Worrying about toxic backlinks is like fretting about ghosts in your attic – people keep talking about them but nobody’s actually seen one.
There’s no such thing as toxic backlinks
Google doesn’t have a concept of “toxic backlinks.” That term was literally made up by SEO tools to scare you into buying their services.
John Mueller from Google has been pretty clear about this:
“Internally we don’t have a notion of toxic backlinks… It’s also not something where if you’re looking at the links to your website and you see random foreign links coming to your website, that’s not bad nor are they causing a problem.”
Yet half the SEO industry is still running around disavowing links like they’re trying to exorcise demons from their websites.
Should you worry about toxic links?
Not really. Every website gets dodgy links. It’s just part of existing on the internet. Some random blog in Kazakhstan links to you with exact match anchor text? That’s not “toxic” – that’s just the internet being the internet.
Since Penguin 4.0 rolled out years ago, Google’s been telling us they just ignore rubbish links rather than penalising sites for them. But some SEOs would rather believe their SEO tools than Google itself.
The Disavow tool is not for regular maintenance
Google’s disavow tool is essentially a way to tell Google, “Please ignore these links when you’re assessing my site.” It’s like telling the teacher not to count certain answers on your test.
The tool wasn’t created because Google thought it would be a lovely addition to their toolset. It was born out of necessity during the aftermath of the Penguin algorithm update in 2012, when Google went on a rampage against paid links and manipulative link building.
Suddenly, thousands of sites were hit with manual penalties, and site owners were desperate to clean up their act. The problem? Many couldn’t get the dodgy links removed – some link sellers were even charging fees to take them down!
After enough pleading from the SEO community, Google released the disavow tool as a last resort for sites that had been buying links and couldn’t get them removed.
Here’s the thing about the disavow tool that many don’t understand – it doesn’t help you rank better. It helps you stop being penalised if you’ve been caught building manipulative links.
It’s not preventative medicine – it’s emergency surgery. You don’t take antibiotics every day just in case you might get an infection, and you shouldn’t be disavowing links just because some tool flagged them as “toxic.”
John again:
“The disavow tool is not something that you need to do on a regular basis. It’s not a part of normal site maintenance. I would really only use that if you have a manual spam action.”
Let me translate that from Google-speak: Unless you’ve been buying links and got caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you probably don’t need to touch the disavow tool.
But what about Negative SEO?
Every time I bring this up, someone shouts “BUT WHAT ABOUT NEGATIVE SEO?!”
I’ve yet to see a genuine case where random spammy links actually tanked a site’s rankings. Usually, there’s something else going on as well, such as:
Your content has gone stale
What looked fresh and brilliant last year might be desperately outdated now. Your competitors have probably published newer, more comprehensive content while you’ve been busy fretting about those backlinks from Russia.
Your technical SEO is all over the place
Site speed issues, mobile usability problems, crawlability disasters – these are far more likely to tank your rankings than a few dodgy links. When’s the last time you actually checked your tech SEO?
Google’s algorithm has moved on without you
There’s an update nearly every month now. Maybe your content just doesn’t match what Google’s looking for anymore. Check your traffic drops against known algorithm updates before blaming those backlinks.
Your competitors have simply gotten better
While you’ve been obsessing over backlink profiles, they’ve been improving their content, user experience, and overall site quality. Sometimes it’s not that you’re doing worse – it’s that they’re doing better.
(That’s not to say that negative SEO doesn’t exist – here’s a guide to it by someone far more knowledgeable on Negative SEO than me.)
When should you care about bad links?
There are exactly two scenarios where you should be bothered about links:
You’ve received a manual action
If Google has actually sent you a message in Search Console about unnatural links, then yes, it’s time to break out the disavow tool. This is Google explicitly telling you there’s a problem.
You’ve been actively buying dodgy links
If you’ve been purchasing links at scale to manipulate rankings, you might want to clean things up before Google notices. But be honest with yourself – this is about fixing your own actions, not defending against mysterious “toxic” links.
What should you do with all the time you have now you’re not disavowing left, right, and centre?
Stop wasting time on link audits and focus on things that matter:
Create content that solves real problems
Instead of obsessing over backlinks, create content that genuinely helps your audience. Answer their questions, solve their problems, and be the best resource in your niche. Good links follow naturally when you’re doing something worth linking to.
Fix your technical foundations
Make sure Google can properly crawl and index your site. Sort out your site structure, fix broken links, improve your page speed, and ensure you’re mobile-friendly. Technical SEO issues will hurt you far more than random spammy links.
Focus on user experience
Make your site easy to navigate, fast to load, and simple to use. A good user experience leads to better engagement metrics, which are far more important signals to Google than whether some random site is linking to you.
Build relationships, not just links
Instead of worrying about bad links, focus on building genuine connections with others in your industry. These relationships lead to natural links, collaborations, and referrals that actually drive business – not just rankings.
If you’re still convinced your site is suffering from “toxic” links, at least check your traffic drops against Google updates before you start disavowing. It’s almost always something else.
And for heaven’s sake, stop running those “toxic backlink checkers” every month. You’re just creating work for yourself, and who needs more jobs?
