Google's John Mueller recently addressed the issue of negative SEO and link disavow companies in a webmaster hangout, expressing his disgust for those who take advantage of unsuspecting website owners.

For those unfamiliar with negative SEO, it involves maliciously manipulating your competitors' websites by inserting links to their sites from low-quality sources in order to get them penalized by Google. 

Link disavow companies are those that offer services to help you remove these bad links from your website. Mueller’s comments on the matter showed that he is not a fan of such practices, as he believes they do more harm than good for online businesses. 

If you believe your website has been the victim of negative SEO, there are a few things you can do. The first is to try and remove any spammy or malicious links pointing to your site. This can be done using Google's disavow tool. You can also try and improve your site's security to make it more resistant to attacks. Finally, you can reach out to Google and other search engines to try and have any false information about your site removed.

Talking in depth, there are a lot of companies out there that promise to help you clean up your link profile and improve your SEO. But according to Google's Mueller, these "link disavow" companies do more harm than good.

Mueller says that most of the time, these companies just end up submitting a bunch of links to Google that the algorithm then ignores. And in some cases, they even add links that Google would otherwise penalize you for.

So what's the best way to clean up your link profile? Mueller says it's actually pretty simple:

1. Find the bad links yourself using a tool like Google Search Console or ahrefs.com.

2. Reach out to the site owners and ask them to remove the links.

3. If they don't respond or if the links are on spammy sites that you can't contact, then use Google's disavow tool.

Mueller's advice is simple but sound: instead of paying someone else to do it, take care of your own link profile and only use the disavow tool as a last resort.

It's no secret that Google's Matt Cutts has been on a crusade to rid the internet of so-called "black hat" SEO tactics. But what happens when those black hat tactics are being used against Google itself?

In a recent Google Webmaster Central Office Hours hangout, John Mueller was asked about negative SEO and companies that offer to disavow links on behalf of their clients. Mueller's response was critical of both the tactic and the companies that profit from it.

"Basically, if you're paying someone to do negative SEO against your competitors, then that's something where maybe you shouldn't be in business," Mueller said. "That seems like a really bad idea."

As for companies that offer link disavow services, Mueller had this to say: "I think there are definitely some people out there who are trying to game the system...There are some people who are trying to take advantage of gullible webmasters."

Mueller went on to say that while he believe there are some legitimate companies offering such services, there are also "a lot of snake oil salesman out there" peddling services that won't do anything to improve a website's ranking.

So there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. If you're thinking about using negative SEO or hiring a company to disavow links on your behalf, you might want to think twice.

There are many companies that engage in negative SEO and link disavowal, and the ethics of their practices are often called into question. 

Both of these practices can be harmful to websites and businesses, and there is no guarantee that they will even work. In fact, they can often do more harm than good. That's why many people believe that companies that engage in these practices are not acting ethically.

If you're considering hiring a company to help you with your SEO, be sure to do your research first. There are plenty of reputable companies out there that use ethical practices to help websites improve their ranking in search results.

While there's no guarantee that following these steps will protect you from all forms of negative SEO, it will help reduce the risk. And if you do find yourself the victim of an attack, don't panic! Just take corrective action and continue monitoring your site closely.