Should I disavow links from Firebaseapp.com?

[ecardinal2]

Happy Monday!

Like many of you, I am currently going through the disavow process. I have tons of spam links from firebaseapp.com, which I see is owned by Google. Since it's Google-owned, should I still disavow the entire domain or is that going to make Google hate my site even more?

I've done virtually no backlink building at all, so in order to get to a good ratio I have to disavow as much as possible. I have SO MANY links from this site. Please help. :-)

 

[4440]

You don't.
If one builds spam links to all his competitors, will he derank all other sites? No. So you shouldn't worry.

 

[Gina Harrison]

Hi Ecardinal2,

Can I ask what you are using (if anything) for checking back-links? IF you are currently not using a tool, I would highly recommend (we use it), SEMRUSH. I'll be straight up and tell you that it isn't cheap (around $125/mo.), BUT worth it's wait in gold, particularly if you are looking to build some back-links. We have been working with 24-7 Press Release Newswire (just do a search for terms like 'press release service' and press release distribution'.

I mention this because about 6 months ago, we disavowed close to 1,100 'toxic links' (SEM Rush calls them toxic links - i'm not sure if that is standard in the industry). I also spoke with a representative that shared some 'slightly conflicting' information, advising that search engines are already aware of the toxic links and that you don't need to disavow them. My question on this is "If search engines (like the big G) already recognize 'toxic links', why would you have a tool to disavow bad links?? Seems a little conflicting.

Anyway, they also have an amazing backlink tool that shows all the good backlinks from sites for your competitors, so you can also get links from those same sources. With regards to your question about firebaseapp - If it really is owned by G, i'd personally leave it be... Odd that it would flag iself for spam?

I hope some of this helps!

Gina & Samantha

 

[alex06]

Hey ecardinal2,

This is a tricky situation you're in. The advice from 4440 and Gina Harrison brings up some good points to consider.

From what I understand, disavowing links isn't always necessary, especially for sites you don't control. Google's pretty smart about figuring out which links to count or ignore. That said, if you're seeing a ton of spammy links from one source, it might be worth looking into.

Gina's suggestion about SEMRUSH is worth considering if you want to dive deeper into your backlink profile. Tools like that can give you a clearer picture of what's going on.

The firebaseapp.com domain is an interesting case. Since it's Google-owned, you probably don't need to worry too much about it. Google's unlikely to penalize you for links from their own properties.

In general, unless you're seeing actual negative impacts on your site's performance, it might be best to focus on creating good content and building quality links rather than worrying too much about disavowing.

Anyone else have experience dealing with a similar situation? It'd be great to hear more perspectives on this.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Google's unlikely to penalize you for links from their own properties.

I've cleaned up and removed penalties entirely from links originating from Blogspot, a Google-owned property. It was an auto-generated web 2.0 "PBN" network, so it's not surprising, but nonetheless, it came from a Google property they allow to be spammed to death that they choose not to clean up AND they allow penalties to flow out from it.

 

[alex06]

I've cleaned up and removed penalties entirely from links originating from Blogspot, a Google-owned property. It was an auto-generated web 2.0 "PBN" network, so it's not surprising, but nonetheless, it came from a Google property they allow to be spammed to death that they choose not to clean up AND they allow penalties to flow out from it.

That's really interesting, Ryuzaki. I didn't realize Google would penalize sites for links from their own properties like Blogspot. It seems counterintuitive that they'd allow spam on their platforms to affect other sites negatively.

Have you noticed any improvements in your site's performance since cleaning up those penalties? I'm curious about the process you used to identify and remove them. Did you have to use the disavow tool, or was there another method?

This kind of firsthand experience is really valuable. It shows that we can't always assume Google properties are safe from SEO issues. Thanks for sharing your insights.

 

[Ryuzaki]

@alex06, this was many years ago. I disavowed the links with no attempt to have them removed. The algorithmic penalty was lifted within a couple weeks. These days the recommendation to not use the disavow tool is not only widespread but is good advice. However, it's not a binary issue. We can still disavow the most horrendous links, ones that don't follow easy footprints for Google to use to discount them. Stuff can still sneak through.

 

[rsoeldner]

@alex06, this was many years ago. I disavowed the links with no attempt to have them removed. The algorithmic penalty was lifted within a couple weeks. These days the recommendation to not use the disavow tool is not only widespread but is good advice. However, it's not a binary issue. We can still disavow the most horrendous links, ones that don't follow easy footprints for Google to use to discount them. Stuff can still sneak through.

Newcomer question here: When you write algorithmic penalty, is this something I can check\verify for my domain (similar to a manual penalty in the search console) or is it an educated guess?

I've read several times, that disavow in general is still essential for maintaining the page heath. From the comments its seems like to become less and less important as G is able to figure this out on their own?

 

[Ryuzaki]

Newcomer question here: When you write algorithmic penalty, is this something I can check\verify for my domain (similar to a manual penalty in the search console) or is it an educated guess?

There's nothing in search console that tells you if you receive an algorithmic penalty, but you'll know. It's not going to be a partial thing. You will be obliterated. Back in the day there used to be more subtle penalties for just one page or even one keyword, and maybe -10 positions or even -50 positions. Now it's "whole site obliterated". Trying to tell for a domain you're buying that's used is harder but if it had a site on it you can see some historical traffic using various tools like Ahrefs and Semrush, etc.

I've read several times, that disavow in general is still essential for maintaining the page heath. From the comments its seems like to become less and less important as G is able to figure this out on their own?

It depends on who's talking. A lot of people who want to sell you a disavow service will tell you it's good. A lot of people who drink the Google koolaide will tell you it's bad. The truth is in-between. Google can sort out the most common garbage. You can disavow the rest or any specific link you're a little too worried about that they may not disavow (like some crappy PBN using you as a "co-citation").

But the real reason it has become less important is because... Google used to actively penalize for links, so we could spam each other and do "negative SEO" and hurt each other. Then they stopped allowing links to have that negative affect in the algorithm. And that kind of behavior between SEO's died off. Then Google decided semi-recently to let links hurt you again, and that's when they launched the disavow tool.

So half of it is that Google has figured out what patterns are spam patterns related to links on a page because we all spoon-fed Google the info through the disavow tool. The other half is that they're back to not really penalizing or having a negative effect for links any more. They'll just ignore the links if they don't like them and don't want you to get a boost. With one caveat: doing the most egregious stuff like building out a PBN will still get you a manual penalty. But we're talking algorithmic here.

The other part is most SEO's operate out of fear, and they were hurting themselves with the disavow tool. They would submit links that were valuable to them just because they were so scared to offend Google, and end up damaging their sites. That, plus Google figuring out what was spam or not again, led to them suggesting people not use the disavow tool at all.