Strategies to recover from a Google Penalty?

[mlwilmore]

2 years ago we took over a client who had a hacked site and also had signed up with a black hat SEO team that set up 50 spammy directory links back to the site. Since then we have cleaned up the hacks, had the site reviewed by Google and readded to the Search Index, and disavowed all the directory links through GWT. Over the last 2 years, we've encouraged the client to create new content and have developed a small but engaged social following. The website is www.fishtalesoutfitting.com/.

The site's domain authority is 30, but it struggles to rank higher than 20 for even uncompetitive long tail keywords. Other sites with much lower domain authorities outrank the site for our primary keywords.

We are now overhauling the site design and content. We are considering creating an entirely new URL for the primary domain. We would then use 301 redirects from the old url to the new.   We'd welcome insight into why the current site may still be getting penalized, as well as thoughts on our strategy or other recommendations to recover from the events of 2 years ago. Thank you.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Did you redirect the website? While not documented, some think that redirecting could transfer the penalty.

I would still attempt to remove links from the old site if you are redirecting. Here are a couple of great resources from Moz:
Ultimate Guide to Google Penalty Removal (Moz)
Link Audit Guide for Effective Link Removals & Risk Mitigation (Moz)

I would make sure that you clean up all backlinks to the old site, update good ones to the new site, document your attempts, and file a reconsideration request.

That's just my thought process based on prior experience. Hope this helps! Good luck!

[MarieHaynes]

Grrr. I typed a big long reply and Moz ate it.  Let's try again.

The first thing I'd do is reassess the backlink profile. If you got a manual penalty, then there's a good chance that Penguin is/was affecting the site.  You mentioned that bad directory links were the culprit, but have you also assessed other links. For example, this is one I'd disavow:

http://www.montanaoutdoor.com/2014/05/big-hole-river-fishing-report-5-15-15-by-fishtales-outfitting-llc/

Also, sometimes sites that have bad directory links can continue to accumulate bad directory links.  You may need to do more disavowing.

Many sites with issues with one algo can have issues with another. It's worthwhile to spend time mining GA for evidence of drops near Panda dates.

Google will tell you that a previously penalized site has no stigma on it once the penalty is removed.  However, I have seen many sites that could never rank well again after getting a manual unnatural links penalty.  I personally think that there is a problem with the Penguin algorithm that causes this and hope that a future Penguin update will fix this.  But, I can't say that with certainty.  As such, if you are pretty certain that the backlink profile is clear and that another algo is not in play then starting over may be a better idea.

BUT...do not do 301 redirects.  If there is any link related issue (i.e. Penguin) you'll just pass the problems to the new site. I wrote an extensive article here on how to redirect a penalty hit site:

http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2384644/can-you-safely-redirect-users-from-a-penguin-hit-site-to-a-new-domain

Hope that helps!

[PatrickDelehanty]

^ Read Marie's article - it's fantastic!

[MarieHaynes]

Thanks Patrick.  

[Christy-Correll]

Yes, Marie's article is fantastic! Here's the live link to it: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2384644/can-you-safely-redirect-users-from-a-penguin-hit-site-to-a-new-domain.

[mlwilmore]

Thank you both for your expertise!  Marie your article is a marvelous resource.  We will continue to dig into the GA but will also seriously consider pursuing the landing page suggestion with a nofollow link out.  Since we are rewriting content as well as redesigning, it seems that will produce the best chance to heal the site.