Disavow to all domains?
-
Hi there, I have several versions of my domain setup in Webmaster tools. Should I upload my disavow file against all of these domains?
For example.....
If I find a link pointing to: http://www.mydomain.com from: http://www.somespammysite.com do I need to add a disavow file in Webmaster tools for all my domain versions or only the version the offending links points towards?So...
Only
http://www.mydomain.com
Or
http://www.mydomain.com
http://mydomain.com
https://www.mydomain.com
https://mydomain.com -
It's best practice to verify all versions of your site in Webmaster Tools (now called Google Search Console) and submit your disavow file to each of them.
Most likely, though, if you only use one version (i.e. if all of your urls are https://www.... and all other versions redirect to this one) then submitting to that version should be enough. But, there's no harm in being on the safe side and submitting the file to all versions.
-
Hi there
Yes, definitely true - I just do so for documenting.
Sorry for not clarifying!
-
I think the process you have went through here sounds fine, commenting in a disavow file is needless as Google won't actually manually read it, it's a completely automated process. Commenting is for webmasters and seo's to make notes only for future reference.
-
I got a report of all inbound links and went through it manually looking at each site to see which ones looked spammy to me.
There are lot's that are easy to spot: No contact info, Obvious directory sites, sites that are mainly adverts, sites with obvious bot generated content etcProbably not the best approach
I'm going through it again now.
-
Hi there
To be honest, in my experience, actually listing backlinks in your disavow file helps substantially, not just domains.
Google wants to see effort and research done in your disavow file. I would actually run through a backlink audit and see which links are worthy of removal attempts and which are worthy of updating to your main site domain.
That way, you can comment in your disavow file saying "We reached out trying to remove these links" or "We were able to remove these links". That way, you have a thorough and well thought out disavow file, not just a blanketed disavow file to domains.
Just something to keep in mind - hope this helps! Good luck!
-
No reason not to do that, but when I say be careful with which sites you disavow, how are you assessing the likelihood it is a problem site?
-Andy
-
Thanks for the fast reply.
I have been through hundreds of thousands of links and am now cleaning up my disavow file into this format
domain:spammydomain.com
domain:spammydomain1.com
domain:spammydomain2.comI am doing domain: rather than listings all the links as there's sometimes hundreds from the same domain. Would you agree that this is correct?
-
only the version the offending links points towards
This one, which is probably your primary domain? Google is pretty smart and will know that you have multiple domains 301ing to another domain, but there is no need to disavow against a site where there are no links.
Just be careful how you are disavowing though. Don't be too brutal and concentrate heavily on those with spammy anchor texts.
-Andy
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Forwarding a .org domain to a .com domain: any negative impact to consider?
Hello! I have a question I've been unable to find a clear answer to. My client's primary domain is a .com with a satisfactorily high DA. My client owns the .org version of its domain (which has a very low DA, I suppose due to inactivity) but has never forwarded it on. For branding/visibility/traffic reasons, I'd like to recommend they set up the .org domain to forward to the .com domain, but I wanted to ask a few questions first: 1. Does forwarding low-value DA domains to high-value DA domains have any negative authority/SEO impact? 2. If the .org domain was to be forwarded, am I correct that an SSL cert is not necessary for it if the .com domain has an SSL cert? Thanks in advance!
Technical SEO | | mollykathariner_ms1 -
URL Structure On Site - Currently it's domain/product-name NOT domain/category/product name is this bad?
I have a eCommerce site and the site structure is domain/product-name rather than domain/product-category/product-name Do you think this will have a negative impact SEO Wise? I have seen that some of my individual product pages do get better rankings than my categories.
Technical SEO | | the-gate-films0 -
One simply question about disavow tool
Hi Guys, my website is under a negative seo attack. One simply question about disavow tools. Everyday I have to upload a file with the new bad backlinks (domains). The fact is that when I try to upload a new disavow report the tool continue to show me the file of the day before and If I upload the new file it replace the old one. So.... what I have to do? 1. Upload a new file with the backlink domain of the day that replace the old one
Technical SEO | | Italianseolover
2. Or upload a new file with the old backlinks plus the new one? Thank you very much.0 -
Redirecting a questionable domain to a trusted domain
I have a question!
Technical SEO | | FDFPres
We have 2 domains operating within the same retail sector. One of them is for our bricks and mortar business and the other is a new brand we launched as a nationwide e-retailer. We aggressively built links for the new one and achieved some very good search positioning, where we remained for about 4 months until the google updates of the first half of this year started biting. The domain never received a warning from google or anything, but the links have clearly been devalued to a point where the domain is now virtually buried for the most competitive terms. However, the domain does still get around 100-200 visitors per day, and has a DA of 38. We're thinking about a reshuffle that would involve putting the products in to our brick and mortar business website, and redirecting the brand domain to the bricks and mortar domain. Thank you for reading this far! the question is then, is there a danger of the bricks and mortar domain being tarnished by this? as i said the brand domain hasn't had any notices of penalty from google but it has definitely been hit by updates.0 -
Different domains for multilingual website
Hey guys, A site that I'm currently working on as different domains for each website language. So for example: word1word2.com for the english version word3word4.com for the french version word5word6.com for spanish version .... Is it better to move all of the different languages to the same domain and use subfolders for each language /fr/... Please note that the domains being used bring in organic traffic as well as they are EMDs. Thank You.
Technical SEO | | BruLee0 -
Buying new domains to help with SEO
Hi, Does buying new keyword related domains and 301 redirect them to my site have any seo benefit?
Technical SEO | | Socialdude0 -
Using an exsisting domain for a new busines?
I have a domain name that is in use and has a domain age of 4 years. My question is this, will taking that domain name and promoting it under a completely new business in a completely different industry with a totally different business model hurt getting this new business to rank? The domain name is my first and last name. I've been promoting videos that I like under this domain name. I would now like to use the domain name to promote my local SEO services. Will this hurt my efforts to rank with search engines since Google and others have been indexing the site for a certain industry and topic? Thanks
Technical SEO | | fun52dig
Gary0 -
Redirecting a domain
I was setting up a new campaign and received the following error from Roger Robot. "We have detected that the domain www.sitename.com and the domain sitename.com both respond to web requests and do not redirect. Having two "twin" domains that both resolve forces them to battle for SERP positions, making your SEO efforts less effective. We suggest redirecting one, then entering the other here." I know about redirecting a PAGE using 301 Redirects and how to specify the www. canonical in Google webmaster tools, but is there a "DOMAIN" redirect that I'm missing. What would you suggest doing given the error message above. Thanks, Bill Sqnch.jpg
Technical SEO | | Marvo0