Toxic Backlinks – How To Find & Fix Them

They don’t make noise, they don’t trip alerts in GSC, and they don’t show up on your radar until it’s too late… But yes, toxic backlinks do exist and they very well could be harming or even tanking your sites rankings.

Negative SEO, spammy link building services, rogue link insertions… it doesn’t matter where they came from.

If they’re pointing at your site and triggering Google’s link spam systems?

You’re in trouble, whether you caused it or not.

In this post, we’re breaking down exactly how to identify toxic backlinks, when to panic (and when not to), and how to clean up your profile the right way so you can stop bleeding rankings and start rebuilding trust.

What Are Toxic Backlinks?

Toxic backlinks are inbound links that do more harm than good.

They’re the kind of links that scream manipulation to Google, and they typically come from low quality, irrelevant, or spammy sources.

Think:

• Hacked blogs linking to your product page with “cheap viagra” in the anchor

• Comment spam blasts with 5,891 other comments

• Auto-generated Web 2.0s with 500 outbound links on every page

• Mass forum page spam with your favorite Russian software

They violate Google’s link spam guidelines either directly (because they were placed with the intention of manipulating rankings) or indirectly (because they’re from obviously untrustworthy or abandoned domains).

And unlike just “low quality” links, which are often ignored, a critical mass of toxic links can trigger:

• Devaluation of entire sections of your link profile

• Suppression of key pages or sitewide drops in visibility

• Manual actions that require reconsideration requests to lift

Google has reduced the number and frequency of toxic links, moving more towards neutral signals (Making links do nothing at all) which is in my opinion, is to reduce processing cost by turning off evaluation systems.

💣 Pro Tip: Toxic ≠ low DR. A DR2 local business blog that genuinely links to you is perfectly fine. A DR70 domain that used to be a casino and now sells “guest posts” to anyone with $15? That’s toxic.

What Causes Toxic Backlinks in 2025

Toxic backlinks can come from your own SEO strategy, from competitor sabotage, from being in the wrong niche, or just from being on the internet long enough…

If you’ve been building, buying, begging, or earning links for years? There’s a high likelihood you’ve got toxic ones lurking, and potentially causing damage to rankings – Though in small numbers, they’d only ever affect the page they’re directly linking to.

Let’s break down the most common culprits of toxic links:

1. Low Quality Link Building Services

Bought a handful of $5 link packages on Fiverr? Congrats, you just paid people to point GSA blasts (automated spam link software) and hacked WordPress footers at your homepage.

There’s still an entire ecosystem of spammy “guest post” resellers, shady outreach vendors, and link farms hiding behind DR metrics and screenshots of Search Console performance – We should know, because we get hundreds of them applying to join our link marketplace every month!

Many of them:

• Recycle domains across industries

• Sell the same posts to 50+ SEOs and site owners

• Spin AI content and insert links programmatically

These types of campaigns are almost never worth it, no matter what site, language or niche you are working with.

Make sure you pick your link building service wisely.

2. Negative SEO Attacks

Still a thing in 2025, especially in certain niches. Still a pain in the ass!

Usually looks like:

• Mass forum spam linking to your site with pharma anchors

• Nonsensical blog comment blasts

• Injections into hacked PBNs that you didn’t build

• International link spam in other languages

Most of these won’t hurt a healthy site. But if you’ve already got a shaky link profile or you’re in a sensitive niche?

Google may flag the pattern. Especially if there’s velocity + anchor manipulation involved, or if they’re building “quality” negative SEO campaigns – A bit of an oxymoron but the idea is to trigger as many spam signals as possible whilst making it look like the real site owner.

3. Site Migrations Gone Wrong

You bought a domain. You migrated your blog. You 301’d that old affiliate site into a new brand.

Awesome… Except now you’ve inherited every single link ever pointed at the old site, including the toxic junk!

And if those redirects aren’t cleaned, blocked, or disavowed?

You’re sending clear signals that your brand is now the new owner of 10 years of spam and cloaked redirects.

4. Legacy SEO From the “Good Old Days”

If you were building links back in 2008–2018, odds are you’ve got some skeletons.

