Where is the disavow tool in Google Search Console?

It is not in the main menu. It sits on its own disavow links tool page, where you choose a property and upload a text file. Google's help page says domain properties are not supported.

What is the format of a disavow file?

A plain .txt file encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII, with one URL or domain per line. Use the prefix domain to disavow a whole domain, and start a line with a hash mark to add a comment.

How long does a disavow take to work?

Google's help page says it can take a few weeks for Google to incorporate the list. John Mueller said in September 2026 that recovery from link problems can take many months.

Should I disavow toxic links flagged by an SEO tool?

Usually not. Google says most sites will not need the tool, and its systems ignore ordinary spam links. Disavow links you built or bought that are likely to cause a manual action, or that already have.

Can I undo a disavow?

Yes. Upload a new file without the lines you want to restore, or use Cancel Disavowals in the tool to remove the whole list for that property.

How to disavow backlinks: file format and steps

You disavow backlinks by uploading a plain text file to the disavow links tool in Google Search Console. The file lists one URL or one domain per line, and Google then ignores those links when it assesses your site. The upload takes a few minutes. Deciding what goes in the file is the hard part, and for most sites the right answer is nothing.

We read Google’s Search Console help page on disavowing links on 4 October 2026. The rules below are quoted from it.

Check first whether you should

Google’s help page sets two conditions, and both must be true:

“You have a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site.”
“The links have caused a manual action, or likely will cause a manual action, on your site.”

The same page calls disavowing “an advanced feature” that “should only be used with caution” and says that used incorrectly it “can potentially harm your site’s performance in Google Search results”. It also says “most sites will not need to use this tool”.

In practice that leaves two situations. The first is a manual action for unnatural links, visible in Search Console. The second is a history of paid or self-made links at a scale that could lead to one. Random spam from scrapers and unknown foreign sites is not on the list. Google’s systems ignore it, and the “toxic” scores in SEO tools are the tools’ own invention. The backlink audit lesson covers how to tell the two apart.

The tool is not harmless. Google’s John Mueller said in September 2026, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable: “it has its place & time, it does have effects.” If you disavow links that were helping, you lose that help.

The file rules

Rule	What Google’s help page says
File type	A text file with a name ending in .txt
Encoding	UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII
Layout	“Specify one URL or domain to disavow per line”
Whole domain	Prefix the line with domain, for example `domain:example.com`
Comments	Start a line with a # mark. Google ignores those lines
URL length	Maximum 2,048 characters
File size	Maximum 100,000 lines, including blank and comment lines, and 2MB
Lists per property	One. A new upload replaces the existing list

Google’s own example looks like this:

# Two pages to disavow
http://spam.example.com/stuff/comments.html
http://spam.example.com/stuff/paid-links.html
# One domain to disavow
domain:shadyseo.com

A URL line disavows the link from that one page. A domain line disavows links from every page on that domain. For link sellers, networks and spam sites, the domain line is the practical choice, because the same link often appears on several URLs of the site.

How to build the list

Export your links. Download the links report from Search Console. Add an export from a backlink tool if you have one, since Search Console shows a sample. Our backlink tools comparison lists the options.
Mark the links you created. Start with records: invoices, vendor reports, old agency spreadsheets. Paid posts, private blog network links, bulk comment and profile links and keyword-anchor widgets are the usual candidates.
Try removal first where it is realistic. For a manual action, Google’s manual actions help page tells you to contact the site owner and ask for the link to be removed, and to disavow what you cannot get removed.
Leave everything else alone. If you cannot say why a link is manipulative, it does not belong in the file.
Write the file. Use domain lines for sites that exist to sell links, and URL lines only where one page on an otherwise good site is the problem. Add comments with dates so the next person understands each block.
Save as .txt in UTF-8 and check that no line has stray spaces or quotation marks.

How to upload it

Open the disavow links tool. It is a separate page, not an item in the Search Console menu.
Select the property. Google’s help page says you must be an owner of the property and that domain properties are not supported, so choose a URL-prefix property.
Upload the file. If the property already has a list, the new file replaces it. Download the existing list first and add to it, or you will silently drop the old entries.
Fix any errors the tool reports and upload again.

Google’s help page says “it can take a few weeks for Google to incorporate your list”. The links will still appear in your Search Console links report afterwards. That is expected: the file changes how Google treats the links, not whether it lists them.

After a manual action

If you are disavowing because of a manual action, the file is one part of the process. Google’s manual actions help page says that once the artificial links are removed or disavowed, you select Request Review and describe your fixes. It adds that most reviews “can take several days or weeks”, and that link-related requests may take longer than usual.

Keep a record of the removal emails you sent. Google link penalties and recovery covers the reconsideration request itself.

Common mistakes

Disavowing by tool score. A list generated from a “toxic” filter usually includes harmless links and sometimes good ones.
Uploading a partial file. Each upload replaces the last. Always work from the current list.
Using URL lines for link farms. The same link reappears on tag, archive and paginated pages. Use the domain line.
Disavowing after a spam blast. A sudden wave of junk links is normally ignored. See negative SEO and link attacks for when action is justified.
Expecting a bounce. If rankings fell because Google stopped counting links, a disavow restores nothing. Mueller said in September 2026 that recovery “can take quite some time, sometimes many months”.

How to undo it

To restore some links, upload a new file without those lines. To remove everything, open the tool, choose the property and select Cancel Disavowals. Expect the same delay of weeks before the change is picked up.

Will the tool go away?

Possibly. Mueller is quoted by Search Engine Land as saying of the tool: “At some point, I’m sure we’ll remove it.” Bing removed its own disavow feature in October 2023, according to the Bing Webmaster blog. As of October 2026 Google’s tool is live and no removal date has been announced.

Where to go next

If you are not sure whether your links are a problem at all, start with what counts as link spam. To catch risky links early, set up backlink tracking. Terms such as manual action and disavow are defined in the glossary.