How to Remove Toxic Backlinks from Semrush

Quick summary

The Semrush Backlink Audit tool lets you identify and remove toxic backlinks that can harm your site's search rankings. By flagging links with a toxicity score of 45 or higher, Semrush helps you send removal requests and protect your SEO health.

Steps

1. Navigate to the Backlink Audit tool in the left sidebar.
2. Enter your website URL and click Start Audit.
3. Select the root domain and begin the audit.
4. Review the toxicity score: links scoring 60–100 are toxic; scores of 45–59 are potentially toxic.
5. Select your toxic links, click Delete, and choose To Remove.
6. Repeat for all toxic links — they will appear under the Remove tab above the report.
7. Click Send in the Send Email column to request link removal from each domain.
8. Edit your removal request email and hit the Send button to submit it.