Creating Disavow Files using Majestic

Now you can easily export bad backlinks in Disavow format, making it easier to upload them into Google. While the guys at Majestic are putting together the finishing touches, I thought I’d just show you how to build a disavow file using Majestic in this video and blog post.

Step 1: Clear your Bucket list

We’ll be using the Majestic “Buckets” feature to create your disavow file. If you never used Buckets before, it’s easy. If you have used buckets before, though, you may want to check your bucket is empty. On the top right of your navigation (desktop/laptop version only) you will see a bucket icon. Click on this and you will what is in your bucket, if anything. press the word “select” to check all the items and then at the bottom of the list, click “remove selected items”. Now your bucket is empty, head back to the home page.

Step 2: Enter the website you want to create a Disavow file for

In the search box, put in any website. Just put in the domain. Do not add a trailing slash, or add http or www… doing so will default Majestic to either a url level analysis or subdomain analysis. When you press the search icon, you can easily check and change the focus:

Step 3: Decide on Fresh or Historic data

If you have had a disavow problem for some time, but you are confident bad links have not been created in the last few months, then use the Historic index. If the problem is recent, use the Fresh Index. The fresh index does contain links that are old, but Majestic’s crawl intelligence is less likely to re-crawl spammy links and to keep the Fresh index… fresh… they remove any page from the index that has not been seen for 120 days, and therefore the links from that URL are also removed.

Step 4: Choose whether to disavow by URL or by Domain

Most people find it easiest and more reliable to disavow at the domain level. That is to say, if you have one toxic link from a website, then you may as well disavow the whole site. Others like to be more laser-like in their disavow methodology. If you want to disavow domains, click on the domains tab. If you want to disavow individual backlinks, use the backlinks tab. Luckily, in Majestic, you can mix and match by adding both types to your bucket.

Step 5: Sort the lists to highlight the most likely toxic links

Everyone has a different idea of toxic. Also, different sites may be penalized for different reasons. Luckily, you can make use of Majestic’s whizzy new and simple link sorting tools to build out a list of candidate URLs or domains on the fly.

Step 6: Add candidates to the Bucket

Head down the list and look at each site or URL. If you think it should be disavowed, hover over the gear icon to the right of the URL and from there you will see that you can add the URL to your Bucket list without leaving the screen.

Step 7: Return to your Bucket list and export the disavow file

When you are done, simply head back to the top of the screen and click on the bucket (desktop view only) to return to your now shiny full bucket list. If you do not have a chance to do it all in one sitting, don’t worry… the bucket list will still be there next time you log in and will stay until you clear it. At the bottom of the list are two export buttons. Use the “Export links to disavow” option.

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