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Toxic Backlinks: How to Find and Disavow Them?

Toxic Backlinks How to Find and Disavow Them

Backlinks help with your website’s visibility and do better in searches. But, not all backlinks contribute positively. Toxic backlinks resulting from bad SEO practices and can drop your website’s ranking and trustworthiness.

All website owners should watch out for these bad backlinks. Knowing what they are and how to eliminate them is very important in helping to maintain your site’s SEO and search engine ranking.

In this article, we’ll explore the harmful effects of toxic backlinks on your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). We will also provide a step-by-step guide on how to identify and remove them to prevent damage. 

What are Toxic Backlinks?

Toxic backlinks are links to a website that come from low-quality or malicious sources and can harm a website’s search engine ranking and online reputation. They typically arise from sites that are not reputable or that have been penalized by search engines for unethical practices. 

The quality of the backlinks is very important in the ranking algorithms used by Google. So if your site has toxic links, then it might be seen as the deceptive practice and lead to penalties or rank drops. Keep checking your backlink profile and stay away from toxic backlinks.

Impact of Toxic Backlinks on Website SEO

Toxic backlinks can significantly harm your website’s SEO, leading to decreased rankings, Google penalties, and a reduced online reputation.

Decreased Ranking

Google views toxic backlinks as a violation of its guidelines, which can result in a significant drop in your website’s search engine rankings (SERPs). A lower ranking means fewer organic visitors, impacting your website’s visibility and potential revenue.

Google Penalties

Google takes a strong stance against toxic backlinks and may impose penalties on your website. These penalties can range from manual actions, which involve a human review of your site, to algorithmic penalties, which are automatically applied based on detected violations.

Here’s what Google considers link spam:

Link Spam can cause google penalties

Penalties can have severe consequences, including:

  • De-indexing: Your website may be removed from Google’s search index, making it completely invisible to searchers.
  • Manual actions: Google may require you to take specific actions to remove toxic backlinks or address other issues before restoring your site’s ranking.
  • Algorithmic penalties: These penalties can cause your website’s rankings to plummet, making it difficult to recover.

Reduced Reliability

Toxic backlinks can damage your website’s reputation and reduce trust in your brand. When users discover that your website has links to low-quality or spammy sites, they may question your credibility and trustworthiness. This can lead to a loss of visitors, customers, and potential business opportunities.

How Toxic Backlinks are Created?

While building a backlink profile can significantly enhance your SEO, certain practices can lead to the accumulation of toxic backlinks. Understanding these common mistakes can help you avoid pitfalls and maintain a healthy backlink profile:

Paid Links From Unauthoritative Sources

Purchasing links from unauthorized sources like Fiverr, Upwork, or other freelance marketplaces can harm your website’s reputation. These services often offer low-quality, spammy backlinks that can harm your website’s SEO. Even as per Google, buying and selling links to manipulate search engine rankings is considered spam.

Here’s what Google has to say about getting paid links:

Google webmaster's guidelines for Paid links

Get help from professionals while getting paid links. They can help you build natural links without creating any suspicion in the eyes of search engines like Google. Always make sure these links have a nofollow tag to prevent them from influencing search rankings.

Link Exchanges

Link exchanges as toxic backlinks

Link exchanges can be a tempting way to build backlinks, but excessive reciprocal linking can raise red flags with search engines. It’s important to keep these exchanges relevant and moderate to avoid appearing manipulative.

Search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated at detecting unnatural patterns of link exchanges. When they identify excessive or irrelevant reciprocal links, they may devalue those links or even penalize the sites involved. 

To ensure your link exchange strategy aligns with best practices and avoids potential penalties, consider consulting with a professional link building agency. They can provide valuable guidance on how to build high-quality backlinks effectively and ethically.

Getting Links From Penalized Websites

Links from websites that have been penalized by search engines for unethical practices can harm your site’s reputation by association. Regularly auditing your backlink sources can help you identify and disassociate from these toxic links. 

Associating with these websites can lead to a drop in your own site’s trust metrics, as search engines might categorize your site amongst low-quality web presences that do not adhere to SEO best practices.

Using Private Blog Networks (PBNs)

Example of PBNs sites

PBNs are groups of websites created solely to link to other sites to boost their SEO. Due to their misleading nature, search engines have become adept at identifying and penalizing sites participating in PBNs. 

These networks often leave a footprint that search engines can detect, which may lead to severe penalties, including the loss of search visibility for your site.

Having Unnatural Links on Other Sites

When sharing content on platforms like forums, comment sections, and social media, resist including excessive or irrelevant links. These unnatural links can harm your brand’s reputation and be considered link spam.

Google suggests using the rel=”ugc” attribute on links within user-generated content to automatically mark them as nofollow. This helps prevent these links from influencing your search engine rankings.

See how Reddit implements this: 

Comments on blogs and community posts considered toxic backlinks

By following this best practice, you can maintain a positive online presence and avoid potential penalties from search engines.

