Local SEO and Penguin

[JSOC]

All,

One of my client's sites was hit by Penguin. The business has lost almost all of its organic rankings but is still holding on for a handful of local searches for some of its satellite offices.

We've built a new site and are slowly building domain authority.

My question is this: at what point do I swap out the new site's location URL for the old URL in Google places?

I don't want to risk the existing local placement which is all they have left for the time being.

Thanks,

John

[OlegKorneitchouk]

If its the places page that is ranking locally, it shouldn't affect it. Had a client in the same situation, made a new site and changed the places page URL to the new site and haven't had any problems.

[JSOC]

Thanks Oleg, my thought was that since domain authority plays a role in local, it could hurt, but I appreciate the feedback.

John

[Debdulal]

_Nope, it is not going to affect it as far as my knowledge is concerned. Unless you are making a 301 redirection to the new domain, there is no such possibility of carrying on the legacy of the penalized domain. Keep up the good work and you will be just fine. _

[MiriamEllis]

Hi John,

I'm in 80% agreement with what our members have replied. Changing the website address should not affect local rankings as a stand-alone fact...but, if the new website is different than the old one, in terms of content, optimization, authority, links, citations, etc., then yes, you could be in for some ranking changes. The strength of the website is the biggest local ranking search factor, so I believe you may see some ranking changes, unless the new website matches the old one in all respects.

[JSOC]

Thanks Miriam, that was my concern as I mentioned above.