Welcome to the Q&A Forum

I agree.  This is a good format.  I started participating a few days ago and enjoy it.

Looking forward to more.

The domain will remain the same.The plan is to create exactly the same pages in the new CMS, as what we have today. And to use the same URLs for each page. Content will remain the same in step one. We will only apply a new layout and design.

This sounds like a fairly safe plan.  The only cautions I can think of are...

1. Be sure to maintain the same title tags, meta descriptions and on-page markup.

2. Changing the navigation structure (the persistent links in your design that repeat on every page... and any other significant internal linking) could divert or strengthen your flow of link juice.

Its good that you are working carefully to defend your current rankings but is there anything else that you might do such as bread crumbs, improved internal navigation, related content promotion, in-paragraph text links, etc. that will IMPROVE your rankings.  When you make a big design change the goal should be to improve rather than to simply maintain.

Go for it and good luck.

huh?

A you  asking..... "If people use the backbutton to go back into the SERPs, will that reduce your rankings?"   My bet is YES.  But I have not heard clear statements from Google about that.

Anybody know where we can read or watch what Matt Cutts or another inside person has to say about that?

Links from social media sites are very often nofollowed so participating there for the "links" is probably not a good use of your time.

However, Google is probably using the social media profile of websites and their content to influence rankings.  In last week's Whiteboard Friday Rand looked at the correlation between social media activity and rankings (correlation is not always cause and effect).  Check it out... http://www.seomoz.org/blog/correlation-data-for-seo-and-social-media-analysis-part-1-whiteboard-friday

The real value of social media is something that you didn't ask about.  That is the ability to rapidly spread the word about content, people and services.  To make that happen powerfully you need kickass content, people or services that are worthy of people's "like" or "tweet" or "recommend" or whatever.

Success at social media is not something that can be achieved mechanically.  It is achieved by having value or interest that merits the social share.

Does anybody have any tips or tricks to achieving quality back links in a short amount of time?

Linkbuilding is the most challenging part of SEO for most people. Getting quality links fast is extra challenging.

If you have fantastic, best-on-the-web content you can often just submit it to sites such as Reddit and Slashdot and Stumbleupon... if it really is great content that will be like throwing gasoline on a fire.

If you don't have that type of content then you can buy backlinks... but bought links can be risky and you run the risk that they will be devalued.  I don't recommend it.

You could also hire someone who knows what they are doing to build the links for you or teach you.

We have about 15 clients who we need to do link building for but I am at a loss on how to even begin.

There is a lot of good linkbuilding information and ideas posted here at SEOMoz and elsewhere on the web.  You could dedicate the next few weeks to study and learning the basics.  Then you will need to spend a lot of time still, figuring out how to do it and the challenge is different for each client.

If you are not up to that you can again, consider hiring someone who knows what they are doing.

I would place the blog at storename.com/blog/ instead of blog.storename.com.

Why?  Google seems to treat subdomains as separate websites and links that hit your blog will not empower the main site as strongly.   If the blog is on the main site then all of the links that hit the blog will transfer trust, authority and linkjuice into your main website.

I recently did a 301 redirect (page-by-page) of a subdomain to a folder on the main site and my rankings are now up nicely everywhere.

I would use the blog on a retail site to review products, give product use information and provide supplemental information about what I am selling.  All of these posts can be linked to your product pages to pass some power to them.

And, if you have product information, reviews, usage tips, etc. you might be able to get links from the manufacturer's blog, consumer websites and how-to-do-it sites.

The more content you can put on the blog the better - as long as it is high quality and linkworthy.

We have temporary content and evergreen content.

When a page of temporary content is created it is filed in a folder according to its "expiration date".  On that date the folder is 301 redirected to an appropriate destination.  However, before the redirect is done we run analytics on the folder to see if any files are pulling traffic from SERPs or links from other websites.  We then try to create evergreen content on the same topic that will capture that traffic and redirect the specific files to the new evergreen content.

Today (April 27) I see them down at #51 for "dresses".  It will be interesting to see how long Google keeps them in the tank.  They made a lot of money during the Christmas season that other rule-abiding retailers would like to have earned.

I think that they should be in the tank at least until the end of the 2011 Christmas season.

If I bought 100,000 links I bet my site would be out of the SERPs.

I think that I would use the homepage to promote my most profitable, most brandable and most linkable content.  After adopting that philosophy I would increase/decrease the number of links on my homepage to see what produces the most visitor engagement and conversions.

But, getting to your original question... if you are getting your butt kicked in the SERPs you need to go out after links and likes and produce more of the content that attracts them.  SEO is a battle of resources and those resources are linkable content and links/likes, etc.

I think that you will do better hiring English majors who can research and write best-on-the-web quality content then hiring employees who will try to get links into existing content.  If you can get them creating content that attracts links automatically then all of the work that used to be spent on linkbuilding will go straight to content that pulls both links and traffic.

Could your homepage be filtered because of duplicate content?

Try some of the sentences from the page in quotes in Google search.

Do you have a million anchor text links from low-quality sites pointing to it with your main keyword?

(This is a tough question to answer from the dark... could be many things... what content was on the homepage before you acquired the domain?)

The most likely consequence of this is that the link will have zero value.

Google is probably not going to penalize or ban  a site that has one single link from a naughty domain - otherwise weasels would buy links to competitor sites to get them nuked from the SERPS.

So, avoid having more links like this in your profile or doing anything naughty  and you will probably be OK.

We make our links very obvious.  I would not try to hide them because I want them clicked (it is hard to monetize a .pdf but easy to monetize an .html page - so I want the visitor to get onto my .html pages).

You can lock .pdf documents so that they can not be edited.  Then other webmasters are free to post them on their own domain and give me backlinks.  Of, course they could rewrite their own just as any other content can be spun or rewritten.

