Disavow File

The Disavow File is a UTF-8 encoded text file (.txt) that webmasters submit to Google's Disavow Links tool in Search Console to flag backlinks they want Google to ignore when calculating their ranking. The file follows a specific format: each line contains either an individual URL to disavow or an entire domain preceded by the domain: prefix (e.g., domain:spamsite.com). Comment lines start with #. Best practices include disavowing at the domain level rather than URL by URL for entirely toxic sites, adding comments explaining why each domain is disavowed (for future reference and reconsideration requests), never disavowing your own domains or quality domains, and keeping a version history of the file. Google processing can take several weeks after submission. A misused disavow file can harm rankings by eliminating beneficial links.