Site is getting crushed by spam traffic and Google Webmaster Tools giving crawl warnings. Also...

[eugenecomputergeeks]

Currently hosting a site I'm planning on moving to a new server ASAP, 301 redirecting and have a domain that has nice authority and very old.

On the current site I need to clean up the blog.  I have a few questions actually....

1.  I'd like to remove most of the blog articles as I want the new site to be very high quality, but isn't it dangerous to do a 301 redirect to the same page for all these articles?

2.  I want to focus on the new site as the current site has too many issues but still managing to hang in their.  is highly outdated yet I don't want to spend a ton of time on the site before the 301 redirect.  With the Pigeon and Panda 4.0 rumors being released soon, I want to get the new site completed ASAP.  Do you think it's better if I fix the

3.  Would removing cloudflare make things better or worse with the crashing of my site due to high traffic (mainly spam on the blog.)

4.  My best article by far is outdated, but should I waste time updating it before redirecting or should I just get the new site going?

I did way too many guest posts thinking content is king, but at least checked the outgoing links Domain Auth, Page Auth, and MozTrust in OSE, but first off I'm going to remove a page that mentions I'm looking for guest bloggers.  I tried to keep the posts relevant but at the time you could get away with

5.  Anything I can do to slow down these spammers on Wordpress?  I noticed most of them are checking for vulnerabilities but I'm keeping it up to date, have caching setup.

Thanks!

[JVRudnick]

RE: "** I'd like to remove most of the blog articles as I want the new site to be very high quality, but isn't it dangerous to do a 301 redirect to the same page for all these articles..."**

While others have commented on that, what we've done before on this is to create (note a WP site) new Categories and then 301 all to the master Category post page....

This is or rather has been solid SEO in that it is okay to group like posts....gathered all together on this master Category page and save the linkjuice that way...

[Andy.Drinkwater]

I **also plan on buying high quality internet marketing writers to edit the most important aspects of the site.  I really am looking for someone that is good at hooking people in.  **

This is a great idea, and one that can net you huge rewards. The benefits of quality content have shown themselves time and time again over the years, and continue to do so.

**Thanks so much for your help.  Very appreciated. **

You're welcome

-Andy

[eugenecomputergeeks]

Fantastic answer, and also happy to hear the advice.  Thats the thing....I was DOMINATING 2 or 3 years back by adding content to the site that was mediocre at best.  Just adding content that was half decent all day and everyday eventually would get an unexpected gems, but only around 12 I would want to keep if that.  I just assumed 301 redirecting the pages is the only safe way as losing content would hurt the value of the site, but you'd hope Google would understand the pages aren't helping and its not about fresh content but about relevant, engaging content. If it wont hurt my rankings  I'm going to only transfer the gems none of which I can think of were the guest posts.

Some were alright but nobody ever clicks their links.  I look at links now as:

1. Is it relevant to the user not just to attempt to get better rankings. Are people really going to click it and be useful to them.

2.  The content better be darn good (although I"m not ever doing guest posts with  a followed link again EVER, hopefully no link at all unless its relevant to the user. Maybe if someone wrote a REALLY good article in the future on say  for example the new hottest gadget, I'd let them link to an Amazon affiliate link for that product.   Is that okay you think?  I mean it does help the user.

I also have to take into consideration that links take the user away from the site.  Taking a year off, and spending the last month on MOZ and listening to every SEO podcast I could get my hands on, I decided to learn how to make infographics, non-cheezy mascots, that are interactive usually and animated, and try to hook them in at the head of the page right away.

I also plan on buying high quality internet marketing writers to edit the most important aspects of the site.  I really am looking for someone that is good at hooking people in.

Most importantly the service itsself is a tough one as its a volunteer based site that people think is fake so get a high bounce rate.  I need to get people speaking with the volunteer right away.   I need to have a call to action quick and prove that its credible and real.   Thanks so much for your help.  Very appreciated.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

**My only question is I have hundreds and hundreds of articles....So I just keep them and remove the links?  I'd say 15% of them are guest posts and they have followed links. **

If you are going to rework them over time (rather than remove them), then yes, remove the external links, or like you said, no-follow it. If you want to still give them a link that falls in line with Google standards, make the link their URL / brand at the end of the post. You can still no-follow it. It will clean the post up as well.

**Maybe I could redirect the links in sets? **

Seeing as you have so many articles, it might be best to do this, but don't be afraid of just killing off old posts that carry no real value. 301 all those you wish to continue with on the new site, but it does make sense not to have the articles in two places at once. If you intend to run with two live sites until all is transferred over, of course.

When evaluating old posts, look at what they add to the site. Is the post indexed? Is it similar to other posts on the site? You don't want to fall foul of similar posts that can cause issues with keyword cannibalisation either.

Glad I was able to help

-Andy

[eugenecomputergeeks]

VERY helpful.  My only question is I have hundreds and hundreds of articles....So I just keep them and remove the links?  I'd say 15% of them are guest posts and they have followed links.

I'm at least going to no follow but I sortof made a promise to these people to give them a link and feel like a jerk. But the link is not valuable because its not getting clicked.  Thats the whole point of links in the first place is to get traffic not trick search engines.  I'm at least going to no-follow but actually I should really remove the links huh?  Maybe contact them and explain that its hurting both of us.

Only like 3 or 4 pages on the blog are really popular.  Its the actual chat page that gets all the traffic.

Maybe I could redirect the links in sets?   Also another problem, the domain I have to switch to, is very old and good name.  I can't keep the current domain because the site turned into something else on its own.  (computer repair services business in Oregon, to volunteer based computer help site.

Is it wise to 301 a few articles at a time (the most important and the least important?)  Also I don't want to be accused of plagiarism.   A lot of the articles are lame topics too.  What does one do in this situation?  Thanks SOOO much.  I'm sure you'll get the "best answer" judging by your first post.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

**1.  I'd like to remove most of the blog articles as I want the new site to be very high quality, but isn't it dangerous to do a 301 redirect to the same page for all these articles?  **

Correct - you don't want to be redirecting multiple pages to a single page. This is bad for user experience and SEO.

**2.  I want to focus on the new site as the current site has too many issues but still managing to hang in their.  is highly outdated yet I don't want to spend a ton of time on the site before the 301 redirect.  With the Pigeon and Panda 4.0 rumors being released soon, I want to get the new site completed ASAP.  Do you think it's better if I fix the **

If moving the site, don't forget to advise Google in Webmaster Tools, as well as 301 pages. In terms of fixing issues, I would be tempted to correct issues before moving over so you don't have problems follow you.

3.  Would removing cloudflare make things better or worse with the crashing of my site due to high traffic (mainly spam on the blog.)

I can't really give a definitive answer on this one, but I know of a lot of other cloudflare users who have experienced problems like this. I would also be looking to use Akismet to control the spam that comes through the blog comments.

4.  My best article by far is outdated, but should I waste time updating it before redirecting or should I just get the new site going?

As long as it gets updated, I wouldn't worry about it beforehand. Lots of old articles can be resurrected by re-working them again to make them more current.

**5.  Anything I can do to slow down these spammers on Wordpress?  I noticed most of them are checking for vulnerabilities but I'm keeping it up to date, have caching setup. **

See the answer to question 3 above.

I hope this helps a little.

-Andy