Link Building
Disavow File
A disavow file is a plain-text .txt file containing a list of URLs or domains that a webmaster wants Google to ignore when evaluating backlinks to their site. Google's Disavow Tool, accessible via Google Search Console, was introduced in 2012 to help sites recover from manual actions or algorithmic penalties caused by toxic link profiles.
Toxic backlinks for disavowal are identified using Ahrefs' Backlink Audit, SEMrush's Backlink Audit Tool, Majestic's Trust Flow vs. Citation Flow comparison, and Moz's Spam Score metric. The disavow file is uploaded via Google Search Console and processed by Google's spam-fighting systems over several weeks.
Authority Links
Related Terms
Link Building
Backlink
An inbound hyperlink from one website to another — historically the strongest single ranking signal in Google's algorithm, treated as a vote of confidence in the linked page's authority.
Link Building
Black Hat Link Building
Black hat link building refers to link building strategies utilized by actors who attempt to rank higher in search results by exploiting backlinks.
Link Building
Nofollow Tag
Nofollow tag is the href rel tag that gives the signal to the search engine bots to disregard specific links.
Link Building
Spam Link
Artificial, bad, or manipulative links are called spam links.