⚠ This guide is for website owners, SEO specialists, and system administrators. We’ll show a combined approach: first we neutralize signals to Google using disavow.txt, and when that's not enough – we activate the MikroTik firewall and block traffic directly.

The classic SEO approach: you upload a disavow.txt file to Google and wait. In 2025, this is often not enough – Google claims it "automatically ignores" bad links, but link farms and botnet scrapers still hit your site, load your server, and pollute your logs. That’s why we add a second layer: the MikroTik firewall – to block IP ranges and networks completely.

1) What is disavow.txt and how does it work

disavow.txt is a text file you upload to Google Search Console → Disavow links for a specific domain. Through it, you’re asking Google to ignore certain links or domains when analyzing your site.

• You collect domains from link farms, directories, and spam sites.
• Add them to disavow.txt as domain:example.com.
• Google promises to ignore them as ranking signals – but it doesn’t block traffic from them.

Important: Disavow is a request to Google, not a command. There is no guarantee for immediate or any results.

2) Why it often seems like it “doesn’t work”

• Google claims its algorithms already ignore low-quality links.
• Disavow is mainly meant for manual actions, not every minor attack.
• The bot networks still crawl your site. Disavow doesn’t stop traffic.
• There’s usually no visible change in Search Console or rankings immediately after upload.

3) When does disavow make sense

• During massive toxic link attacks from link farms or PBN networks.
• When you’ve got a penalty / “manual action” in Google Search Console.
• As part of long-term SEO campaigns – signaling to Google you do not endorse those links.

4) Example disavow.txt

It’s best to disavow entire domains instead of individual URLs.

# Disavow file for example.com
# List of link farms, directories, and SEO spam domains
# Upload to Google Search Console → Disavow links

domain:thebestbacklinksavailable.click
domain:webdirectoryofworld.site
domain:microlinkofworld.site
domain:webranksofworld.site
domain:allbusinessweb.site
domain:rankvanceauthority.info
domain:rankpilot.shop
domain:backlinker.shop
domain:seoprobox.click
domain:kompromat100.info
domain:dghub.ru
domain:agmermer.pro

Tip: keep your disavow.txt under version control (Git) with comments – useful for future revisions.

5) When to involve MikroTik Firewall

Even if you submit a disavow.txt file, SEO botnets may continue to scrape URLs, steal content, or send HEAD/GET requests.

If you don’t care about the link, why care about the traffic from the same network? That’s where MikroTik comes in.

6) MikroTik address-list for SEO spam networks

Based on WHOIS lookup of IPs in the logs (e.g. 185.209.59.146), you find they belong to subnet: 185.209.56.0/22.

# Create address-list for SEO spam
/ip firewall address-list
add list=seo_spam address=185.209.56.0/22 comment="LLC DataNet ISP - link farm"
add list=seo_spam address=5.181.217.0/24 comment="SEO farm subnet"
add list=seo_spam address=46.243.43.0/24 comment="Backlink checker bot"
add list=seo_spam address=45.84.179.0/24 comment="Low-quality SEO hosting"

7) Firewall rules – Drop SEO bot traffic

# Drop inbound traffic from SEO spam networks to MikroTik
/ip firewall filter add chain=input src-address-list=seo_spam action=drop comment="Drop SEO spam (input)"

# Drop traffic passing through to the web server
/ip firewall filter add chain=forward src-address-list=seo_spam action=drop comment="Drop SEO farm traffic (forward)"

8) Example scenario (real case)

Situation:
- Logs show persistent HEAD/GET requests from 185.209.59.146
- WHOIS reveals network 185.209.56.0/22 with a suspicious ISP
- Disavow.txt uploaded, but traffic persists

Solution:
1) Add 185.209.56.0/22 to address-list=seo_spam
2) Add firewall drop rules
3) Counters on rules start increasing immediately
4) Logs clean up; server load decreases

Result:
- Disavow stays in place for Google
- MikroTik blocks bots before they reach the server

9) Comparison: Disavow.txt vs MikroTik Firewall

10) FAQ

• Should I stop using disavow if I block via MikroTik?
  No. Disavow is for Google; MikroTik handles the network level.
• Does the firewall block SEO damage or just bot traffic?
  The firewall doesn’t affect rankings directly but reduces log noise, blocks botnets, and frees up resources.
• Can I block entire ASNs?
  Yes – if you convert them to subnet lists, but be careful about legitimate ranges.
• What if my site is behind Cloudflare?
  You’ll likely see Cloudflare IPs instead. It’s better to use Cloudflare WAF or firewall rules there.
• Can I accidentally block real users?
  If the subnet is too wide – yes. Always analyze logs first.

Tip: keep track of all changes (what you disavowed, which subnets you blocked) in Git or a README – will save you lots of time later.

Comments