Is there proof that disavowing backlinks in GSC help to boost rankings in Google?

[whiteboardwiz]

Hi Guys

Let's say you have a website and you got some questionable back links or lower quality ones. Does anyone have proof that after disavowing back links helped in the rankings or had some positive effects? I am concerned that Google will place our website on their radar and instead possibly demote it or smth.

Lastly, if disavowing is the way to go what criteria do you use to disavow backlinks?

So if you get questionable back links over time, should you disavow ongoing as well? If so how often?

Cheers

John

[Everett]

Hello,

Ask ten SEOs about disavow files and you're likely to get ten different answers, five of which say do it and five of which say don't. I don't personally put a lot of stock in them, but here's something you can do:

Set a minimum spam score threshold and disavow those links. If rankings go down, increase the minimum spam score threshold, remove the links from the disavow file that are not above that threshold, and resubmit the file. I just saw a case study about this last week at TechSEO Boost in Boston.

[JohnSammon]

Hey John,

I've done SEO for 10+ years in an agency environment an I would encourage you to use the disavow tool. You'll want to disavow in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Here's how to proceed:

Do it in phases - the first round should focus on the worst stuff in your backlink profile - I'd also look at spammy anchor text too. You can view these links in Moz or GSC.

You'll typically see results in 2-4 weeks.

You can come back to it after the 2-4 week period and try another round.

If you have additional questions about what to disavow, please fire away. I'm happy to review some links you may be on the fence about disavowing.

[Everett]

John Whiteboardwiz,

Since your question was specifically if there is any proof, I wanted to share a case study by Edd Willson, which shows the value of submitting a disavow file pretty clearly:

https://www.impression.co.uk/blog/10218/why-link-analysis-still-matters-in-2018-a-disavow-and-performance-case-study/

Search for "disavow file case study" and set the time preferences to the last 12 months. There are lots of other examples.

Also marking John Sammon's response as a good answer.

[JohnSammon]

Thanks Everett!!