FAQ

Open the homepage scan form, paste a domain you own or are authorized to audit, complete any captcha challenge if it appears, and submit. Results return as a shortlist you can export. No signup is required.

You can download a CSV of spam-flagged referring domains for spreadsheet review, plus a plain-text disavow draft formatted for careful editing before any Search Console upload.

Cached results for that target may still be available, so you or a teammate can review the same shortlist without consuming another new daily scan from that IP.

Yes, but fair-use applies per IP. Plan scans across days or networks you control, and reuse the 72-hour cache when several people need the same export. Do not attempt to bypass rate limits.

No. Flags are third-party heuristics on a commercial backlink index. A manual action appears in Google Search Console. Always check Search Console before treating vendor noise as a penalty.

Heuristics can misfire on odd directories, user-generated pages, mixed hosts, or aged sites that look rough to automated scoring. Open live URLs and judge editorial context before acting.

Not necessarily. Indexes are incomplete, and the free scan caps at 100 flagged referring domains. Absence from the shortlist is not a certificate of cleanliness.

Start with clear cluster footprints such as identical templates, sitewide injections, or farms with no editorial purpose. Leave ambiguous single hosts for later or ignore them if they look legitimate.

Confirm the live link still exists, document patterns, and request removals when a real contact path exists. Google says most sites never need a disavow file, so keep that option last.

Yes. Disavowing healthy or mixed domains can discard useful signals. Edit exports aggressively, remove anything uncertain, and follow Google's official disavow documentation before submitting.

Usually no. Nofollow and similar attributes already limit how links pass signals. Focus on clear manipulative patterns you cannot clear, not every noisy mention on the open web.

Read the methodology page for verification steps, then use the blog guides on when not to disavow, removal outreach, and audit checklists. Treat tool exports as drafts throughout.

No. There is no signup. We process the domain you submit to return results, and we may use technical details such as IP and timestamps briefly for rate limiting and abuse prevention.

Hosting infrastructure serves the site, a commercial backlink index powers lookups, and an optional captcha provider may run when challenges are enabled. We do not sell your data for advertising.

Scan results may remain cached about 72 hours. Rate-limit counters and operational logs are kept only as long as needed for security and reliability, then rotated or discarded.

Email hello@toxicbacklinkchecker.com with enough detail to reproduce the issue. Prefer responsible disclosure for security findings. See the privacy and security pages for more context.