Hot to move 3 websites into 1 SEO wise and recover from penaltys in the process?

[MarkoStrbac-SlovenianSEO]

I decided to migrate 3 EMDs and all of its content into 1 big new website.

1.) I will manually move each page/post to the new website, on new hosting.

2.) Redirect each old url to new via htaccess (how long do I have to wait before I simply change DNS records on my old domains, and just point it to the new domain - want to drop one hosting plan in the process)

3.) Tell Google via Webmaster tools, that my site has moved to the new domain.

Website A suffered from Penguin update, Website B suffered from EMD update and Website C is OK. I removed most of "bad" and "exect anchor text" links from websites.

Could I just move the content, change DNS records and tell Google that my website moved.

Any thoughts, advices and pointers are appreciated.

Tnx

Marko Strbac

[danatanseo]

Thanks Marko, and I am so with you on the impatience part. I have two sites I manage still being outranked by a competitor using black hat tachniques. I know, not only because their backlink profile makes it obvious, but also because I used to work for them.

I have been tempted, and even mildly pressured by my current CEO to do what they are doing. I keep saying "Stay the course. Do what's right. Time will take care of this problem."

But in the business world, one only has so much time (and patience). I mean, if your competitor can hold on with the black hat tachniques long enough, and still enough of your traffic to adversely effect your business...to the point of not having a business...what would you do?

So yousee, I totally understand your impatience. I think you are doing the right thing now. Consolidating those sites is probably your best shot at getting back on track.

While the blog post might be very interesting, I sincerely hope you don't have to write it!

Cheers,

Dana

[MarkoStrbac-SlovenianSEO]

Hi Dana,

Tnx for your kind words Dana, I really appreciated your opinions,.

I admit, this was more of a test project when it started, but soon some passion and love developed. I used only white hat SEO techniques at the beginning, even got a mention on imdb related articles, Over 400 visitors in a day from 1 natural referral, etc... Got a little bit of taste of a small snow ball effect.

Even with the great thing going on, somewhere along the way a "black hat" competitor, made me frustrated and impatient - I know... Rookie mistake

He copied some of my article ideas, targeted same keywords, and outranked me with obvious BS "black hat" SEO (a couple hundred profile backlinks, 10-20 high PR spammy comments, some .edu and .gov in there, etc...).

Watching his website top the SERPs and mine struggling on the bottom of 1 and top of 2 page, made me loose my focus.

I admit, I went "Grey Hat", I pushed the limits with some manual backlinks from his shady backlink profile(IMO around 10% of his backlinks), and it fired back on me. Great lesson learned

The best way to describe my situation:

If you had 4 seo related websites, would it make sense to join them?

example sites: seoreviews.com, seoaudiobooks.com, seobooks.org, seovideos.com

I know my decision to merge them and create 1 "brandable" website is the right one for users and SEO.

I hope that the quality of the new site will outrank the possible transfer of penalties from the old sites.

Hope it works, of not I have a great resource for a quality blog post: "What not to do...!"

Regards,.

Marko

[danatanseo]

Hi Marko,

I want to start by saying I realize how frustrated you must be to have your sites suffering due to one of several algorithms updates. Everything I am about to say is strictly my opinion and is based, of course, on not knowing all the specifics about these three websites.

This move you are suggesting, to me, doesn't address the real root of the problem. I think the EMD algorithm change was intended to effect EMDs that weren't providing great value to users/visitors. If you've already decided that this is absolutely the best course, I would encourage to continue to ask yourself: "How is consolidating these three domains into one providing improved value, content and experience for my users?"

IMHO, if you consolidate all your content into one domain, it may not necessarily have the panacea effect that you desire.Also, even if it does work, I would be prepared to ride out a big dip in rankings and traffic until Google gets it all sorted out. The domain to which you are moving everything to may suffer because it will immediately be getting a big change in its link profile. I know from experience that this can cause Google to sandbox a site (not de-indexed or even a manual penalty - just suffering from a bit in the algorithm that looks at link profile and history).

It just seems that you are making a pretty bold drastic move in order to get bold and drastic (better) results. I just want to be the voice of caution in that this move, and all of the work involved in moving content and writing redirects may not produce any positive results at all.

I'm sure you've probably already considered that possibility and most likely you've decided that the potential rewards outweigh the risks. I certainly hope it goes well and that your sites recover and flourish going forward.

Best of luck to you Marko,

Dana