You disavowed the link and ignored the redirect behind it.

You disavowed the link and ignored the redirect behind it.

The myth: disavowing the linking page handles links that reach you through redirects.

Actually, when spam points at an old domain or a 301 hop that funnels into your site, disavowing the final URL can miss the actual linking source. The relationship lives a hop away from where you're looking.

Reality: redirected and migrated profiles are where disavow work gets sloppy. You disavow what your tool shows on the current domain and overlook links inherited through a redirect from a property you absorbed.

The failure mode is auditing only the surface URL and missing the chain feeding it.

The fix: on any site that migrated or absorbed a domain, trace redirects and audit the links pointing at the old targets too. Disavow the true source domain, not just where it lands.

Reality check: follow the redirect before you trust the report.