Bing recently announced a Disavow Links tool for webmasters which will allow site owners to point out links they don’t trust. In a search industry in which bad links are drawing increasing amounts of negative attention, this feature gives the average link building company and its clients a little more control. The question is, is this development really useful?
Links have been a huge subject of discussion in 2012. With Google sending warnings to site owners, and taking an ever-tougher stance on low-quality or spam links, Search Engine Optimaization and site owners have been forced to reassess their linking practices. Many have yearned for a way to disavow spam links which could not be removed. Bing is providing a way to do so, but Bing is not the search engine that has been causing all the trouble.
It has come as a surprise to many that Bing made this move. While Google and Expert SEO Services have long been in discussions about link disavowal, Bing hasn’t been as clear as its major competitor about spam links. Google has repeatedly warned site owners about penalties for bad links. Bing has merely suggested that such links won’t do much good.
So, is the tool useful?
Although Bing has not taken an open stand on links, the disavow tool will still come in handy for site owners. It gives site owners control over their Bing link profile, and may encourage Google to launch its own tool. In the end, though, removing links is more work than not creating them in the first place.