Penguin and 301 redirects...

[mrodriguez1440]

Hi, I have several questions about starting a new domain due to Penguin. The site is: http://bajajlaw.com. Quick backstory:

This site was hit every time Penguin rolled out. No clean-up was done until October 2015. At that time, I took over the project. My efforts include: (1) Remove'em, (2) manual removal, (3) and the Disavow Tool. The HP went from being at around #50 for the target KW (San Diego criminal defense attorney) to about #25. Never really moved higher than that.

However, I redid the content for the internal pages (DV, Theft Crimes, etc.) and they are all ranking fairly well (first page or top of 2nd).

In short, the penalty only seems to affect the HP, not the internal pages.

Instead of waiting for Penguin to roll-out, client wants to move forward with new domain. My questions are as follow:

1. Can I use the same content for the internal pages and 301 from the old internal pages to the new?

2. Should I 301 from the old to the new domain for the HP, or not?

3. If I do a 301 from an internal page to a new internal page, does that have the same effect of doing a 301 from the old HP to the new HP?

I have read various opinions on this topic. I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has experience doing this sort of thing. Thanks.

P.s. I'm inclined to wait for P4 to rollout, but given that nobody seems to know when that might be, it's hard for me to advise client to keep waiting for it.

[ChrisAshton]

1. Can I use the same content for the internal pages and 301 from the old internal pages to the new?

Absolutely. There's no issue with re-using the content, so long as it isn't live in two places simultaneously. I suppose in theory there may be a brief window where it could be considered duplicate before the old site is removed from their index but aside from that, it's fine.

**2. Should I 301 from the old to the new domain for the HP, or not? **

Yes. If you're looking to replicate the same structure on the new site and want to use a redirect, your best option is to 301 each page to its new-domain counterpart. This way, if anyone has a link saved anywhere like their favorites, an email etc they'll still hit the right page rather than what appears to be a random website.

Some bad news to be weary of: At a quick glance it seems the link profile on that domain is still quite bad. When you use a 301 to point this domain to the new one, you're also pointing ~80-90% of that "value" to the new domain as well. Choose wisely

3. If I do a 301 from an internal page to a new internal page, does that have the same effect of doing a 301 from the old HP to the new HP?

Also yes, in every way.