SEO Term Definition
Disavow
The Disavow Tool is a Google Search Console feature that lets website owners tell Google to ignore specific backlinks when evaluating their site — used to clean up toxic or spammy link profiles.
Reviewed by Alexander Yarovenko · Updated: 2026-06-25
What is the Disavow Tool?
The Google Disavow Tool (available in Google Search Console) lets you submit a list of backlinks you want Google to ignore when assessing your site's link profile. It is designed for situations where you have low-quality, spammy, or manipulative links that you cannot get removed manually.
When to Use Disavow
- You have received a manual action for unnatural links
- You acquired spammy links through past black-hat practices
- Competitors have launched a negative SEO attack — pointing toxic links at your site
- You have many links from clearly irrelevant, low-quality link farms
Disavow File Format
# Disavowing specific pages
https://spammy-site.com/page-with-bad-link
# Disavowing entire domains (use domain: prefix)
domain:spam-network.com
domain:link-farm-example.orgImportant Cautions
- Google says to use disavow only if you have "a considerable number" of spammy links
- Disavowing good links by mistake can hurt rankings
- Always try manual removal first — contact the site and ask them to remove the link
- Since Penguin now runs in real-time, most toxic links are already ignored by Google