Is there a downside to "closing" a domain and 301'ing to to your main domain?

[absoauto]

We have a domain which was optimized for a specific keyword. It does very well for that keyword, but seems like it has in turn caused our primary domain to be penalized (back to page 3) for that same keyword (We think they've figured out the connection).

The optimized domain (only one page) has links on it to our primary domain, so I don't want to delete it as that's where our traffic currently comes from. But if I deleted it and 301'ed it to the primary domain is there a downside?

Alternatively I could disavow it, but if the search engines know it's the same owner will they hold that against all domains?

Or, alternatively again. Should I turn it into a more substantial website? Which could in turn remove it's "spamminess".

Any suggestions are welcomed!

[EGOL]

What did the reviewer do?   First, this is a person who has a lot of knowledge about me and my websites from doing work on them several times over a period of several years.  I told the person to review the entire site and give me a list of the things that they would do if the website belonged to them.  I offered access to analytics and would answer any questions.

I got back a big "to do list" that would significantly improve the site and require lots of work.  Doing the tasks on the list cost many times more than the review.  My problems have been solved but I am still working on the list because the list will improve the site.

[EGOL]

In the past couple of years, I have had some challenges with my own sites.  Each time I made up my mind what was wrong but also got paid opinions before I took actions.  I wanted to get objective opinion - from smart people.  Also, from experienced people who have looked at a lot more websites with problems than I have.

When a Google algo is causing problems for your website, nobody outside of Google can tell you with 100% certainty exactly what needs to be done, even people within Google can not tell you with 100% certainty.  Why?  Because there are many algos that can hit your site, all worked on and understood by different people  -  iff - they understand them.

So, anytime a website that is important in supporting a business needs help. I would always suggest outside advice - no matter who owns the site.

[HashtagHustler]

EGOL, along with a few others on this board, aided me in a similar situation, and no matter how many times I tried to ask the question by altering my language or spinning it in a different light the bottom line was simple, I needed outside assistance. If you are being penalized, there is a very different course of action to be taken given the circumstances. If the competing website is merely ranking better because it was optimized more effectively, that opens another avenue of action.

Again, these are questions that ultimately are much bigger than the forum can answer. In my situation we had 1500 domains that had been built into a link wheel. After a lot of analysis and slowly unraveling the web, we were/are left with 5 domains that are still active, and we have built a plan around 301s. A lot of content movement, content cutting, relinking, etc. Also building new links to replace a lot of the old ones that were removed.

This process has been going on for the past 8 months and continues to be monitored pretty consistently.

If you are not getting receiving Manual Actions from Google, and you are still making some income I personally would act swiftly but be smart. I'm happy to share our solution with you if you want as well!

[EGOL]

I don't think that you will get anything but guesses to your questions because a variety of things could be causing this problem.  I certainly would not take action on any advice given with multiple potential causes.

If this was my business, I would hire someone who understands the various Google algos that can change the rankings of websites, have them assess both sites, and then give you advice on what might be the cause and what might be the cure.