How to Create a Google Disavow File (Step-by-Step)

What a disavow file looks like

Before anything else, here is the whole format. A disavow file is a plain-text .txt file, UTF-8, one entry per line, under 2 MB and 100,000 lines:

# LemRank disavow — example.com — submitted 2026-09-10
# Domains from the July link-farm wave
domain:spam-site-example.com
domain:another-spam.net
domain:casino-links.ru

# Single pages only, where the rest of the site is legitimate
https://mostly-fine-site.com/paid-links-page

Rules Google enforces on the file:

• domain:example.com disavows the whole domain and every subdomain. No http://, no trailing slash.
• A bare URL disavows that one page, exactly as crawled.
• Lines starting with # are comments — use them to date the file and note why.
• One entry per line. No commas, no quotes, no CSV, no Google Doc.
• Each upload replaces the previous file, so the file you upload must contain every domain you still want ignored.

When to actually use disavow

Google has said repeatedly: for most sites, the disavow tool is unnecessary. Their algorithms already ignore obviously spammy links. You should build a disavow file when at least one of these applies:

• You have a manual action in Search Console citing unnatural links.
• You paid for links in the past (guest post networks, PBNs) and want to preempt a manual action.
• You see a sudden influx of spammy links — a negative SEO attack or a scraper wave.
• You're auditing after buying a domain with a suspicious link history.

If none of the above apply, disavowing "just to be safe" can hurt — you may accidentally disavow real editorial links that are helping you.

What counts as a toxic backlink

Not every low-authority link is toxic. The pattern signals matter more than any single link. Watch for:

• Sites with no visible editorial standard — auto-generated content, no author bylines.
• Link-farm signatures — 100+ outbound links per page, same anchor text repeated.
• Off-topic linking sites — a gambling directory linking to your SaaS product.
• Foreign-language spam at scale — Russian or Chinese casino/pill sites are the classic case.
• Copied content with your link injected.
• Exact-match commercial anchor text at unusual volume ("buy cheap X" repeatedly).

Step-by-step: build a disavow file

1. Export all backlinks. Use Search Console (Top linking sites) plus a third-party crawler for depth.
2. Deduplicate to referring domains. You almost always want to disavow at the domain level, not per-URL, because one spam site usually links from many URLs.
3. Score each referring domain. Manual review remains gold-standard for the top 500 — after that, use a toxicity score to prioritise.
4. Compile the list. Plain text file, one entry per line:

   # Disavow submitted 2026-07-09
   domain:spam-site-example.com
   domain:another-spam.net
   https://specific-page.com/spammy-url
   

   Lines starting with # are comments and are ignored by Google.
5. Save as UTF-8, .txt. Not .csv, not .doc.
6. Upload to the Disavow Tool in Search Console. Google confirms receipt within minutes.
7. Wait 4–8 weeks for effects to compound as Google re-crawls the disavowed sources.

How LemRank helps

Our Spam Backlink Monitor scores every referring domain on 8 signals (link farm density, TLD reputation, on-page spam markers, redirect chains, subnet co-location, anchor over-optimisation, page similarity clusters, and outbound link ratio). The Disavow Assistant lets you:

• Filter to high-confidence toxic only to build a conservative file.
• Export a valid disavow.txt in one click, correctly domain-prefixed.
• Track every submission so you never re-disavow a domain you've already listed.
• Weekly watcher flags new suspicious inbound links so you can update the file incrementally.

There is no public Google API for automating disavow submission — you upload the file yourself. Any tool claiming to fully automate submission is misusing the platform.

Common mistakes

• Disavowing too aggressively. Removing real editorial links can crater rankings.
• Uploading a new file that doesn't include prior entries. Each upload replaces the previous file. Always download the current list first and append.
• Disavowing per URL when you should disavow the domain. If a domain is spammy, one URL isn't the problem.
• Expecting immediate impact. Google recrawls disavowed sources on their own schedule.

What this does not do

• It doesn't remove links from the web — it tells Google to ignore them for ranking purposes.
• It doesn't lift a manual action automatically — you may still need a reconsideration request.
• It doesn't help with links that aren't hurting you — disavowing helpful links is net-negative.

Related

• What is share of voice