Disavow Tool Beta Test Recovery Laid Bare!
Following a series of questions surrounding the successful recovery of a site that we tested with the newly released Google Disavow tool, I thought that we should look to offer more information about what we did, how we did it and the results that we witnessed, so here we go.
The test site that we used to Beta test the Disavow tool had received a number of warnings via Google Webmaster Tools which began with an ‘Unnatural Link Warning' which was sent 21st March 2012, which sparked a link removal process undertaken by us to see whether we would be able to have the site reinstated, however as you can see from the image below, there were two failed attempts to satisfy the powers that be at Google and we were told that they were still seeing links pointing into the site that they believed to be ‘unnatural'.

In July the site received further notification that Google considered links into the site were still ‘unnatural':

Fast forward a number of months of trying to contact website owners to have some of the links that had been pointed into the site, we were offered the chance to be able to Beta test the ‘secret' Disavow tool which was in development at Google, a tool that would allow us to inform Google of links that had been pointed into the site but ones that we would prefer for them not to count.
Following the guidelines that we were given, we began to undertake even more backlink profile analysis, gathering data that we could then make into a list that we could provide to Google through their tool, which was meant to give Google link data of sites that were linking into the test site that we would like them to overlook.
Following the uploading of the text file which was set out in the format that they required, we began to create a re-consideration request, one that would lay the whole process that we had taken with the site since the receipt of the ‘Unnatural Links Warning' that the site received back in March this year.
Within that request we documented everything that we could, including:
- Informing Google that we were Beta testing the Disavow tool and had submitted a list of links we would like to have discounted from their findings.
- Proof of emails that we had sent to a string of websites owners asking for them to remove the links that their site may have pointing towards the domain.
- A complete list of all the backlinks that we were able to remove from the backlink profile between March and the day of the request.
Feeling that we had offered as much information that we could possibly give to Google, we submitted the request and awaited their response.

Having received a response, as you can see in the image above (dated 25th Sept 2012), we opened the message to find the following:

So clearly Google had seen and "processed" the request but as you can see from the message, we were not given too much indication to what that meant for the site, was it going to recover? Was it going to return another message days later? We simply didn't know.
Following the receipt of the message, we decided that we needed to keep a close eye on the rankings that the site held, checking long range to see if it was even able to rank within the top 10 pages of the search engine, let alone page one, after all seeing a positive movement would be the signal that we had done enough surely?
Well days turned into weeks and still we hadn't seen anything about to jump back into life, until one morning we arrived to the news that Google had rolled out a Penguin update, refreshing their data and giving us something to think about right across the board.
Just like many of you reading this, the first thing that we did was check over sites that we knew, did any get caught up in the new roll out? Any big names disappeared into the darkness of the Google search results?
While making those checks, we realised something… The test site had climbed for a number of rankings, increasing it's search engine visibility for the first time since it received the penalty for ‘Unnatural Links'!
Want to see the proof?

