For years, both Webmasters and SEOs have wanted Google to give them a way to determine which links they want/don’t want the search engine to count in their page ranking. Such a feature is often called a ‘disavow’ feature, or button.
In theory, it is a simple concept. You would go to the link report in your Webmaster tools in Google. There would be an action button that would say something like “I don’t like or trust that link.’ Google then would take that feedback to indicate that you do not want that link to be used in rank your Website.
The common reason that many SEOs and Webmasters want such a feature is because they want a fast, simple way they can cut out any incoming links that may be damaging their Google rank.
Some in the Internet community have expressed surprise that Google didn’t release the update ages ago. Such a disavow feature would seem to be a fine way for Webmasters and SEO to conduct spam reporting for Google without actually calling it that. There will be tons of Webmasters calling out possibly spammy links, which Google could then use to update their algorithms. It’s a win win, right? This would allow Google to find a lot more spam, in theory.
Well, it appears, as of early June, that the disavow feature is coming our way. According to this report, a disavow button is in the works at Google and should be available in the next six months. Generally, the SEO community seems to support this new feature. However, according to the article, a few say that this new feature could be a form of “mass community outing, without it being felt as outing anyone.”
Still, a disavow feature would save Webmasters a ton of time having to comb through links to determine which ones are good and not so good. What do YOU think?