Google Disavow Tool & Site Reconsideration

So does the Google disavow tool work?

Can it help you recover your rankings?  

In a nutshell,  yes!

We have had a myriad of companies contact us over the past few months, having had their site obliterated by the Google Panda and Penguin filters than have been rolled out over the last 6 months.  I thought I’d share this sample scenario and how the process worked for us in recovering the website penalisation.

First, the client received a warning back in March 2012, prior to approaching us for assistance. Ouch!  See below for a copy of the exact email.  The owner hadn’t noticed this email message in Google webmaster tools, so if you’ve not checked recently and your site’s authority has plummeted – check now, you may have a nasty surprise in your webmaster inbox. Happy Easter from Google!  Incidentally, the sites keyword rankings didn’t see an effect until later in July, but they went from top 1020 placement to outside the top 100.

 So link schemes are the key factor here.

After a probing interview with our client, it was found that they had outsourced some link building to an offshore company.

Following a detailed back link analysis, it was evident why!  A bunch of back links from PR Zero, low domain authority websites, all using the same theme/design and on common IP addresses and hosting.

So What Next?

Approx 70%  bad links were targeted and removed which took around 2 weeks to complete.  Some of the website owners didn’t respond.  This is where the Google Disavow tool plays its part.  Simply upload a text file (csv file form Excel) with the links you want discounting. Make sure you comment and put as much information down as possible on what work you have done to get which links removed, and which ones you had problems with.  Then wait, and wait some more…

If you’ve done your link audit and classification right, and furnished the Google God with as much info as possible, without appearing too fawning, you should see a positive effect within 2-3 weeks, as in the above case.  Rankings returned to their original positions.

I would recommend if you’re unsure about how to analyse back links that you seek some advice/assistance as doing it incorrectly can cause more harm than good.

Make sure you read this in advance, https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2648487

 Has anyone out there also had success with the ‘Disavow tool’ or was it about as much use as a mobile phone in the 19th century?