Google Still Recommending Disavowing Whole Domains With Machete

Jan 12, 2022 - 7:21 am 4 by

Google Disavow Machete

Google's John Mueller said on Twitter "disavow the whole domain if you know there's an issue with some of its links." He said there is "no need to be exact when everything on a site is bad from your point of view." This reminds me of the advice from Matt Cutts to use the disavow link tool as a machete, not a fine tooth comb back in 2013.

Here is John's tweet:

Now, keep in mind, Google has said that they have seen the disavow tool hurt sites because they are used too widely. But I think that is not because they disavow a whole bad site, but because they are disavowing links that were actually helping them. Using the disavow tool as a machete, in a wide spread approach for a domain, if you know those links are not helping you (not sure how you would know exactly) then it won't hurt. But if you disavow one link that is helping you, sure - that can hurt.

Overall, you probably do not need to bother with the disavow, but you can - according to Google.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Ads

Confirmed: Google Ads Errors & High Latency Issues

Jul 2, 2025 - 7:55 pm
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 2, 2025

Jul 2, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google June 2025 Core Update Volatility Just Began - Do You See It?

Jul 2, 2025 - 8:35 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

July 2025 Google Webmaster Report

Jul 2, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google On Links & Core Updates

Jul 2, 2025 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Places Copilot Search As First Tab & Replaces All With Web

Jul 2, 2025 - 7:31 am
Previous Story: Do Not Block Slow Countries To Improve Your Google Core Web Vitals