Google Disavow Links Communication Confusion

Over a year ago, Google launched their disavow link tool and webmasters and SEOs have been all over it since. But every now and then, confusion arises.

There are two Google Webmaster Help threads that are confused by the messaging they received after they uploaded their disavow file to Google.

One webmaster said right after they submitted the file, Google returned this response:

You successfully uploaded a disavow links file (www.tucsonadventruedogranch.com_google domain and link disavowal file 11022013.txt) containing 135 domains and 1 URLs.

The next day, Google showed this message:

The file containing disavowed links to http://www.tucsonadventuredogranch.com/ has been updated. If this is unexpected, it may have been updated by another site owner. For more information, visit the Disavow links https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/disavow-links?siteUrl=http://www.tucsonadventuredogranch.com/ page in Webmaster Tools. Details: You successfully uploaded a disavow links file () containing 0 domains and 0 URLs.

So one day 135 domains and 1 URLs and the next zero?
Another webmaster asked why they are showing 0 URLs and uploaded this screen shot:

I suspect the issue here is that the file format of the disavow files, in both cases, have syntax errors. Google has tried to communicate about the disavow common mistakes.

Is this a webmaster issue, Google issue or communication confusion?

by Barry Schwartz