I was hit bad by Penguin on 4-24-12.

[DWatters]

I was hit bad by Penguin on 4-24-12. Never received a bad link warning from Google but I do have lots of bad links from a SEO company years ago. I canceled with them and they kept sending automated links with the same anchor text. I even asked Google to remove the bad links years before the penguin update

I have removed many bad links by contacting webmasters and have used disavowal tool twice. 6 Months later still no improvement.

Is it possible that Google needs more time to disavowal bad links ?

What about 301 redirect to a new domain? Anyone ever have long term success with 301.

What about 301 after using the disavowal tool any luck?

What about changing my domain, will it take months for site to move up, anyone with experience trying this?

Let me know any ideas.

Thanks

[AndyMacLean]

301 redirect to new domain likely wouldnt help, you're bringing the tainted link juice with you, assuming links is the issue.

Most 'experts' think you wont recover from Penguin until the next Penguin update. Its unclear to me if this agency 'kept sending automated links' that you would have been cleared by any update if this process was still ongoing.

Bear in mind Penguin isnt just about links.

Changing domain might be a valid option but it does depend on the site itself, authority, number of spammy links you still have etc.

Not that its much comfort but id also say, remember Google isnt the only source of traffic.

[irvingw]

It depends on the PR, age, amount of content, rankings and competition, and value of your domain name etc. Sometimes it's easier to move on and start fresh after a site has been nuked, and if you have on going issues like some automation still pushing out links to your site.

I think a simple site should always have a second version ready to launch under a different domain in case they get hit, so you can begin rebuilding right away.

[jesse-landry]

you should join the #seochat going on currently on twitter.. it's relevant to your questions. back to the chat --

[SebastianDyer]

I have had a few clients come to me about bad backlink profiles / google penalties.

Aside from manual removal and the disavow tool, I try and invert the ratio of bad links to good links. This can be a real challenge as there are often thousands of bad links to contend with, but I'm pretty sure that a link from an authoritative website helps to dilute the bad links a great deal.

If you change your domain, you're starting from scratch. But at least you're not fighting a penalty. This is something I'd suggest if there wasn't a single good link in the profile and if the change of domain name wouldn't cripple your business.