Google Tells A Webmaster To Trash His Old Site & Start Fresh

The topic of creating a new site versus fixing your old site after being penalized is not new. Even Google told us that sometimes it makes sense to start new versus fixing an older site. But here is John Mueller telling one webmaster that his current site is not good enough and he needs to start fresh.

In a Google Webmaster Help thread John wrote, "While it may be a bit harsh, I'd recommend taking your content and starting over with a new site."

Here is the full message:

While it may be a bit harsh, I'd recommend taking your content and starting over with a new site. There are a lot of things that appear a bit out-dated, and that make it hard for search engines (and users!) to understand your site and your business in a way that works for you & what you're offering. There are a bunch of great "content management systems" (CMS) -- like WordPress for a general site, or various e-commerce systems if you want to sell directly -- out there that make it really easy to create a fantastic website. Taking your content and moving it into a modern system will take a bit of work, but it's very likely to have better results. Some of these CMS are either free or very low-cost, and while it can be worthwhile to have an experienced designer help out, you may even be able to do all of that yourself.

Tweaking your existing site is certainly possible, it's not a lost cause, but I really think you'd get much more out of your time if you took the step to rethink what you want to offer, and to put it all on a modern platform.

Here are some older stories on the topic:

• Got A Google Penalty? Should You Start A New Site?
• Google Penalties Might Follow You To A New Domain Name
• Can You Redirect A Google Penalty? Probably.
• Google: You Don't Want To Dig Yourself Out Of A Hole
• Google: Can't Recover From Penguin? Start A New Site
• Google Penalties Might Follow You To A New Domain Name
• Google: Severe Enough Penalty, Delete All Of These Old Sites
• Most SEOs Will Clean Their Site Versus Start a New Site After Being Penalized

It is never nice to hear this from Google but sometimes you need to be told the truth.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.