Time for Google Processing Removed URLs from Disavow Files

SEOs know all about the time delay when it comes to processing a disavow file.  But what about when you remove URLs from a disavow file and want them to contribute to your PageRank once again?  How long does this process take?

Gary Illyes says there is some lag with the process, but for most, it won’t even be noticeable.  For the majority of SEOs, unless you are removing an entire disavow file with thousands of URLs, chances are the changes will be more subtle.

@bhartzer @Marie_Haynes @JohnMu There's surely *some* lag, it's just in the vast majority of the cases you wouldn't notice it

— Gary Illyes ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (@methode) April 27, 2017

John Mueller suggested that SEOs do what they feel they should do with regards to disavowing and reavowing, and then let the situation settle.

@Marie_Haynes @masonpelt @methode @bhartzer Your overthinking it. It's not like a noindex (pop in/out). It's subtle & takes time.

— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) April 27, 2017

@bhartzer @Marie_Haynes @masonpelt @methode All indexing changes take an indeterminate amount of time, so I wouldn't worry about the timing. Do the right thing, let it settle.

— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) April 27, 2017

It does go along with another “reavowing disavowed links” scenario that Gary Illyes & John Mueller commented on earlier this month.  He suggested that when you disavow and see a drop in rankings, you start removing higher quality URLs from the disavow.  Then, Mueller said “There’s no artificial delay / time-penalty, it’s just a matter of recrawling & reindexing / reprocessing the pages.”

What is unchanged seems to be the time for Google to process the disavows initially.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post

Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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