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My skepticism is based on what I have tested myself by redirecting a single page with too many spammy links (I would say, an infected page) to a new page tanked the traffic of the website.  If you scale that, redirecting a penalised old domain to a new domain may give you the same bad result. Simple logic on my part.

I would rather work on reviving that established same old domain. Keep going. Do what you are supposed to do - clean it, brand build it further, etc.

I have seen a certain case I analysed who did 301 redirects. They were fine but I am still skeptical doing such move.

Personally, to 301 redirect a penalised site to a new domain may mean acquiring the spammy links from the old domain. I will not recommend it. If you think the old domain is no longer worth reviving then simply start a new website. This is a matter of calculating your resource spend vs benefits.

Hi Ted,

If you have dodgy links seen from GWT which you suspect as part of a blog network, you might as well further investigate it using other tools like OSE, MajesticSEO, Ahrefs or LRT in order to assure you that only 2 dodgy links are pointing to you. GWT in most cases won't tell you the complete picture of your link profile.

Of course, 2 dodgy links won't hurt you but it won't hurt you either to use the Disavow Tool when you see incoming spammy links en masse. Being proactive using it is fine IMHO. Why? I would not want to be hit first and lose revenue along the way. By experience, bringing back a site from penalty takes time. Dropped traffic over a period of time is tantamount to revenue loss.

Dr. Pete,

Do you have any search/sort filters that may be spinning out other copies, beyond just the paginated series? That could be clouding the issue, and these things do get complicated. - How about this is the case? What would you recommend?

Gary