How Do I Disavow Toxic Links?

Backlinks are essential to SEO—but not all backlinks are beneficial. In fact, some can hurt your rankings, trigger penalties, or damage your site’s trustworthiness in Google’s eyes. These harmful links are known as toxic backlinks.

In this article, we’ll explain what toxic backlinks are, how to identify them using OneClickSEO, and how to safely disavow them using Google’s Disavow Tool.

What Are Toxic Backlinks? #

Toxic backlinks are links from websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Instead of helping your SEO, they may signal to Google that you’re trying to manipulate rankings—which could result in a penalty or lower visibility in search results.

Common Sources of Toxic Backlinks: #

• Spammy blogs or forums
  
• Adult, gambling, or pharmaceutical sites
  
• PBNs (Private Blog Networks) with bad footprints
  
• Sites with a high Spam Score
  
• Links with irrelevant or keyword-stuffed anchor text
  
• Automatically generated links (comment spam, link wheels)
  

While not all low-quality links are toxic, a pattern of manipulative or irrelevant links is a red flag for Google.

Why Are Toxic Links Dangerous? #

1. Google Penalties
   Manual actions or algorithmic penalties can tank your rankings.
   
2. Negative SEO Attacks
   Sometimes competitors build bad links to your site on purpose.
   
3. Unnatural Link Profile
   Too many bad links can make your profile appear manipulative.
   
4. Wasted Crawl Budget
   Googlebot may waste time crawling poor-quality links.
   

How to Identify Toxic Backlinks in OneClickSEO #

OneClickSEO automatically audits your backlink profile and flags suspicious or potentially harmful links.

Where to Find Them: #

1. Go to your OneClickSEO Dashboard
   
2. Click on Backlink Analysis
   
3. Filter backlinks by:
   
   • Spam Score (above 60%)
     
   • Anchor Text (unnatural/keyword-stuffed)
     
   • Low DA or DR
     
   • Toxic Flag = TRUE
     

You’ll see a list of links that are:

• Coming from spammy or deindexed domains
  
• Using suspicious anchors
  
• Repeated excessively
  

You can export this list to review, download, or upload to disavow tools.

Manual Review Tips #

Before disavowing any link, ask:

• Is the domain relevant to my site/niche?
  
• Does the site look legitimate (real content, HTTPS, clean layout)?
  
• Does the link look editorial or injected?
  

Caution: Don’t disavow links just because they come from low DA sites. Focus on intent and patterns.

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What Is the Disavow Tool? #

Google’s Disavow Tool lets you tell the search engine not to consider specific backlinks when evaluating your website’s ranking.

You submit a .txt file listing domains or URLs you want ignored.

📌 Important: Only use this tool if you’re confident certain links are hurting your rankings and can’t be removed manually.

How to Disavow Links Step-by-Step #

Step 1: Export Toxic Links #

From OneClickSEO’s toxic link report, export the flagged links to a .csv file or copy the URLs manually.

Step 2: Format the Disavow File #

Create a .txt file using Notepad with one entry per line.

You can disavow individual links:

arduino

http://example-spam-site.com/bad-link.html

Or entire domains:

domain:spammydomain.com

domain:anotherbadsite.org

You can also add comments using #:

# Disavowing spammy forum links

domain:spamforum123.com

Step 3: Upload the File #

1. Visit: Google’s Disavow Tool
   
2. Select the correct property (website)
   
3. Click Upload Disavow File
   
4. Choose your .txt file and submit
   

Google will process your file over the next few weeks and begin ignoring those links.

What Happens After Disavowing? #

• The disavowed links won’t be counted in your link profile
  
• It may take 2–6 weeks for rankings to adjust
  
• You won’t receive a confirmation or report—just trust Google is applying your request
  
• Monitor your rankings and backlink audits over time for improvement
  

How Often Should You Disavow? #

You don’t need to disavow regularly unless:

• You notice a sudden spike in toxic backlinks
  
• You’re recovering from a penalty
  
• You’re cleaning up after bad SEO practices
  
• You’re being targeted by negative SEO
  

OneClickSEO recommends checking your backlink health monthly, especially if you’re buying links or running aggressive campaigns.

Bonus Tip: Manual Link Removal #

Before disavowing, try contacting the linking site to request removal. Some sites may honor removal requests. This is especially useful when recovering from manual penalties.

But for spammy or abandoned domains, disavow is the only reliable option.