One of the categories that I don’t focus on writing about anymore is SEO. I try to follow it and stay up-to-date, but Google seems to be updating or changing something more often than they did a few years ago. What may have worked years ago could potentially lead to a loss in rankings or a penalty of some kind today.
I don’t have as much time to read up about all their changes and updates as I used to. I just abide by their guidelines, and hope for positive results.
When Google first announced their Disavow tool I read about it, but it wasn’t something I was prepared to jump into. I thought it would be better to wait and see what kind of results others have with it first.
At the time it was first announced it did seem like many people were very eager to use it, which is great more power to them. I figured I would sit back and see how it works out for everyone else.
After reading many articles surrounding the use of the disavow tool, it is a little confusing trying to figure out just how well it works, or if it works at all for that matter.
Some people report positive results, while others are convinced it does nothing or it didn’t work for them. It is certainly possible that they didn’t use it properly though.
One of the biggest problems I see with disavowing backlinks is how to actually find and evaluate them. Not only is it difficult to find a decent online resource that will show you your backlinks, but going through them all one by one is nearly impossible if you have a lot of them.
I recently found a really nice free backlink checker/analyzer. What you do is download your backlink data directly from your Google Webmaster Tools account in .csv format. Then, you upload it to the analyzer and it will provide some really impressive results. It does take time to analyze all your backlinks if you have a lot. The good thing is you can leave the page and come back later. It will continue checking them, and send you a link to the results by email when it is done. Much better than trying to check each individual backlink manually.
This tool is primarily for automatically creating a properly formatted disavow .txt file that you can submit to Google. However, you don’t have to actually use it for that purpose. You can use it just to analyze and get a better understanding of your backlinks.
It includes:
Live Domains/Links
Dead Domains
-Possible Host Error
-Possible 301 Redirected Links
-Possible 302 Redirected Links
-No Followed Links
-Possible Not Found Links
-Possbile No Response Links
You have the ability to check a box for the root domain (entire site) or the url (just the actual link to your site or page). Checking boxes is what is used to generate a disavow .txt file.
On the Live Domains/Links part it will also show the actual anchor text used along with page it links to on your website. So, you can see a lot of details about your backlinks all in one.
Another nice feature is you can export the results to .csv or .txt file.
And, it does much more. Check it out and see for yourself.
I should point out that it will only allow you to run one report per week. So keep that in mind if you have several sites/backlinks that you want to check. You would need to wait a week between testing again.
Unlike other backlink checkers and analyzers you don’t have to register to use this tool, at least at the time of this post.
The only thing that I might consider a drawback is since you upload your backlinks .csv to the site/tool you are providing them with all the details about your backlinks. Whether they do anything with it is unknown. So if it concerns you, then all I can say is don’t use it.
The original information about this tool is available here:
New Free Tool, the Google Backlink Checker Tool for Penguin & Disavow Analysis
You can run the free backlink analyzer/test at any of the following:
http://backlinks.webmasterworld.com/google-backlink-tool-penguin-disavow/
http://backlinks.seochat.com/google-backlink-tool-penguin-disavow/
http://backlinks.cre8asiteforums.com/google-backlink-tool-penguin-disavow/
http://backlinks.devshed.com/google-backlink-tool-penguin-disavow/
Watch these videos for more information about how to use the tool:
I am the site owner and administrator of DialMe.com. I provide help and tips for Boonex Dolphin on the main part of this website where you will also find an assortment of other resources. Here, on the blog I write about a variety of topics surrounding WordPress, technology, social media/networking, SEO, and webmaster resources.
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