Article directories.
Sidebar widgets.
Exact match anchors in every post.
Expired domains with 4 different redirect hops baked in.

Google didn’t always care. But now?

Link spam systems are using machine learning to identify historic manipulation patterns, and they’re way more aggressive about suppressing equity from those links retroactively.

💣 Pro Tip: Toxic backlinks aren’t always about volume. It’s the pattern that trips Google. One payday loan link? Fine. 60 payday loan links over 12 days, all from dead forums and clone blogs? Trigger.

5. Affiliate Program Abuse

If you’ve launched an affiliate program, and let the public link to your product pages, chances are some affiliates are spamming your links everywhere they can to drive cookie drops.

Places like:

• Forum sigs

• Web 2.0s

• Fake review blogs with scraped content

• Cloaked redirects from junk domains

Affiliate SEO is notorious for using parasite SEO and churn and burn tactics. You’ll inherit every one of those risks when your site is the target URL.

Unless you’re policing those links? You’re absorbing the risk of toxic buildup without even knowing it.

6. Old Link Swaps That Went Rotten

Remember that innocent link swap from 2 years ago? Well now the site’s been sold… and it’s a thin AI site filled with casino links and 20 outbound links per page.

Link swaps, guest posts, and “friends doing favors” are fine, until the property changes hands or gets converted into a farm.

Google does re-crawl these pages. And the link equity it once passed can quickly become a toxic marker for manipulation.

Always re-audit your old link exchanges. What was a safe link in 2022 might be a red flag today!

7. Sitewide, Footer or Blogroll Links

These are the SEO equivalent of flypaper.

Once popular with themes, plugins, or developer credits (“Site built by XYZ Web Design”), they scatter thousands of links across a site, often with exact match anchors and zero relevance.

They might’ve worked back in 2010. Today?

They’re a footprint.

Especially when:

• They’re from templated WordPress installs

• The same anchor is repeated on every page

• The sites themselves have no traffic or rankings

8. Scraper Site Pollution

There are thousands of auto-generated scraper sites that clone RSS feeds and aggregate blog content… and if you’ve ever been published on a halfway decent domain?

You’re probably getting scraped and duplicated with your link in tow.

Most of these pages:

• Aren’t indexed

• Are full of outbound links

• Sit on junk TLDs (.xyz, .top, .click, etc.)

They create link noise, and while individually harmless, in bulk they dilute your profile and make future link efforts look more suspicious.

Scraper spam isn’t “toxic” in the classic sense, but if Google begins associating your brand with junk syndication networks, it can devalue your site indirectly.

9. Parasite SEO Gone Wrong

Used Medium, LinkedIn, or other parasites to push quick rankings?

Great, until someone clones your content, spins it, inserts their own affiliate link, and then links back to you from the spun post on a different account.

Now your “power page” becomes a source of a toxic tier 2 chain.

This can also happen when:

• Parasite content gets deindexed

• The platform purges content and redirects the page

• Someone edits the post to add outbound links to trash

Parasite pages are volatile. And if you’re pushing links from them, you need to monitor what happens to those URLs or risk downstream consequences.

How To Identify Toxic Backlinks

Alright, so you know what causes toxic backlinks, now let’s figure out how to actually find the bastards.

And no, Google Search Console won’t help you here. GSC is notoriously weak for backlink auditing. It shows a limited subset of your total links and doesn’t flag toxicity unless you’re already under a manual action.

You’ll need actual tools, pattern recognition, and a ruthless eye for what looks wrong.

Here’s how to break down a toxic link audit:

1. Pull the Full Backlink Profile (From a Real Tool)

Use tools like:

• Ahrefs – Best for anchor text analysis + link growth patterns

• Semrush – Great toxicity scoring and link velocity tracking

• Majestic – Useful if you’re focusing on Trust Flow vs Citation Flow

• LinkResearchTools – Most advanced but overkill for most SEOs

Export every dofollow link.
Then export every nofollow.
You want to see the entire scope, not just what Google is counting, but what they might start counting soon.

💣 Pro Tip: Run multiple exports across different tools. No single crawler finds everything.

