one I asked, where I was being advised to do this.

I've inherited a poor client link profile from a previous provider, with tons of partial match links for "IT support" on a lot of low quality directories. It has been at least a year now since they were built, and I'm concerned that the abundance of them will make it harder to rank for any "IT support" keywords due to over-optimization. This is frustrating since "IT support London" is the main keyword for the home page.

On the previous thread, I was advised to disavow these old links and move on, though I have heard from many in the SEO community (and read) that using the disavow tool unless absolutely necessary (i.e. In the case of a penalty) is a mistake, since it is effectively notifying Google that you have been "misbehaving" and you should stay away from sending these types of signals altogether.

Can anyone with experience in this matter please advise on this?

Thank you in advance.

[GastonRiera]

Hi there,

On one hand, disavowing links doesnt necessarly mean that you've been misbehaving. It is possible that you've been target of black hat SEO or someone that wants to hurt you has created many links.
In my opinion, you must disavow links when spotted and and analized to be potentially harmfull.

On the other hand, I've never heard or read anyone that was penalized for disavowing links. That should be a huge piece of news, that Google penalized you for doing something they want you to do.

Hope i've helped.
GR.

[zakkyg]

Thanks, Gaston. I haven't heard or read that you get a penalty for disavowing (and wouldn't believe it) - just that it potentially affects your spam score or sends an overall negative signal to Google about whether your domain is to be trusted or not... There are a lot of experienced SEOs who believe this.

[EGOL]

If you wait until you get a penalty for bad links you have a huge problem.

Current people suffering from Penguin have been under a penalty for TWO YEARS.

[zakkyg]

Thank you, but that isn't true - I had another client who was hit by Penguin and we recovered after a disavowal.

Also, it has been over a year sinc those link were built, so I think if we were going to get a penalty, it would have happened by now.

Many of these links, even though spammy, may be propping the site up. We have page 1 rankings for a couple of keywords and disavowing a lot of them I am concerned will send our rankings down.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

For me, it comes down to the links in question. No, you will not get penalized for disavowing links - the tool is there to help you and there to help you stay in the clear.

That being said, you need to assess links with the following things in mind:

• Does this link help my website?

• Is this link relevant to my website?

• Would I trust this site (that's linking to me) if I landed on it?

• Is the website or content in which I am being linked from topically relevant to my website?

• If you check metrics - does anything about the metrics (domain authority, page authority,Majestic, SEMRush traffic/ranking data, etc) make me feel uneasy?

• Are the links from directory templates? (example)

• Inspect URLs with blatant spam words

• Free

• Porn

• XXX

• Submit

• Directory

• Paid

• Links

• URL

• Sex

• etc.

• Check for multiple domains and URLs on the same IPs

• This can usually show link farms or spam

• Am I getting traffic / conversions from this link?

From there, that should give you a better idea of what links need to stay, need to be removed, or what need to be disavowed. Use it wisely, but don't be afraid to use it if you find multiple links that could negatively impact your SEO, especially if you have asked to have those links removed before. It's really up to you and your expertise!

Let me know if this helps! Good luck!
Patrick

[TheZenAgency]

I agree with EGOL, why wait to be penalised? Just disavow them and move on. Any drop in rankings should be able to be recovered by securing a few solid authoritative links

[EGOL]

OK... take your chances.  Thousands of people are still being flogged by Penguin after two years.

[becole]

There have been some great responses so far--overall, you should be proactive with your clients (and even your own sites) when it comes to links. If you do see spam links or the types of links that Patrick has suggested, be proactive and disavow them.

If you do feel there are links that need to get removed, though, then i would go ahead and try to get those removed.

[seanginnaw]

I would try and be as on the ball as possible with disavowing links that need it, even if there has been no penalty. One of the first things I look to do when onboarding a new client is review the current disavow file (if there is one) or looking at their backlink portfolio to find potential spam. The spam tool on Moz is quite good at finding these links but make sure you cast your eye over them first as it's likely some good links will have got caught up in there.

Just be careful - it's hard to come back from making a mistake with the disavow process!