How to move domain content w Penguin Penalty?

[iAnalyst.com]

Hey guys,

I've come to the conclusion the sheer amount of crap links a site of ours has is un repairable. We own a .net version with the same brand name so I'm planning to move our ecommerce store over with all its content.

I can move the site in one swoop but I believe Google will see it as duplicate content if we don't allow the old site to de index first. I would simply take it down for a month but we still get some orders now and then.

Anyone have any ideas? I was thinking of leaving an image up on each page that is no index no follow linked to the new site that explains the site is being moved, etc.

[anthonytjm]

I would suggest no index no follow in the old sites robots.txt file. Take down entire site with exception to a blank index page with text stating your site has moved to the new location, and the robots.txt file. I would not have a hot link to new site.

Then bring up the new site. On the next indexing, google should pick up the no index no follow from old site and start the indexing for the new site. I think that would be the best option so that you don't miss out on any potential business or orders.

[iAnalyst.com]

Thanks for the input. So you would put up the new site immediately? Or would you wait a certain amount of time after you take down the old site and put up the new robots.txt file?

I want to make sure Google doesn't see the new site as dup content.

[anthonytjm]

Per google webmaster tools:

Removing an entire directory or site

In order for a directory or site-wide removal to be successful, the directory or site must be disallowed in the site's robots.txt file. For example, in order to remove the http://www.example.com/secret/ directory, your robots.txt file would need to include:
   User-agent: *
   Disallow: /secret/
It isn't enough for the root of the directory to return a 404 status code, because it's possible for a directory to return a 404 but still serve out files underneath it. Using robots.txt to block a directory (or an entire site) ensures that all the URLs under that directory (or site) are blocked as well. You can test whether a directory has been blocked correctly using either the Fetch as Googlebot or Test robots.txt features in Webmaster Tools.

Only verified owners of a site can request removal of an entire site or directory in Webmaster Tools. To request removal of a directory or site, click on the site in question, then go to Site configuration > Crawler access > Remove URL. If you enter the root of your site as the URL you want to remove, you'll be asked to confirm that you want to remove the entire site. If you enter a subdirectory, select the "Remove directory" option from the drop-down menu.

[Cyrus-Shepard]

If you're trying to completely remove the domain, Anthony's suggestion about using Google's URL removal tool is the quickest way to go.

You'll first want to block crawler access in your robots.txt, then choose the option to "remove directory" in webmaster tools. http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1663427

(Note: robots.txt by itself DOES NOT prevent Google from indexing your pages, it only blocks them from crawling. Using only robots.txt means your pages are likely to stay in the index for quite some time)

That takes care of Google. Bing's process isn't quite as smooth. I'd also throw a meta robots "NOINDEX, FOLLOW" tag on all your pages - this will help with other search engines as well.

You may want to include a message on your old site instructing visitors to update their bookmarks and links - this may help aid with the transition.

Keep in mind, this will severe all links from your old domain, and none of your built up link equity will transfer over. Obviously, you've given this some thought in order to take such a move.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!