How do I disavow links in Google Search Console?

Write a plain text file listing the links Google should ignore, one URL or domain: entry per line, and upload it in the disavow links tool for a URL-prefix property you own. First make sure you need it. Google says it can usually work out which links to trust on its own, and recommends disavowing only when a large number of spammy, paid or artificial links have caused a manual action, or are likely to.

Should I disavow links at all?

For what the tool is and the cases where it does more harm than good, see What is the Disavow Tool in Google Search Console?. In short, Google's disavow help sets two conditions, and both should be true:

1. You have a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links pointing to your site.
2. Those links have caused a manual action, or are likely to.

If neither applies, leave the tool alone. Google warns that using it incorrectly can harm your site's performance in Search. Random low-quality links that every site collects are not a reason to disavow. Ask the linking site to remove a link first where you can; the disavow file is for what you cannot get removed. If you already have a manual action, see Google Search Console manual actions.

Step 1: build the list

Start from the Links report in Search Console and export Top linking sites. The on-screen table stops at 1,000 rows, the export goes further, and Google notes that the report is not a complete list of every link. Review the sites one by one and decide for each whether you are disavowing one page or the whole domain. When a site is spam from top to bottom, a domain: line is simpler and catches links you have not found yet.

Step 2: format the file

The rules are strict, and a file that breaks them is rejected:

• A plain .txt file encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII.
• One full URL or one domain: entry per line. You cannot disavow a subfolder such as example.com/blog/.
• Lines beginning with # are comments, which Google ignores and which help you remember why an entry is there.
• At most 100,000 lines (blank and comment lines included) and 2 MB, with URLs up to 2,048 characters.

For example:

# Paid links from a 2024 campaign; the site owners did not reply to removal requests
domain:paid-links.example
domain:article-network.example

# A single spam comment, the rest of the forum is fine
https://forum.example/threads/48213

Step 3: upload it

1. Open the disavow links tool while signed in as a property owner.
2. Choose the property. The tool works with URL-prefix properties only; it does not support Domain properties.
3. Upload your file. If it contains errors, they are listed straight away and your previous list stays in place.

Each upload replaces the property's whole list, so keep a master copy, add to it, and upload the complete file every time.

What happens after uploading?

Google says it can take a few weeks to incorporate the list. Disavowed links continue to appear in the Links report, so their presence there does not mean the file failed. A list on example.com also applies to child properties such as m.example.com. To undo everything, open the tool again, choose the property and click Cancel Disavowals, which also takes a few weeks to take effect.

How AutoPSEO helps

AutoPSEO's backlink research, part of its research tools, lists the backlinks and referring domains pointing at your site with a spam score, the date each was first and last seen, and filters by spam score, which makes the review in step 1 faster. The decision and the upload stay with you in Search Console: AutoPSEO never submits a disavow file. To see what Search Console itself shows about links, read Google Search Console backlinks.