Disavowing Links Experiments
episode
Voices of Search // A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Podcast
19 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 29 days ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the disavow tool and why does Google offer it?
The Voices of Search Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast? I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth, and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit IHear Everything.com. Welcome to the Voices of Search Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Ready to expedite your company's organic growth efforts? Sit back, relax, and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom. Here's today's host of the Voices of Search Podcast, Jordan Cooney.
Hello, SEOs and marketers. My name is Jordan Cooney from Previsible. Joining me today is Cyrus Shepard, who is the owner at Zippy SEO. Zippy SEO focuses on boosting online visibility in driving organic traffic. Zippy SEO provides innovative and effective search engine optimization solutions, specializing in everything from digital marketing strategies to helping companies reach their target. Target audience and online goals. Yesterday, Cyrus and I talked about Google's shift to human-focused content. Today, we're going to continue the conversation by discussing disavowing links experiments. Okay, here's my conversation with Cyrus Shepherd, owner of Zippy SEO. Cyrus, welcome back to the Voice Search Podcast.
Hey, good to be here. Looking forward to this conversation. Absolutely. So we've had a really exciting conversation yesterday. We really got into the whole concept of how Google's evolving, where they're going with human-driven content, the approach that we're taking as SEOs. If you didn't get a chance to listen to that episode, please go back. Back. It is it is full of valuable insight from Cyrus. It's full of great direction in terms of where the market industry is going. And and really, I think his quotes were spot on. So that I think was one of the most exciting parts about yesterday's episode. But today we're going into disavowing links experiments. And so I'd I'd love to get a a start, Cyrus, in terms of just what that means.
Give our give our listeners a little context. It's not a topic we need to talk a lot about on the pod. So just give everybody a little bit of context as to what it is.
Yeah, so Google has this tool called the disavow tool. Uh, and website owners can use it to disavow or tell Google to ignore certain links to your website. And they they introduced it because people do a lot of shady link building. Links are a really important signal in Google's algorithm. And Google wanted to give people a way to have a clean slate. Like, oh, I built some shady links, but I don't want you to count them, so please don't punish me. Here they are. Ignore these links.
When should SEOs actually use the disavow tool?
It's been around for years. SEOs like to use it, sometimes abuse it. But there's a root, there's there's some wondering in the SEO industry, does this tool actually do anything anymore? Does it work? Or are we just telling Google what our paid links were? So I've been playing around with it for years and always trying to figure out what's going on with that.
Right, that's that's perfect context. And from from the focal point of its intended purpose, like why we should be using it. Let we'll get into later on ways maybe that are more scrupulous in terms of the use, but in terms of the re main reasons to use it, can you share uh around why there'd be a value in doing this? Like what are some real use cases as to when and how you should use a disavow. True.
Yeah, well, according to Google, you should only use the disavow in two circumstances. Uh, one, you built shady links to your site. Uh, they want you to disavow all shady links to your site. Or you've been hit with a manual penalty, which is increasingly rare these days. We you get a you get an email that you build some shady links and Google will send you an email, and you use the disavow tool to clean up those links. Neither of those situations you hear a lot about anymore, but the disavow tool is still there. And then there's a third scenario where even if you haven't, this is not an official scenario, even if you haven't been hit by a penalty, some SEOs believe that bad links could hurt you regardless of a penalty or not.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the disavow tool and why does Google offer it?
0:00–2:48
2
When should SEOs actually use the disavow tool?
2:48–7:25
3
Which real‑world use cases have you applied disavow to?
7:25–10:34
4
How did your experiments with mass disavowing affect rankings?
10:34–14:30
5
What did you learn from disavowing low‑quality domains with good anchor text?
14:30–16:59
6
Is the disavow tool becoming obsolete in Google’s ecosystem?
16:59–18:43
7
What should most marketers decide about using disavow on their sites?
18:43–19:05
8
What’s the final guidance on when and how to use the disavow tool?
19:05–19:08