Negative SEO
Negative SEO is the industry's name for trying to hurt another site's search rankings, for example by pointing spammy links at it. Google doesn't define the term, but its disavow help page says it works very hard to make sure actions on other sites don't hurt a website.
Source: Google Search Console Help, Disavow links to your site, checked October 29, 2026
What Negative SEO means for your business
Google's Links report help says it typically ignores links from known spam sites. When Google announced its December 2022 link spam update, it said its SpamBrain system would work to cancel out unnatural links. We'd take Google at its word here. Our disavow entry covers when Google says the tool is worth using.
When a business owner sees a burst of strange links and a drop in traffic, we'd check other causes first: a site change, a Google update, a lost listing, a competitor's new pages. Those are easier to confirm, and the links can wait for a closer look.
Some attacks have nothing to do with links. A hacked site can have spam pages added to it, and Google's spam policies say those pages can hurt your site's place in search. We'd watch for this more closely than for bad links. Keep your site software updated, and watch Search Console for pages you didn't make.
If your traffic fell and someone told you a competitor did it, we'll check the links, the pages and the timing before anyone touches a disavow file.
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. All terms
How AI answers it today
On October 29, 2026, Google's AI Overview listed attack types and suggested the disavow tool as protection, citing SEO tool blogs, Reddit and YouTube but no Google page. ChatGPT said attacks work less often than people fear and cited nothing.
Our run through ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview, October 29, 2026. A sample, not what every buyer sees.
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