2. Filter by Anchor Text Abuse

Look for:

• Exact match anchors repeated across multiple domains

• Foreign language anchors unrelated to your site

• Pharma, porn, casino, crypto, loan-related terms

• Anchors that don’t even exist on your site but are pointing to you

If the anchor is irrelevant or aggressive, and the page it’s on is low quality?

Flag it!

Even I’m not immune to negative SEO:

Though they weren’t exactly very successful!

3. Look at Link Velocity Spikes

Mass link velocity (tons of new links over a short time period) can trigger Google’s spam systems, especially if they’re:

• From irrelevant or low trust domains

• On junk TLDs

• With commercial anchors

Chart your link velocity. Did you suddenly get 200 new links in a week? Even if you didn’t build them, someone might have.

4. Evaluate Domain Context & History

Use Archive.org, Whois history, and Ahrefs’ “Best by links” tool to ask:

• Was this domain ever legit?

• Is it now a spun AI blog or part of a known PBN?

• Is the content garbage with zero internal linking?

If it’s a domain that used to be a charity, but now has “guest post” ads in every post sidebar?

It’s toxic.

If the site is only linking to 50+ other sites with no internal pages or traffic? It’s a link farm.

5. Look at Link Neighborhood

Is the site linking to you also linking to 100+ payday loan, casino, porn, or AI crypto blogs?

You’re guilty by association.

Google doesn’t evaluate every link manually. They use co-citation patterns and link neighborhood scoring.

One or two bad links? No problem. But if your backlink profile starts looking like spam just by who else you’re sitting next to?

You’re risking suppression.

6. Check Indexation & Traffic

A lot of toxic links come from domains that:

• Aren’t indexed

• Have zero traffic

• Only exist to push links

If the page linking to you is:

• Not in Google’s index ❌
• Gets 0 traffic ❌
• On a site with a flatline growth curve ❌

…then it’s either ignored (at best) or treated as manipulative (at worst).

How To Remove Toxic Backlinks

Now that you’ve identified the toxic crap infecting your link profile, it’s time to put on the hazmat suit and start removing the rot. But here’s the part most SEOs get wrong, you don’t want to disavow every bad looking link! 

Google’s smarter. And they’ve said repeatedly: if you’re not under a manual action, you probably don’t need to disavow at all.

But we’re not here to play dumb. If you’re seeing traffic drops, suppressed pages, or patterns that scream “flag me,” then it’s time to clean up.

Step 1: Prioritize What Actually Needs Removing

Triage is everything.

Here’s how I personally rank disavow priority:

💣 Pro Tip: If the link has zero anchor text, nofollow, and sits on a domain with 0 traffic + no index? Leave it. It’s already doing nothing.

Step 2: Try Manual Removal (If It’s Worth It)

Before disavowing, see if you can get it removed the old-fashioned way.

Use contact lookup tools like:

• Hunter.io

• WhoisXML

• LinkedIn outreach for named site authors

Send something like this:

Subject: Quick Fix For an Outdated Link

Hey there,

I noticed a link on your page [URL] that points to our old site/page.

Unfortunately, it’s incorrect and creating issues on our end. Would you mind removing it when you get a chance?

Appreciate the help and let me know if there’s anything I can do in return.

If they don’t respond? No stress. We disavow.

Step 3: Format Your Disavow File Correctly

This is where most people screw it up.

You only need one text file, UTF-8 encoded, with:

• domain: for full domain disavowals

• Direct URLs if you want to block a specific page only

• # lines for notes (optional but helpful)

Example:

Use Notepad or Sublime Text. Not Word. Not Pages. Not Docs.

Then head over to:

👉 Google Disavow Tool

Submit the file to the correct property (exact match to the one receiving the links).

💣 Pro Tip: Only submit to the HTTPS, non-www or canonical version of your domain, or it’ll do nothing.

Step 4: Track & Re-Audit

After your disavow is submitted:

• Keep a version-controlled copy (with dates) ✅
• Check backlink delta in Ahrefs over the next 30–60 days ✅
• Watch for suppressed pages returning in GSC ✅
• Watch for deindexed junk domains being removed from your profile ✅

Disavows don’t instantly recover rankings. But they can remove suppression, untrip link spam filters, and clean up your brand reputation with Googlebot.