I am often amazed at the rankings that can be obtained from only a few good links.

I agree...  I think that google is looking at your overall "link profile".  If that profile is made up completely of link drops on blogs, low-value directory submissions and links that look like they are "paid"... then your rankings are on risky ground.

I would rather have a dozen good natural links than 1200 low-value links from spamming and automatic directory submissions.

If you are spending serious money for the domain you might want to read this post...  http://www.seomoz.org/blog/ten-tips-for-buying-a-website

I would keep the "daily deals" at MyBrandName.com/daily-deals

Registering a new domain and redirecting it will accomplish nothing.

Great generals will tell you that "divide and conquer" is a great strategy to use.  So if you post your deals on a second domain you will then have two sites splitting the value of your incoming links.  You divided yourself for the enemy!

So, posting the "deals" in a folder on your site might attract links that will benefit your entire site.

If you have a great blog post or new article that is successful at Reddit, Slashdot and other community sites you could naturally get a lot of high PR links in a single day.

However, when I read your post I see..... "Should i keep building those high PR links in the same fast pace, should i slow down?"....  That statement sounds like you might be getting unnatural links which to Google could be seen as manipluative - and run the risk of being devalued.  That will be a loss in the time required to acquire them and possibly the cost if they are purchased.

So, maybe your better question should be... "Will this high PR links be a long term asset to my site?"..... vs... will they be a spend that brings zero value.

Thank you.  I really like this subject and enjoyed preparing that answer!

Links in .pdf documents will be displayed in your Google Webmaster Tools Backlinks, they will accumulate pagerank (I have some PR6 pdf documents), and they will pass pagerank.

It is a good idea to place links into .pdf documents that you give away on the web not only for pagerank reasons but also to give users an easy link to visit your site for more information.  Think about usability when you create .pdf documents in the same ways that you think about usability for your website.

Also, if you complete the "properties" attributes of .pdf documents you can give them a title that will appear in the SERPs like a title tag on an .html webpage.  I get lots of traffic from the SERPs that come straight into my .pdf documents and then click a link in the document that takes them to a relevant page on my website.

Finally... in addition to .pdf documents you can also get viable backlinks and clickthroughs from .ppt (PowerPoint) .xls (Excel) and other types of files.  Consider allowing other webmasters to include them on their site.  That way they can bring you links from other domains.

On my blog I link out to six to ten websites every day.  I believe that those links do very little damage to my rankings.  In fact, I believe that making my website a great source of information is far more valuable for attracting links and repeat visitors.

Also, if google would compare two identical pages, one with links out to great sources of supplemental information and one without, which do you think would rank higher?  My vote is  for the page with the outlinks.

I believe that linking out is powerful and it often add keyword rich anchor text to your pages.  Whatever you might lose in linkjuice comes back to you in many other forms.  "The Web" is all about links, not hoarding.

If you have the blog on a separate domain then links into the blog will not benefit your main site (except in just a small way through links between the blog and the main site).

However, if the blog is on the main site then links into the blog will empower both the blog and the main site.

The result will be like uniting the clans. 

"The campaign has been very successful in getting high ranking for several targetted terms.  However, I am seeing zero impact on our site traffic or sales."

Something is wrong here.  Does analytics say that you are getting traffic for these new terms?

Your statements address total traffic.  The traffic through these terms might be up but down elsewhere.

It depends upon how many very similar pages you are going to have.  If you have dozens or more then a cannibalization potential is very real.  However, if you only have two, three, four then that gives you the potential to have multiple pages in the SERPs.  Nothing like having #1, #2, #3 and #4 for a query.

For small numbers it is more of an opportunity than a problem.

Can use use the actual URL?  That would get you a direct link.

Or, your idea of a permanent short URL that is 301 redirected on your main site would be a good alternative.

Links from tweets are sometimes used elsewhere and getting that linkjuice would be nice.

Also, if you use the actual URL or have complete control over the shortened URL you don't have to worry about it being changed on you.

Alan has given a good answer...

... but in addition.... why not give them the URL of the keyword tool and let them go at it?

I don't think that a pipe or dash or any other character adds or subtracts any SEO value.  Certainly what you type after it is more important.

If your brand is widely known and respected then adding it might help increase your clickthroughs or conversions.

If you don't have a popular brand then "free shipping"... "learn the secrets!"....  or a kickass price in the title tag will pull the visitors in.

... and if you have something that everyone wants such as "free beer" then you might want to included it in CAPS.

"Kitchen Appliances.....  the keyword is extremely competitive.... doing this for around 3 months....  the site is a page rank 2 BTW)... "

This is like attacking the US Navy with a slingshot.

Your competitors, have been out there working (with teams of expert people) for the past ten years and some of them are billion dollar brand names, so it is unlikely that a one-man-band is going to get traction in a couple of months.

I think that you need to ask yourself if you have the resources to compete for fast results in this niche.  I don't think that submitting stuff to article sites is going to be competitive.

Consider making a detailed plan with best-on-the-web content that will enable you to penetrate a specific niche in this broad market.

Google currently ranks multiple pages from the same site so if you have mojo for "blue widgets" you can get #1 and #2 in that SERP.  I have seen four or five pages from a single domain ranking for a single keyword.

IMO cannibalization is an opportunity for me and a problem for my competitor.

Don't fear competition because where there is competition there is also (usually) a lot of search volume and a lot of money changing hands.  Instead attack with long, diverse copy to pull in the long tail queries.

I don't think that the number of sites competitng or their pagerank or  keyword tool scores are 100% reliable.

Instead look at WHO is competing and the content that they have on their pages.

If you can beat their content then you have a really good chance of defeating them.... but if you are going up against the manufacturer on their branded products they will be hard to beat... but then you can put a discount price in your title tag and steal their sales.