So as you can see from the search engine visibility graph which we have taken from SearchMetrics today, the site is still increasing and ranking well for a number of keywords, it looks like the bad links have now been ‘disavowed’ and the natural linkage is steering it in the right direction, upwards!
Got any questions? Feel free to ask them below and I will look to get back to you as soon as possible.
Meanwhile why not follow me on Twitter (@alexgravesseo) to make sure that you don’t miss out on any of my future posts?
20 Comments
Jon - http://twitter.com/ItsHogg
Did Google give you any feedback on your use of the tool?
Alex Graves
Hi Jon,
No, we weren’t offered any insight into what they thought of the use nor did we ask as we know that Google like to keep that sort of information to themselves as they are wanting site owners to remove the links that ‘they’ think are bad, opening up the removal of links that could in reality be good for the site.
People are discussing that you have to have caution when using the tool as Google might use it against you but it is hard to see that being done, where as Google then looking into the sites that are more frequently mentioned in order to punish that site directly would be more viable in my personal opinion.
bob
SO to be clear Google never sent a message saying that they were revoking manual actions. You’re recovery was after you disavowed links and a penguin refresh happened>?
Alex Graves
Hi Bob,
All the messages that we received for the site are shown in the article, so there was no ‘manual action revoked’ message.
We can’t confirm that the recovery needs a Penguin update just yet as only got to test the one site, so could have been a coincidence but we are monitoring others to see what happens.
Thanks
Steve Ollington - http://www.humanism.org.uk
Isn’t it meant to take a couple of months to take effect?? That’s what Google said.
Alex Graves
Hi Steve,
I believe that the time you are referring to is Matt Cutts saying to allow some time for Google to see the marks on the links that Disavow generates?
I believe Cutts said a week or two however we placed a re-inclusion request with them within days of uploading the links data to the tool, but remember that we were Beta testing the tool so automatic recognition could still have been in development? Or we could have just had the request looked at and the list looked at as it should have been.
We didn’t get any information other than that in the post, so we can only share what we have seen to date.
Steve Ollington - http://www.humanism.org.uk
Or was it right back in the summer you had the BETA test?
Chris Gedge - http://www.further.co.uk
Hi Alex, how long did you wait between uploading the disavow file and submitting the reinclusion request? Cutts was talking about leaving it for a week or two before submitting one.
Thanks, Chris
Alex Graves
Hi Chris,
We collated and uploaded the data that we needed and followed up with the re-inclusion request a few days later.
We have to remember that we were Beta testing the tool so information was not as clear as it is now.
Thanks for the question.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 19, 2012 - pingback
[…] Disavow Tool Beta Test Recovery Laid Bare!, David Naylor […]
Kevin
Regarding the links that you’ve disavowed (and are still live), do they still appear in the Webmaster Tools reports ? Does it seem like the “links to your site” counts are decreasing ?
Jason Mun - http://jasonmun.com
Great case study Alex!
WIll you update this post if and when Google confirms the removal of those links via the notification?
Brian Jensen - http://www.youtube.com/user/walksthroughlife
Alex,
Thanks for the great post. I’m sure many SEO and Webmasters who have received an “unnatural links warning” in their GWT account were very exited to see Google finally release the new tool (Google playing catch-up with Bing!). I thought sending another reconsideration request after submitting a .txt file and also including a proof of emails was a brilliant idea that obviously worked.
Chris Green - http://chris-green.net
It strikes me that Google has everything to gain by not being overly transparent about the whole process. I think there is good reason to feel optimistic about the tool and happy that this will be the beginning of the end of people profiteering from link removal.
Alicia
We cleaned up a lot of our links and then submitted a reconsideration request. Google came back and said still not good enough.
If we use the disavow tool as suggested do we still need to send in another reconsideration request?
Dave
Okay, I’ve read and re-read both posts on the disavow tool, and the comments and responses for both, and still cannot quantify how many days/weeks elapsed between disavowal and recovery?
That the Penguin refresh was related to this recovery is not an unreasonable conclusion. However, because it is not beyond question, it would be really interesting to know the time frame between disavowal request and recovery?
Go on, just to put me out of my misery… 🙂
Novedades Google: entrevista a un ex empleado y disavow links tool | Consultora SEO – mjcachon - pingback
[…] Más test realizados con la herramienta para tratar de recuperar sitios http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/disavow-tool-beta-test-recovery-laid-bare.html […]
Ruben Couto - http://www.topseotoolbox.com
All things considered, I think the disavow tool is very useful for a good seo development.
Matt Cutts Answers Questions About Link Disavow Tool | Big Oak SEO Blog - pingback
[…] request actually works, you can read about a successful case study at David Naylor’s site: http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/disavow-tool-beta-test-recovery-laid-bare.html submit_url = […]
Search Ramble - http://www.searchramble.com/
Many people tried to get this disavow tool working….not sure how many of them has succeeded..