How Important is it to Disavow Spammy Links with Google Core Updates Happening?
How Important is it to Disavow Spammy Links Someone Pointed at My Site with These Core Updates Happening?
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My site's traffic dropped about 25% with the recent core algorithm update that was just announced. I hadn't checked Search Console for a few months, and when I went there looking for an answer, I was shocked to find someone had pointed over 100 spammy coupon site links – most with the word coupon in the domain name – at many of the pages on my site.
I'm wondering if this is the reason for our drop in traffic and I'm thinking I should disavow these links. I was under the impression that Google was pretty good at ignoring such links, but maybe not. What are your thoughts on this?
Answer:
Yes, the January 13th Google Core update was another one focused on quality. It seems like Google is doing 4 or so of those a year now. If your site lost traffic during that update, it's because Google thinks your quality needs improving. And you're right, even though Google has in the past been pretty good at ignoring spammy links, the links you describe could cause a negative effect, so disavowing them is a good first step.
However, that alone is unlikely to put you back to where you were. So, as you strip away the bad links, you'll also need to focus on your site's...
- Link quality
- Content quality.
- Trust signals.
- Site speed.
- User experience.
- Mobile usability.
Here are some resources for you to lean on:
