Why is Open Site Explorer Showing me Spammy Links That I Already Removed?

[TMI.com]

Every two months or so, I like to download the OSE list of all the backlinks passing equity to my site. I do this so I can see which spammy links I need to try and remove.

However, I see that OSE is still showing me links that I already removed...Either A) the page that is being linked to is 404-ed B) the spammy website that was linking doesn't exist anymore or C) the spammy site still exists, but the link is GONE.

Why is OSE still spidering these sites and links? Does that mean Google is still spidering these links? Should I disavow them to be safe?

Thank you!

P.S We are not experiencing any drastic drops in traffic or penalties at the moment.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi,

It takes time for OSE to keep spidering sites so if you are seeing something from a couple of months ago, but the link has gone, then you don't need to do anything else. It will get back round to spidering those sites again and will update.

However, if you are concerned that links on spammy sites keep reappearing, then you would do well to disavow it, but other than that, no need to worry. Google isn't going to crawl at the same intervals as MOZ do, so as long as you are ensuring these links are gone, then you are doing everything you need.

-Andy