How to Disavow Backlinks in Ahrefs You open your backlink report and find hundreds of links from casino sites, random foreign blogs and pages that make no sense. Your stomach drops. Should you panic? Should you disavow them all?
Take a breath. This guide shows you how to disavow backlinks Ahrefs makes easy to find, export and send to Google. You’ll also learn when you should not disavow, which matters just as much.
Key Takeaways
- Disavowing tells Google to ignore specific links pointing to your site.
- Ahrefs helps you find and export the list, but the file must be uploaded to Google Search Console. Ahrefs alone doesn’t tell Google anything.
- Most sites don’t need to disavow. Google already ignores most spam links.
- Use it when you have a manual action or a large number of clearly manipulative links.
- Disavowing the wrong links can hurt your rankings, so be careful and selective.
What Does It Mean to Disavow Backlinks?
When you disavow a backlink, you ask Google not to count that link when it evaluates your site. The link still exists on the other website. You are only telling Google to ignore it.
Google describes this in its official disavow links documentation. It also warns that this is an advanced feature, and that you should use it carefully.
Do You Really Need to Disavow Backlinks?
This is the question I wish more people asked before touching the tool.
In my experience, most websites with a few spammy links don’t need to disavow anything. Google’s systems, including SpamBrain, are built to ignore low-quality links automatically. Google’s own spam policies focus on links you create to manipulate rankings.
Disavow if:
- You received a manual action for unnatural links in Google Search Console.
- You (or a past SEO agency) bought links, used PBNs or joined link schemes, and you can’t get them removed.
- You see a large, sudden wave of obviously spammy links that you believe may be harmful.
Don’t disavow if:
- You only see a few low-DR links from small or foreign sites.
- Your rankings dropped, but you haven’t confirmed that links are the cause.
- You are doing it just because a tool labeled links as “toxic”.
A low Domain Rating alone does not make a link bad. Many new but genuine sites have a low DR.
What You Need Before You Start
- An Ahrefs account with access to your website (Ahrefs Webmaster Tools also works for sites you own and verify).
- A verified property in Google Search Console.
- About 30 to 60 minutes and a spreadsheet to keep notes.
How to Disavow Backlinks in Ahrefs: Step-by-Step
Ahrefs updates its interface from time to time, so button names may differ slightly. The logic stays the same.
Step 1: Open the Backlinks Report in Ahrefs Site Explorer
Log in to Ahrefs, enter your domain in Site Explorer and open the Backlinks report. Set the mode to your whole domain so you see every link.
[IMAGE 1: Ahrefs Site Explorer backlinks report]
Step 2: Filter the Links to Find Suspicious Ones
Don’t scroll through thousands of links by hand. Use filters to narrow things down, for example:
- Low Domain Rating (such as DR 0 to 10)
- Dofollow links only (these are the ones that can pass ranking signals)
- Exact-match or spammy anchor text
- Unusual languages or topics unrelated to your site
You can also open the Referring domains report to review entire domains instead of single pages. If a whole site is spam, disavowing the domain is cleaner.
Step 3: Review Each Link Manually
This step is the one people skip, and it’s the one that protects you. Open the linking pages and ask:
- Is the page real, or auto-generated nonsense?
- Is it selling links, or full of unrelated outbound links?
- Does the link look natural, or was it clearly placed to manipulate rankings?
- Did I or an agency ever create this link?
Cross-check suspicious links in the Links report in Google Search Console. Google’s data is the version that matters most for your site.
[IMAGE 2: Filtering backlinks by DR and dofollow in Ahrefs]
Step 4: Select the Links or Domains to Disavow
In the Ahrefs backlinks report, tick the checkboxes of the links you’ve confirmed as harmful. Then use the Disavow option to add them to your disavow list. You can choose to disavow:
- A single page (only that URL), or
- A whole domain (every link from that site)
Use domain-level disavow when the entire site is spam. Use URL-level when only one page is a problem.
Step 5: Export the Disavow File from Ahrefs
Open your disavow list in Ahrefs and export it. You’ll get a plain .txt file. If you prefer, you can also build this file yourself.
[IMAGE 3: Exporting the disavow file from Ahrefs]
Step 6: Check the Disavow File Format
Google is strict about the format. Your file should follow these rules:
- Plain text (.txt), encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII
- One URL or domain per line
- Lines starting with
#are comments - Maximum 100,000 lines (including comments) and 2 MB file size
Here’s a simple example:
# Spam links found in Ahrefs - Oct 2026
domain:spammy-example-site.com
domain:another-bad-site.net
https://some-blog.com/page-with-bad-link/Always keep a backup of the file. A mistake here can cost you rankings.
Step 7: Upload the File to Google Search Console
This is the step that actually makes it work.
- Go to the Google Disavow Tool.
- Choose your verified property.
- Click Upload disavow list and select your .txt file.
- Confirm the upload.
If you already have a disavow file, the new upload replaces the old one. So always download your existing file first, merge it with the new entries and upload the combined version.
[IMAGE 4: Uploading the disavow file in Google Search Console]
Step 8: Wait and Monitor
Google doesn’t remove the links immediately. It processes the file when it recrawls the linking pages, which can take several weeks. Check your rankings, traffic and Search Console regularly. Don’t expect overnight changes.
Common Disavow Mistakes to Avoid
- Disavowing everything with low DR. This can remove helpful links.
- Not reviewing links manually. Tools give hints, not final answers.
- Overwriting an old disavow file by uploading a fresh one without merging.
- Wrong file format. Google may reject it or ignore lines.
- Using disavow as the first fix. Try asking the site owner to remove the link first, where that’s realistic.
- Forgetting to upload to Google. Exporting from Ahrefs alone does nothing.
Disavow vs Removing Backlinks: Which Is Better?
| Approach | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Ask for removal | Link is deleted from the other site | Links you built or can easily trace to a real owner |
| Disavow | Google ignores the link, but it stays live | Spam links you can’t remove, manual actions |
| Do nothing | Google handles it automatically | A few random low-quality links |
For most sites, “do nothing” is correct more often than people expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I disavow backlinks directly in Ahrefs?
Ahrefs lets you build and export a disavow list, but it cannot submit it to Google for you. You must upload the .txt file in Google Search Console.
Should I disavow backlinks with low DR?
Not automatically. Low DR only means a site has few backlinks of its own. Judge each link by relevance, quality and how it was placed.
Will disavowing backlinks improve my rankings?
Only if bad links were actually hurting you, for example in the case of a manual action or clear link scheme. For most sites, you may see no change at all.
How long does it take for Google to process a disavow file?
It usually takes a few weeks, because Google must recrawl the linked pages. There’s no exact timeline.
Can I undo a disavow?
Yes. Edit your disavow file, remove the lines and upload the updated version. Google will gradually start counting those links again.
Is the Ahrefs disavow tool free?
Ahrefs’ features depend on your plan. You can check your own site’s backlinks for free with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools after verifying ownership. The Google Disavow Tool itself is free.
What is the difference between domain-level and URL-level disavow?
Domain-level (domain:example.com) ignores every link from that site. URL-level ignores only the specific page you list.
Conclusion
Now you know how to disavow backlinks Ahrefs lets you find, review and export, and how to upload that file to Google the right way. The real skill is knowing when to do it. Review links manually, disavow only what’s clearly harmful and always keep a backup of your file.
If you’re still unsure whether your links are a problem, read our backlink audit guide first. To build a healthy link profile from scratch, see how to create backlinks.
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