Most sites will take 30-90 days to see the full effects of a link disavow.

Disavow Myths You Should Ignore

• “You should disavow every month” – No. You’re not clearing browser cache.
• “Toxic links always hurt your site” – No. Some are ignored. Others are useful if Google thinks they’re natural.
• “Disavowing will fix all penalties” – Nope. Not if you’re still building crap.
• “It’s dangerous to disavow good links” – This one is true. Be VERY careful not to nuke legit ones out of paranoia.

How To Prevent Toxic Backlinks

Cleaning up is fine. But the real skill? Not letting the trash in the front door to begin with.

Once you’ve disavowed, detoxed, and tracked your clean-up progress, you want to proactively build a buffer between your site and future toxicity. Prevention is cheaper than disavow therapy.

Here’s how to harden your backlink profile and stop inviting garbage to your digital lawn:

1. Vet Every Link Source Like a Skeptic

Whether you’re buying guest posts, doing swaps, or hiring a service, vet them like they’re applying to marry your daughter.

Ask:

• Is the site indexed?

• Does it rank for anything? (Not just brand name)

• Do they link to obvious spam (CBD, crypto, casino)?

• Are their anchors varied and natural?

• Are there 50+ outbound links per post?

💣 Pro Tip: Run random URLs through Archive.org. If the site changed hands recently and is now suddenly “guest posting” in 12 industries at once, every single day, it’s probably a toxic time bomb waiting to happen.

2. Track Anchor Ratios Monthly

It’s not just where the links come from, it’s how they link.

If 80% of your links say “best [product] in [city]” – congrats, you’ve just drawn a red target on your profile.

Use Ahrefs or Majestic to track anchor text distribution every month.

Shoot for:

• ~50% branded / naked

• ~30% partial match

• <10% exact match

• ~10% generic (“click here”, “website”, etc.)

The less your anchors look like they were written by an AI trying to rank for a single keyword, the better.

3. Regularly Audit Old Links

Even good links rot.

Every 3–6 months, do a full link profile re-audit, or at minimum:

• Run a fresh backlink export from Ahrefs/Semrush

• Cross-check against domains in your disavow

• Look for sudden changes in referring pages (especially anchor swaps)

• Flag domains that switched ownership or added outbound spam

Google does it automatically. You should too.

4. Don’t Let Affiliates or Freelancers Run Wild

If affiliates can link to your site without oversight, some will abuse it: Cloaked redirects, fake reviews, forum spam etc…

Same goes for link builders working per link or writers using AI mass generation tools with auto-injected links. You must:

• Set link guidelines

• Ban redirects or cloaked linking

• Approve anchor types and destinations

• Periodically reverse-search affiliate links in Google

One rogue affiliate or poorly trained team member can sink months of clean SEO.

5. Stay Out of Dirty Niches (Unless You Know the Game)

If you’re in iGaming, crypto, pharma, or payday loans… Well, you already know what kind of neighborhood you’re in.

But if you’re a SaaS brand or a local business and you start buying links from sites that also link to all of the above?

You’re guilty by association. And Google’s spam classifiers don’t care that you’re just a plumber trying to boost traffic.

My Final Thoughts: Your Links = Your Reputation

Your backlink profile is your site’s digital resume/CV for us Brits. And a couple of questionable references can overshadow the hundreds of good ones.

Toxic links might not scream in your face. They creep in silently, slowly poisoning rankings, diluting trust, and triggering filters that suppress your visibility without warning.

But now?

You know how to find them. You know when to ignore them. You know how to nuke them. And most importantly, you know how to stop them from coming back!

SEO isn’t just about link building anymore, it’s about link management.

So whether you’re recovering from a penalty, auditing a new domain, or future-proofing your next build… Keep your link hygiene clean, your anchors natural, and your eyes sharp.

Because in 2025, it’s not about how many links you build, it’s about how many good ones actually count.

Audit often. Remove when necessary. Always stay safe and profitable!