Mueller: Sites in ‘Bad State’ May Need a Fresh Start
Google's John Mueller advises that websites severely impacted by quality updates, particularly those reliant on mass-produced or low-quality AI content, might need to consider a complete overhaul or even abandon their existing domain. Instead of attempting to manually rewrite thousands of pages, which he describes as an arduous and often ineffective process, Mueller suggests site owners “rethink their purpose” or opt for a fresh start.
The core definition of a site in a “bad state” refers to domains where low-quality, unhelpful, or unoriginal content is pervasive, leading to significant drops in search rankings and traffic. Google's algorithms, in such cases, may view the entire domain as inherently poor, making incremental improvements difficult to register. The risks of trying to recover such a site are substantial: it consumes immense time and resources, with no guarantee of regaining Google's trust, as the domain's past quality issues can act as persistent algorithmic baggage.
Mueller highlights that a fresh start, potentially on a new domain, offers several benefits. It provides a clean slate, free from the historical penalties or distrust associated with the old site. This allows for the development of a new content strategy focused strictly on quality, user experience, and E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) principles from the ground up. Such an approach can, paradoxically, be a faster and more effective path to achieving legitimate search visibility compared to the protracted struggle of trying to rehabilitate a deeply compromised site. This advice underscores Google's ongoing efforts to combat spam and prioritize genuinely helpful content, particularly in the era of advanced AI generation.
