Been Penalized, Starting from Scratch, Need Advice

[Prime85]

Good Morning,

We've been penalized for unnatural links on the site : http://goo.gl/JgK1e

After attempting to contact many of the sites with links pointing at our site, and getting no response, we decided to start from scratch on a new domain : http://goo.gl/XUH3f

The first thing I did once the new domain was up was remove all of the unique content (text) from the original site and place it on the new site...

I am still having a difficult time getting the new site to rank in the SERPS.

Can you guys please provide pointers as to what steps should be taken to get the new domain, http://goo.gl/XUH3f  a high ranking in the SERPS?

Thanks!!

[Prime85]

But my site is not SEO related, and it is very hard to find sites that I can get links from in my industry.

[OlegKorneitchouk]

If your site is seo related, yup (in fact I just left a comment). Also note that these backlinks are nofollow. Why would you think this is a bad place to leave a comment on?

If there were 6817684 comments with shitty, spammy links - I would say no.

[Prime85]

Oleg,

One of the highest Domain Authorities in my OSE profile is for this site: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ahmed/ultimate-seo-checklist/

Are you saying that going ahead and commenting on this blog with my new domain as the URL is a good strategy?  Isn't that part of what got me here in the first place?

[dublinbet]

Before you start building links again I recommend you invest in a 10 year old + domain, domain authority is a huge factor..

[Prime85]

Thank you both!  I will look into this right now.

Also, i'm open for anymore suggestions anyone has

thanks again!

[OlegKorneitchouk]

Easiest way is to sort by domain authority or page authority and just go down the list. View each page > If the page's content has 1) real content, 2) low outbound links and 3) is relevant to your site, its probably a good link.

You can also write more unique content - although I'd build more links first since you say that your current site is all unique content already.

[SEODinosaur]

I recommend a link building strategy. You have a good site however it needs to have some authority (relevant quality links). There are many ways to build links to your site: Guest Blogging / Press Releases / Contacting a webmaster and giving some value in exchange for a link. Also take a look at your competitor links for whatever keywords you are trying to rank for. Type the keyword in google and take the top site paste it into OSE and evaluate these links. Are these links relevant? Do these sites have fresh content? Will your site / Can your site add value to the users of these site? If all three answers are yes, do whatever it takes to get those links or similar links.

Build a blog on your site and get others to blog on it using a good blog service (http://myblogguest.com), make sure that you only link to other relevant quality sites (sites that have good linking profiles).

Be sure to keep you link ratio natural (majority of your inbound links anchored with your URL/Brand name)

Create content on your blog that others will be interested in: Cute video of 20 kittens in a plastic bin... 5 reasons why our bins are indestructible... Yogi gets stuck in bin...

Create unique (entertaining, educational, funny) content that others will naturally link to and then share it with niche related people via social networks.

SEOmoz has hundreds of great link building strategy that you can utilize. Simply go to the search in the top right and type: link building or guest blogging or Press Release.

[Prime85]

Thanks Oleg, but just out of curiosity, how do i know which links are considered good and which ones are bad?

Also, any advice other than building links?

Thanks,

[OlegKorneitchouk]

Build more links? http://bit.ly/OAhzDI

The previous domain was also more keyword rich so it ranked easier.

Quick tip - go through the old site's backlinks, pick out the good ones, and ask the webmaster to change the URL to the new site.