Engaging Link Building Bots

Automated programs designed to create backlinks across various platforms can lead to a large number of low-quality links from suspect sites. Such practices are easily flagged by modern search engine algorithms and can result in penalties. 

Additionally, these bots typically generate links that are irrelevant and low-quality. Such links do not contribute positively to your site’s authority and may harm your site’s ranking over time.

Steps to Find Toxic Backlinks

Toxic backlinks can significantly harm your website’s SEO. Here are a few tools that can help you find toxic backlinks. 

1) Google Search Console

To manually check toxic backlinks, you can use tools like Google Search Console. Here’s the step-by-step process:

Google Search Console for Referring Domains

  • Go to the “Links” section in Google Search Console.
  • Review the list of backlinks and identify any suspicious or low-quality links.
  • Manually visit the linking websites to assess their quality and relevance.

This is a free tool and can greatly help in finding all the links pointing to your website.

2) Semrush

Semruush is a paid tool for checking backlinks. It also shows the toxicity of your backlink profile. 

The steps to use Semrush are as follows:

  • Login to Semrush and Enter the URL in the box. Semrush step 1
  • Click on the “Backlink Audit” button present on the menu bar. Semrush Step 2 Finding toxic backlinks
  • You can see the number of toxic, potentially toxic, and non-toxic links. Semrush Step 3 finding toxic backlinks
  • Click on the Review Toxic Domains button to get a detailed report of toxic backlinks. You can even filter the results and export the file to .csv. Semrush Step 4 finding toxic backlinks

After exporting the .csv file, you can save it, which can be used to remove toxic backlinks.

How to Remove Toxic Backlinks?

Once you’ve identified toxic backlinks, it’s crucial to take action to remove them or disavow them. There are two ways in which you can remove toxic backlinks from your website. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Contact The Site Owner To Remove The Link

This step can be time-consuming, but for high-value backlinks or those from websites you believe are legitimate but simply irrelevant, it’s worth attempting direct outreach. Here’s how:

  • Find Contact Information: Locate the website’s contact information. Look for a dedicated “Contact Us” page, a contact form, or an email address listed somewhere on the site.
  • Consider the “Guesstimate” Approach: If no contact information is readily available, you can try constructing an email address using a common format like firstname.lastname@theirdomain.com. However, this approach has a lower success rate.
  • Utilize Tools for Efficiency: Tools like Hunter can help you find email addresses associated with a domain name.
  • Social Media Search: Look for the website owner or webmaster on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter. They might have their contact information listed on their profile.

Once you’ve obtained a valid email address, draft a polite and professional email requesting the link removal. Here’s a template you can use for the reference:

Email template for toxic backlink removal

But, if any blogger is not replying and the link removal is crucial for your website, consider adding it to disavow list. Let’s learn how you can disavow links you can’t remove.

Disavow Toxic Backlinks

You can also use Google Search Console to disavow toxic backlinks. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

  • Go to Google search console’s disavow tool.
  • Select your property from the given list, from where you want to disavow backlinks. Disavow Link from GSC
  • Create a TXT file and upload it to the disavow tool.  
  • By doing so, your request will be submitted to Google. If Google agrees to disavow, your links will be gone, or you can resubmit the request.

Conclusion

Toxic backlinks can severely damage your website’s SEO by lowering your rankings, leading to Google penalties, and harming your online reputation. To identify and remove them, use tools like Google Search Console and Semrush. 

In case outreach fails, disavow toxic links using Google Search Console. By proactively managing your backlinks, you can protect your website’s SEO and ensure its long-term success.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between toxic and spammy backlinks?

Toxic backlinks are from low-quality or malicious sources, while spammy backlinks are often artificially created. Both can harm your SEO, but toxic backlinks are more likely to be harmful due to their association with unethical practices.

Can I remove toxic backlinks without contacting the website owner?

While disavowing toxic backlinks in Google Search Console is an option, directly contacting the website owner is often the most effective way to remove them.

How long does it take for Google to process a disavow file?

The processing time for a disavow file can vary and may take several weeks or months. Be patient and monitor your website's performance.

Can disavowing toxic backlinks harm my website's SEO?

Disavowing too many backlinks, including high-quality ones, can negatively impact your website's rankings. Use this feature cautiously and only target truly harmful backlinks.

How often should I check for toxic backlinks?

Regularly check for toxic backlinks, at least once a month or more frequently if your website is vulnerable to spam or attacks. This helps you identify and address issues promptly.

Ekta Chauhan

Ekta Chauhan

Ekta is a seasoned link builder at Outreach Monks. She uses her digital marketing expertise to deliver great results. Specializing in the SaaS niche, she excels at crafting and executing effective link-building strategies. Ekta also shares her insights by writing engaging and informative articles regularly. On the personal side, despite her calm and quiet nature, don't be fooled—Ekta's creativity means she’s probably plotting to take over the world. When she's not working, she enjoys exploring new hobbies, from painting to trying out new recipes in her kitchen.

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