Old or new site?

Question

Search Engine Optimization

There is a site for 40 pages with a unique copyright that is 2 years old, but because no optimization work was carried out with it, then only about 10 pages are in 20-30 positions, the rest are generally over 100.
Question:
Does it make sense to revive it and try to move forward, or is it easier to make a new one and promote it?
The point is to reach the top 5 on 20 pages. The question is purely in time.
Also, maybe someone will tell you from experience for how long they went to the top from scratch or who reanimated.

Answer 1

In general, if there are no filters, then it makes sense to develop an old site, because in the language of optimizers it has already "settled" it is not threatened by any sandboxes for young sites.
You just need to supplement and redo the content, do the linking, and you can try to achieve what you want.

Answer 2

Old site or new - it doesn't matter for search engines. The main thing is that the content is on the old path or the redirect works.
So it's up to you to decide whether it is convenient to work with the current site, whether the design suits you. If not, wouldn't it make more sense to change the design without changing the engine, etc.