Google lets webmasters disavow links

Fresh tools lets webmasters tell Google which inbound links to ignore.

I’ve written ahead of regarding the hassle Google’s crack down on “unnatural linking” has caused web site owners like me.

When web site owners get a notice from Google regarding unnatural links pointing to their site, they send notices to people (like me) asking for their links to be removed.

Often these site owners assume all of the links Google has identified were part of their SEO firm’s black hat/gray hat SEO techniques. But in each case I’ve received a notice, no one ever paid me to add the link or requested that I add the link.

Now Google has released a tool to let webmasters “disavow” links. It basically let’s them tell Google to ignore certain links that may look spammy when the webmaster can’t get it removed.

Unfortunately, this won’t stop the flood of link take down requests you can expect to receive. Google is asking webmasters to first try to get as many links removed as possible and then disavow only links they can’t get taken down.

It’s a step in the right direction, but it would be better if Google could figure out link quality for itself.