Fix Old Site or Start New Site?

Is it better to fix an old domain that was doing a few things wrong?

[eddytom]

Is it better to fix an old domain that was doing a few things wrong or start a new site off fresh.

The old site has been up since 2004.

I wouldn't have to change the whole site, just take down site wide footer links, correct page titles and meta tags, and take out links that may be to untrusted neighborhoods. The design is nice and the content is qualtiy, the site is about 100 pages large.

Should I forget about the site and move on, or attempt to make changes and grow the site?

Any suggestions?

[tedster]

I'd say fix it. Three years of history is not to be thrown away lightly, unless you've really been up to no good -- and from what you said, it doesn't sound like you have sinned all that badly.

[grant]

Fix it. I fixed a site removed from Google and it is doing incredibly well now for competitive queries.

On a side note, I don't see why footer links should be a problem. I'd like to hear a bit about why you see them as an issue.

[eddytom]

Well, at the time I made the site, I made about 15 other sites (smaller and not as good) with different but similar subjects, mostly using same whois info and same c classes, all interlinked in the footer across entire site. That is really the major issue, along with still having links up on link pages to what now may be considered bad neighborhoods.

I could easily take out the footer links - and link pages linking to the bad neighborhoods - and start growing the site again, if it is a good idea?

So, footer sites in general are not bad, but in this case, yes.

[rosyanne]

Fix it!
It doesn't take you more than 2 years to do it. But you already have 2 years of history!

[grant]

Yea, remove the footer links. Use footer links for intra-site linking (like wikipedia does). For inter-site linking, put the links on one page with your highest PR and make sure that you have enough links from other sites that you don't appear to be a link cloud.