{"id":32700,"date":"2013-04-10T19:50:22","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T14:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=32700"},"modified":"2026-10-17T10:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T04:42:33","slug":"find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find Toxic Backlinks (and When to Ignore Them) in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Worried that bad links are hurting your rankings? Here is how to <strong>find toxic backlinks<\/strong>, which tools to use, and the most important update since we wrote this in 2013: Google now ignores most spammy links on its own, so you rarely need to remove or disavow anything. We still share our own Link Detox experience below, because the process of reviewing links is just as useful today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Export your backlinks from Google Search Console, then review them in a tool like Link Detox, Semrush Backlink Audit or Ahrefs. Only act on links that are clearly manipulative, such as paid links, link networks or links you built yourself. Google says its systems ignore most spam links, so use the disavow tool only if you have a manual action or know you built bad links.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6adf8d1ab5cd9\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6adf8d1ab5cd9\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#Our_story_why_we_checked_our_backlinks\" >Our story: why we checked our backlinks<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#Do_toxic_backlinks_still_matter_in_2026\" >Do toxic backlinks still matter in 2026?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#How_to_find_toxic_backlinks_step_by_step\" >How to find toxic backlinks: step by step<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#Lessons_for_WordPress_theme_and_plugin_makers\" >Lessons for WordPress theme and plugin makers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#Can_toxic_backlinks_hurt_my_site\" >Can toxic backlinks hurt my site?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#Should_I_disavow_links_flagged_by_SEO_tools\" >Should I disavow links flagged by SEO tools?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2013\/04\/find-toxic-backlinks-link-detox\/#Is_Link_Detox_still_available\" >Is Link Detox still available?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Our_story_why_we_checked_our_backlinks\"><\/span>Our story: why we checked our backlinks<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>After our site was hit by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/06\/fight-google-panda-penguin\/\">Panda penalty<\/a> in 2012, traffic kept falling. The worst part of our backlink profile came from three free WordPress themes we had released in the official theme directory. Their footer credit links pointed to our site from thousands of spam blogs that never updated the theme. We changed the credit links long ago, and asked many webmasters to remove links, but only a few did.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-33100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/toxic-backlinks.png\" alt=\"toxic backlinks found by Link Detox\" width=\"465\" height=\"110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/toxic-backlinks.png 465w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/toxic-backlinks-300x70.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 465px) 100vw, 465px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On the advice of QOT readers, we bought credits for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkresearchtools.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link Detox by LinkResearchTools<\/a>. It sorted our links into toxic (red) and suspicious (yellow), and most of the bad ones led back to those three themes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-33102\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/toxic-links-report.png\" alt=\"Link Detox toxic links report\" width=\"442\" height=\"238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/toxic-links-report.png 442w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/toxic-links-report-300x161.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 442px) 100vw, 442px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It also split suspicious links into ten categories, with SUSP1 the most suspicious (often pages with no other outbound links on weak domains). Some links it flagged were actually fine, so we reviewed every domain before adding anything to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/10\/google-disavow-links-tool-cleans-bad-backlinks\/\">disavow file<\/a>. The tool gave us a clear starting point. <em>We had no affiliate or financial interest in Link Detox.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-33101\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/suspicious-links.png\" alt=\"suspicious links categories in Link Detox\" width=\"497\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/suspicious-links.png 497w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/suspicious-links-300x165.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 497px) 100vw, 497px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Do_toxic_backlinks_still_matter_in_2026\"><\/span>Do toxic backlinks still matter in 2026?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Much less than in 2013. Since the Penguin update became part of Google&#8217;s core algorithm in 2016, Google says it devalues spammy links rather than penalising the site they point to. Google&#8217;s search team has repeatedly said that &#8220;toxic link&#8221; scores in third-party tools are not something Google uses. The cases where links still hurt are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You received a <strong>manual action for unnatural links<\/strong> in Search Console.<\/li>\n<li>You or an SEO agency <strong>bought links or joined link schemes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>You are cleaning up after a <strong>negative SEO attack<\/strong> that coincides with a clear ranking drop, which is rare.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_find_toxic_backlinks_step_by_step\"><\/span>How to find toxic backlinks: step by step<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Export your links.<\/strong> In <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Search Console<\/a>, open Links and export top linking sites and external links.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Run a backlink audit.<\/strong> Use <a rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/go\/semrush\/\" target=\"_blank\">Semrush<\/a> Backlink Audit, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ahrefs<\/a> or Link Detox to spot patterns. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2021\/10\/ahrefs-free-account\/\">Ahrefs free account<\/a> covers your own verified sites.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look for patterns, not single links.<\/strong> Sitewide footer links, exact-match anchors, foreign spam networks and pages that exist only to link out are the warning signs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask for removal<\/strong> where there is a real contact and you placed the link.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Disavow only if needed.<\/strong> Upload a domain-level file through Google&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/disavow-links\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">disavow links tool<\/a>, and keep a copy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Lessons_for_WordPress_theme_and_plugin_makers\"><\/span>Lessons for WordPress theme and plugin makers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Footer credit links seemed harmless, but for us they became an SEO disaster. If you release themes, plugins or widgets, mark credit links <code>rel=\"nofollow\"<\/code> or point them to the product page on WordPress.org. Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2020\/04\/nofollow-links\/\">nofollow links<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_toxic_backlinks_hurt_my_site\"><\/span>Can toxic backlinks hurt my site?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Usually not. Google ignores most spam links. Links only become a real risk if they are part of a link scheme you created or lead to a manual action.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Should_I_disavow_links_flagged_by_SEO_tools\"><\/span>Should I disavow links flagged by SEO tools?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Not automatically. Tool scores are estimates. Disavowing good links can do more harm than good.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Link_Detox_still_available\"><\/span>Is Link Detox still available?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Yes, it is part of LinkResearchTools, a paid professional suite.<\/p>\n<p><em>Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. QuickOnlineTips may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worried that bad links are hurting your rankings? Here is how to find toxic backlinks, which tools to use, and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":33102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,41],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-32700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","category-search-engine-optimization","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67509,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32700\/revisions\/67509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}