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What is PageSoar?Try the PageSoar demoWhat's new in PageSoarRunning the free website checkYour first ten minutes in PageSoarWhat the Home screen showsHow the Getting started guide worksHow to choose your goalFinding and fixing
How a change goes live: draft, review, publish, checkWhat the agent changes by itself, and what waits for youWhat the SEO audit screen showsHow to find and filter your pagesWhat the page audit showsWhat site-wide issues mean and how to clear themHow to add internal links and untangle pages that competeHow page types are scored and how to change the standardsHow to change many pages at once with Bulk optimizeBroken links, redirects and page speedWhat the Market position screen showsHow to see what changed in your marketHow to choose your next movesHow to find sites that should link to youHow to check if Google's AI answers name youHow to choose what to write nextWhat the Meta Ads screen showsHow to save a filtered list as a viewProving it worked
How PageSoar measures whether a change workedHow to read the Did it work? screenWhat the Weekly briefing showsWhere your visits come from: the Channels screenHow to compare pages and build a dashboardWhich kinds of fix move clicks most: the Impact rankingHow to run a held-back experiment and log what you expectHow to track your search rankingsWhat the Needs attention screen is telling youHow to generate a report deckHow to be told when a number movesHow to log what you expect a change to doConnecting your site
Which sites PageSoar can publish toConnect Google Search Console and AnalyticsWhen a connection does not workHow to connect your website and GoogleHow to check your site's connection healthHow to request a custom connectorConnect WordPress to PageSoarConnect Ghost to PageSoarConnect a git repositoryConnect a Python appConnect Shopify to PageSoarConnect Webflow to PageSoarConnect Wix to PageSoarAsking your data
Asking your data in plain wordsHow to check a draft before it goes liveHow to check a rival's websiteSEO basics
What a title tag is and how to write a good oneWriting meta descriptions that earn clicksHeading structure: H1 to H3 explainedHow to write helpful image alt textWhat a canonical tag is and when to use itRedirects: 301 versus 302 and how to avoid chainsWhat an XML sitemap does and how to check yoursRobots.txt: what it blocks and common mistakesWhat structured data is and which types matter for a small businessHow to fix duplicate contentMobile-friendliness: what to checkHTTPS and why browsers warnWhat keyword research is and how to startSearch intent: the four kinds and how to match a page to oneLong-tail keywords for small businessesHow to write a page that answers a searchInternal linking basicsWhat backlinks are and how to earn them honestlyAnchor text explainedWhat E-E-A-T means in practiceContent refreshes: when and how to update an old pageKeyword cannibalization: how to spot and fix itLocal SEO basics and a Google Business Profile checklistHow to read a search results page (SERP features)Core Web Vitals explained: LCP, CLS and interaction speedHow to speed up a slow page: images, caching and scriptsWhat Google Search Console shows: queries, pages, clicks, impressions and positionWhat Google Analytics measures: users, sessions and eventsSetting up a conversion or key eventClick-through rate: what is normal and how to raise itBounce rate versus engagement rateUTM tags: tracking campaigns correctlyHow to run a simple before-and-after SEO test, and why correlation misleadsSeasonality: why traffic moves without any change from youWhat a Google algorithm update is and how to respondA monthly SEO reporting checklist for a small teamWhat hreflang is and when a site needs itHow Google indexing works and how to check a page is indexedPagination and how to handle paged listsURL structure and slugsFavicons and why they matterHow JavaScript-heavy pages are crawled and renderedPreparing for voice searchCall to action writingWhat a lead is and how to capture oneLanding page basicsWhen to use the link disavow tool (rarely)Domain authority and similar scores: what they do and do not meanCloaking and other practices that break search guidelinesThe marketing funnel and how content maps to itHow to read heat maps and scroll depthPogo-sticking and short visits: what they tell youReading CSS-related page speed problems in plain languageImage formats and compression for a faster siteHow to write a clear page title and URL for a service pageHow often to publish contentYour team and your data
Roles and approvalsIs my site safe with PageSoar?Billing, plans and cancellingHow to approve or send back a proposed changeAssigned and Decided: where your work and past decisions livePick the goal that counts as a winTeach PageSoar your brand voiceList what your product has todayCheck what PageSoar knows about your site and rivalsIgnore pages, or keep them out of GooglePublish your award badges so Google can show themCustom modules: parts built for your accountPeople, roles, company name and appearanceTarget site and the write testHow notifications and the weekly summary workHow to get back something you removedGlossary
SEO glossary A to ZWhen to use the link disavow tool (rarely)
Disavowing tells Google to ignore certain links to your site. Most sites never need it.
What it is#
A disavow file is a list of links or whole sites that you ask Google to ignore when it judges your site. Google offers a tool for it inside Search Console. It is an advanced, last-resort tool, and using it when it is not needed can do more harm than good.
Why it matters#
Every site collects odd backlinks over time: directories, scrapers, spammy blogs. Search engines are generally good at ignoring these on their own. Disavowing a good link by mistake removes a vote of trust you earned, so a careless file can lower your visibility.
When it is worth considering#
- You received a message in Search Console about a manual action for unnatural links.
- You or a past agency paid for links or joined link schemes, and you cannot get them removed.
- You see a large, clearly artificial batch of links that you did not build.
When to leave it alone#
- A few strange links from unknown sites. This is normal.
- A low score from a third-party tool. Those scores are not Google's view.
- Links from small sites that simply look unfamiliar to you.
How to do it safely#
- Export your list of linking sites from Search Console.
- Review them one by one and note only the ones that are clearly paid, spammy or unnatural.
- Ask the site owners to remove the link first, and keep a record of your requests.
- For the rest, build a plain text file listing the domains, one per line, following Google's published format.
- Upload it through the disavow tool and keep a copy of the file.
Keep a paper trail#
Write down what you reviewed, which links you asked to have removed, and the date you uploaded any file. If something changes in your visibility afterward, that record lets you work out whether the file was the cause. Also set a reminder to revisit the file once a year, because a link you once distrusted may have changed owners or been cleaned up.
Common mistakes#
- Disavowing in bulk because a tool flagged links as toxic.
- Treating it as routine maintenance. It is not.
- Forgetting the file exists, so good links stay disavowed for years.
If you are unsure, do nothing and earn better links instead. The guide what backlinks are and how to earn them covers that.