Does 301 redirect to a new domain removes penguin penality

[Indexxess]

Hi,

One of my client has shady link profile and has hit by penguin update. I have confirmed the penalty using Google hack. Now, seeing his link profile, most of his links comes from blog comments which are from unmoderated blogs, and there is no way, we cant remove those comments. But without removing them, we cant get rid of the Google's penguin penality. So, i am planning on 301 redirecting to a new domain.

But my question is, will the penality transfers, if i 301 to a new domain? What iff, if someone buys an old domain hit by a penguin update?

Please clarify me, or if there are any alternatives to get rid of penguin update, please help me.

[AdoptionHelp]

301's pass authority so I can only imagine Google would be smart enough to also pass penalties. The best way to fight this is to start legitimate link building. Unfortunately I haven't heard of any quick fixes to being hit by Penguin. See http://www.dotcult.com/penguin-recovery-posts-are-lying-to-you

[Klarke]

With a 301 all those links will follow over to the new site.

Start over on a new domain with the same content.

It's easier to get GOOD links updated to point to your new domain, than it is to get BAD ones removed.

[irvingw]

yes it passes the negative karma, which is why if you are an SEO it is important to analyze the backlink profile of any domain you are thinking about purchasing and also look at that domains history in archive.org or you could be getting burnt especially if it is a premium domain name. Even if a domain is dropped it still passes the karma, or people would just drop the domain and then pick it up again and start fresh.

[Indexxess]

If that was case, what iff, if someone was going to buy an old domain? which he was unaware of that domain got hit by a penguin update?

Here in my case, i cant remove the shady links to that site for sure. So, going for a brand new domain and start doing links for it is the only option i left. And also, if i move my content from my old site to a new site, will it be count as a duplicate content?

[Indexxess]

Hi Again,

I read this blog post.

http://www.dotcult.com/penguin-recovery-posts-are-lying-to-you

Seems, penguin isn't a penalty. So i wouldn't worry in removing the shady links which i cant control, instead i will go for building more authoritative links. Am i doing the right thing now? If i focus on getting good links, can i get my rankings back or going for a new domain is the only option?

Also please do let me know, Negative seo still exists? i.e firing lot of spammy links to our competitor will get their site down in rankings?

[Indexxess]

I am waiting for your reply guys?

[dohertyjf]

Hi Indexxess -

I think the point is that no one knows at this point. I've seen some talk around the blogosphere and on different forums that a domain-wide 301 will sometimes rescue a site from Penguin, but not always.

It's so hard to know what to tell you. I have a client who got hit that I am testing out different tactics on different domains (they had multiple sites get hit). On one, we're trying to clean up the exact anchors. On another, we're redirecting domain-wide to a new domain. On another, we're building a lot of branded links. We're doing this because no one knows what will work.

I'd say you should, regardless, focus on getting good links. Get branded links. If you were hit because of a lot of exact match anchors, then you need branded anyways to balance that out.

From what I've seen and heard, negative SEO could work, and people are claiming it works. But it will take a lot of time and effort to do this to your competitors, and honestly I think you could better spend time on your own site and providing value than going negative and trying to knock your competitors out.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, but at this point, there's just a lot of conjecture and testing going on out there.