Disavow file panic - saw it tank a site last week

G Gaze ·

Disavow file panic - saw it tank a site last week

G

Gaze

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ok so alright so this is gonna be a bit of a rant. Been doing this since like 2016 and back then disavow was pretty much just an emergency button for when you bought obvious crappy links and got hit with a manual action. You saw the message, freaked out, uploaded a list. But now? Whole different ball game. I just looked over some old SEO work from a client's past guy. Site traffic down like 60 percent over 6 months. Turns out he disavowed like 800 domains just cause he saw some spammy links in ahrefs and got paranoid. No penalty, just overthinking. We took down that disavow file last Tuesday and no joke, rankings started creeping back up by Friday for some mid-tail keywords. It was crazy. IMO now you only touch that thing if Google tells you to in GSC with a manual action. The algorithm is way smarter at ignoring junk than we think. Using it early is kinda like doing surgery just in case you get sick someday. Anyone else seen a site bounce back after removing a useless disavow? Or am I just lucky?
 
ok so been doing this 5+ years and I've seen the same. My tip is to always keep a backup of your disavow files before submitting them. That way if things tank you can quickly revert and test if the disavow was actually hurting. Most of the time, it's just paranoia that does more damage than bad links.
 
Different angle: sometimes disavow files are like a shot in the dark, but I've seen cases where removing a big chunk of links, not just disavowing, helped a site bounce back faster. Smh, some folks just overthink it and cause more harm than good. I'd test removing disavows in a controlled way before freaking out
 
been doing this 4 years and yeah, disavowing blindly can kill traffic. Had a client lose like 40 percent in 2 months after a huge disavow. Removed it after 3 weeks and boom, bounce back started in 5 days. Sometimes less is more, ymmv lol. Keep it simple, stay smart.
 
like, i've seen about 30-40% traffic drops after dumb disavow moves, and then it usually recovers if you pull that file. one time a client lost like 50% in a month after disavowing 1500 spammy links, took it off after 2 weeks and traffic started climbing again in 3 days. kinda wild how fast Google can ignore or pick up stuff depending on what u do
 
honestly your tips, guys. Backup is definitely a good idea, I do that too just in case. And yeah, sometimes removing links instead of disavowing can be faster for recovery, imo depends on the case. Always remember, don't overthink the disavow unless Google actually tells you to.
 
bruh, been there. always test disavows on a staging or sandbox site first, not live. can save you from nasty drops like that.
 
lol, yeah, I swear by that. like 70% of my clients' sites tanked after a bad disavow move. testing first saves so much headache, bruh. plus, if it tanks, you can fix it without pissing off the live site traffic. smart move.
 
honestly been doing this 3 years and honestly, sometimes disavows gotta be a bit more risky. yeah, they can tank a site if you go overboard but a controlled disavow, done right, can actually help clean up bad links faster. just gotta be sure about what you disavow, don't overthink it too much.
 
disagree fam, I think disavows can be a powerful tool if used right. yeah, they can tank if done poorly but if u really know ur backlinks and clean up bad ones first, disavows actually helped my rankings not hurt. it's all about the approach, not just avoiding it altogether
 
Lol, I get it but I think sometimes ppl get too freaked out about disavows. yeah, they can tank if you go ham but most of the time, if u know what ur doing, it's a useful cleanup tool. smh, some dudes just panic over it.
 
been doing this 3 years and learned the hard way to always double check backlinks before disavowing, especially with tools like ahrefs or SEMrush. if u disavow bad links blindly u risk tanking ur whole profile, so always do a manual review first and keep the safe links.
 
How do you usually verify backlinks before deciding to disavow? Are u relying on any specific tools or just eyeballing it?
 
just my 2 cents, depends on the site but usually i cross-reference a few tools like ahrefs, majestic, and sometimes eyeball the links if im unsure, ymmv but blind disavowing is a recipe for trouble.
 
been doing this 5 years and disavowing can actually help recover sites if done right. i always keep a backup of my links and do a gradual disavow process instead of blanket blocking everything
 
Actually, data shows that 60% of sites see a bounce back after a careful, phased disavow. Just blocking blindly can tank your rankings for weeks. Always verify links first and keep backups. Rushing into disavow can backfire big time
 
Careful with the "eyeball the links" part, smh. I've seen clients get burnt just by eyeballing bad links without proper data. I prefer running a full backlink audit first, then disavow only the really toxic ones. It's a safer bet ymmv but blind disavow can wipe out legit juice.
 
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