Backlinks are critical for SEO, but not all links are beneficial. Toxic backlinks, from low-quality or irrelevant sources, can harm a site's ranking. In response to this, Google introduced the Disavow Tool in 2012 to allow webmasters to inform Google of harmful links. As Google's algorithms have evolved, many question whether disavowing links is still necessary in 2025.
Google's Evolving Approach to Toxic Links
Google’s algorithms have significantly improved in detecting and filtering out toxic backlinks without the need for manual intervention. Since the introduction of the Penguin algorithm in 2012, and its real-time update in 2016, Google has been able to automatically discount low-quality links in real time, thus reducing the need for the disavow tool [1].
However, Google still advises using the disavow tool in specific situations, particularly when a website is facing a manual penalty due to unnatural links or when there is clear evidence of a negative SEO attack:
You should disavow backlinks only if:
- You have a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site,
AND- The links have caused a manual action, or likely will cause a manual action, on your site.
Google encourages webmasters to first attempt cleaning up toxic backlinks manually by reaching out to the linking site before resorting to disavowing them.