When it comes to Google processing disavow files, it can take quite some time – up to 6-9 months in some cases – for Google to process the entire file.  This is because Google needs to recrawl each and every link you disavow before it can process it for your site’s disavow file.

The question came up in the most recent Google Webmaster Hangout asking if there was any way to speed up the disavow process, and John Mueller gave some advice on how to get it processed faster.

We read the disavow file right when you submit it, there is nothing special that you need to do there.  What I would recommend doing though is using the domain directive as much as possible, so instead of listing individual URLs, try to list the whole domain.

That saves you a bit of time so you don’t have to chase all the individual URLs and also makes it easier for us to process it because we don’t have to match all of these individual URLs.  So that’s maybe a tip to watch out for.

He also reminds people that Google does not read any comments you make in a disavow file, something he has said before in Google Webmaster Help Hangouts.  So if you are making notes for your own use while disavowing, continue to do so, but don’t take time making notes especially for Google, because Google will not read them.

You can leave comments in a disavow file if they help you, but we don’t read them.  These files are processed by our systems automatically, if there is a comment you want to give Google, then a disavow file is probably a bad place to put that.

So if you are looking for a faster turnaround time for your disavow, stick with disavowing entire domains whenever possible and don’t bother leaving fancy notes within the disavow file as a message for Google, since the files are processed by Google’s systems and not a real person who would read them.

Here is the video: