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This topic came up in a discussion I had with a fellow SEO colleague, I don't believe it makes sense to have Hreflang if you don't have a second language but according to my friend they mentioned that it is great if your only targeting one country. Any opinions out in the Moz community?  It seems like overkill to me

Furthermore piggybacking on Colemckeon and Kevin Budzynski

If there are any topical authoritative links, reach out to the webmaster by email or call and ask to change the URL to yours. More than likely they will comply. I doubt this may be the issue but you never know.

-Jonathan

There are 2 main things to consider

1. Branding: Is your brand powerful enough that the old domain could still have direct visitors If most of your audience is a one-time interaction then starting fresh and rebuilding your brand could be the best option. I would also look at your pages with traffic, What pages did you get the most traffic from and maybe redirect those pages and replicate those same pages on your new domain. ( Make sure to keep the copy, title tags and descriptions consistent )

2. Do you have any authoritative sites linking to you? With SEO it's about relevance/Authority and Google seeing your an expert in this space. If you have topical links ( Trade publications, news sites, online editorials ) that are deemed to be authoritative in your niche and has an audience of your potential customers, organically reach out to those editors, webmasters and ask to change your link to the new domain. You don't lose authority and you start gaining back what you may have won without having to start from the beginning.

At the end of the day, if you are starting fresh due too poor SEO from the past, I would say to build the new "fresh" domain from the ground up. Create a relevant copy, get topical links to your industry and create a website that users want to come back too. This will help you win every time.

-Jonathan Alonso

There are 2 main things to consider

1. Branding: Is your brand powerful enough that the old domain could still have direct visitors If most of your audience is a one-time interaction then starting fresh and rebuilding your brand could be the best option. I would also look at your pages with traffic, What pages did you get the most traffic from and maybe redirect those pages and replicate those same pages on your new domain. ( Make sure to keep the copy, title tags and descriptions consistent )

2. Do you have any authoritative sites linking to you? With SEO it's about relevance/Authority and Google seeing your an expert in this space. If you have topical links ( Trade publications, news sites, online editorials ) that are deemed to be authoritative in your niche and has an audience of your potential customers, organically reach out to those editors, webmasters and ask to change your link to the new domain. You don't lose authority and you start gaining back what you may have won without having to start from the beginning.

At the end of the day, if you are starting fresh due too poor SEO from the past, I would say to build the new "fresh" domain from the ground up. Create a relevant copy, get topical links to your industry and create a website that users want to come back too. This will help you win every time.

-Jonathan Alonso