Recovering from Over Optimization - Fix or Start from Scratch? - Advice Appreciated

Hi Guys,

I've got a site that is in a video game micro-niche. I set it up, churned out around 30 pages of unique, genuinely helpful content and after two months of careful link building I was getting around 1k unique visitors a day. With a bounce rate of around 30% and 2 separate revenue streams I was making around $1,400 - $2,200 a month for the first 3 months.

I then slipped up in a very rookie way and went far too hard with exact match anchor text. My link profile looked unnatural and around 6 keywords made up about 80% of the links pointing back to my site. Naturally, I was hit hard in January 2014 when I'm fairly certain a new Panda wave was ushered in - please correct me if I've got that wrong?

Thankfully, all of those links were under my control and have since been removed. The link profile is starting to look a little more even (I'm using more URLs more and natural anchors) but after 2 months the rankings are still in the toilet.

This was my first real 'success' when it comes to SEO and I know from seeing it pour into my own affiliate accounts that a) the niche is profitable and b) I can create a site that converts.

That brings me to my big question that I'm hoping I can get some advice on from you guys...

Now that I HAVE been penalised already, am I just best off scrapping my existing domain (it's only 6-9 months old) to start a new, very similar one? This time naturally I would pay a lot closer attention to the over optimizing of the anchor text to avoid the same slap in the future.

or....

Do I try and turn the fortunes of this existing site around by continuing to add more useful content, cleaner links and just start praying that it begins to climb once again?

Is it mission impossible to resurrect a site in the short term (under 6 months) that has been hit with such a penalty? Would I just be throwing away valueable time on a gamble?

I'd just love to get some insight into what you guys and girls would do were you in my position right now: invest 2 months into creating a new clean site or try to push on with the established site?

I genuinely appreciate any useful insight that you could provide.

Thanks all

have you done your reconsideration request with google yet?

I would definitely start over with a new site.

I wasn't sure if that was something that anyone actually did

Aty said:

I would definitely start over with a new site.

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Thanks for your opinion, Aty.

Would that be based on the uncertainty attached to blindly pouring so many hours into trying to 'plug a hole' that might be too large to fix?

If I were to create a new site, what are your thoughts on using the same content on the new site? I know duplicate content is the devil, but does it still apply if I were to delete the original site first?

LovervsFighter said:

Thanks for your opinion, Aty.

Would that be based on the uncertainty attached to blindly pouring so many hours into trying to 'plug a hole' that might be too large to fix?

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yes

LovervsFighter said:

If I were to create a new site, what are your thoughts on using the same content on the new site? I know duplicate content is the devil, but does it still apply if I were to delete the original site first?

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I would use fresh content.

Start afresh, with new content and new backlinking strategy.

Hi, if it algo penalty. try rework on the site. Just change anchor text in backlinks and add some guest post / private blog link. Don't buy private blog link create your own.

Hey I'm really sorry to hear about your money site tanking. I own an authority money site that makes $2000 per month. I know what you've gone through. Believe me there's no point in resurrecting the half dead.

1. Get a new domain
2. Hire someone to write fresh content based on existing content.
3. Optimize using the techniques that worked. I can't stress this enough, always have 1-2 main keywords and 7-8 keywords long tail keywords for a page. And build you links in that fashion.
Don't blast links to your homepage, only to your pages.
4. Bank

P.S: If you want to create a lot of backlinks to your pages, at least use a 301 redirector like bit.ly or tinyurl.

Wish you luck man. Feel free to PM me if you need any help.

sagarpatil said:

Hey I'm really sorry to hear about your money site tanking. I own an authority money site that makes $2000 per month. I know what you've gone through. Believe me there's no point in resurrecting the half dead.

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I appreciate the kind words and your opinion, mate!

I've been studying SEO for a while now and I couldn't believe it when I started making $2,000 a month. It was like 'oh my god - this DOES actually work!!'

I learned the hard way though, that's for sure. It was a kick in the guts to watch $50-$100 a day turn into $0.25

sagarpatil said:

Hey I'm really sorry to hear about your money site tanking. I own an authority money site that makes $2000 per month. I know what you've gone through. Believe me there's no point in resurrecting the half dead.

1. Get a new domain
2. Hire someone to write fresh content based on existing content.
3. Optimize using the techniques that worked. I can't stress this enough, always have 1-2 main keywords and 7-8 keywords long tail keywords for a page. And build you links in that fashion.
Don't blast links to your homepage, only to your pages.
4. Bank

P.S: If you want to create a lot of backlinks to your pages, at least use a 301 redirector like bit.ly or tinyurl.

Wish you luck man. Feel free to PM me if you need any help.

Click to expand...

If you delete the old site, do you really need to re-write content ? Even if old one is gone it's still seen as duplicate content ?

Yes the new site might still be discovered as duplicate content if it is exactly the same. I'd say do both. Keep the old one; there's not much to do, just try to get whatever it will deliver. Change the anchor text etc. Ask for reconsideration and see if you can crawl back. Meanwhile, spin all the content from the old site to a new site. You might even make 2 or three while you are at it. Rewrite the same content that worked before, build the same links, see if you can work the same magic. Good Luck.