What should I include in disavow file and/or reconsideration request?

[KentH]

My client got a manual penalty notice. Need to submit a disavow file and reconsideration request which is new territory for me. The task of contacting/disavowing 100's of sites to remove 1000's of links is a bit overwhelming.

Answers to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated.

Search console is showing 100's of hacked websites pointing to the site. Many of the incoming links showing in search console are already gone. Should I include in the disavow file or is the disavow file only for links that persist?

I have read that Google does not actually read the #remarks in the disavow file. Since its manual penalty should I include them anyway since it's possible that a human could look it over? If anyone who has submitted a reconsideration request for unnatural links can comment on their use or non use of #remarks and the result that would be very helpful.

You can tell that Google wants an effort to be made that the site owners are contacted.  What is the best way to document that?  In the reconsideration request?: The disavow file? or both.

[zeehj]

Hey KentH – it's such a pain to deal with linking penalties, and I'm sorry you're facing that now.

Onto your problem: Google definitely prefers that you make the request of the linking website's webmaster to remove the link to your site, or at least add a "nofollow" attribute to their link (pointing to your site). That said, they understand that it's not always possible to accomplish that. Here's what I recommend:

1. First, reach out to the webmaster/host of the website (you can find this by looking up their domain on WhoIs)
2. Then, if they respond and have "resolved" the linking issue (either by removing the link, or adding a nofollow attribute) you can consider that link/linking root domain addressed
3. If you don't get a response, or the webmaster refuses to alter their link to your site, you can go ahead and add their domain to your disavow file.

It requires a bit of patience–don't wait too long to hear back from the webmasters (I'd personally give it no longer than a week). I hope this helps!