Existing content & 301 redirects

[SO_UK]

Hi All,

I will try to keep this to the point.

1. One of our websites was hit by penguin for unnatural linking.
2. We are building a new site (same business, different domain), but we would like to take some of the pages/content off the old website and use it on our new site.

Is it just a case of copying each page onto our new site and 301 redirect the old URL? Or should I just be completely rewording/recreating the old content so it is unique?

Any help on this would be great, but I am also open to alternate methods too.

Thanks

Lewis

[Thriveworks-Counseling]

Lewis,

Transferring content becomes more complex when an entire site changes the domain name or when you move content from one domain to another. Due to abuse by Spammers, search engines are suspicious of lots of 301s from one domain to another. 301s between domains may require more time to be properly spidered and counted.

One thought: if your last sight was penalized, do you not just want to disavow links / clean up your link profile and content, and then ask for reconsideration by Google?

If you do continue to move to a new domain, and you 301 redirect the old domain to your new one (without disavowing / cleaning link profile) you may end up bringing down your new site. Plus, making the content new and fresh (like you mentioned) couldn't hurt.

Eli

[MickEdwards]

Yes a toxic domain will infect a new domain if 301 is implemented.

I would lean towards cleaning up the existing domain.  Even if you end up disavowing every linking domain the existing domain is likely to have created more trust than starting from scratch. If it is a manual penalty ensure you document all steps to try and clean up so you can detail in the reconsideration request.