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I would say your idea to target the keywords in blogs that are subsequently developed is a reasonable approach.  The example of the footer links seems a bit spammy, yet at the same time it does seem to provide useful navigation and may represent the overall architecture of the site.  Are you going to target a local approach as well?  (i.e. ms access consultants in California, etc.).  Maybe someone on here can explain cannobilization of keywords better than I can, but we've had good results "silo-ing" each page and are ranking high on those keywords.  I think you could do the same.  Good luck!

We went through almost exactly the same thing a little over a year ago (although the pages were not created in FrontPage).  When we switched to a more dynamic solution, we did not use 301 redirects and we suffered as a result.  With a little bit of elbow grease in the form of optimizing page titles, URLS, on page text, etc. we are ranking even better than we ever have in the past.  We did notice a huge increase in branded keyword search and a huge drop in direct traffic (I am attributing this to not having done 301's).  Do 301's no matter what!

I've heard of the age of a domain being used a signal by Google, but not the age of a page (I don't have information on this if it is true).  I can't imagine that Google would reward an old page as opposed to a page that is optimized and current with valuable content.

It is true that the pendulum could swing either way, so make sure you create a baseline of where you are at in terms of SERPS now and be straight-forward with the stake-holders.  Don't panic if you drop.  Just work your way methodically back to the top using ethical practices.  In short, the ramifications could be good or they could be bad.  Good luck! That's quite an endeavor!

We've recently implemented a successful strategy whereby we've increased non-branded organic search traffic by over 50%.  We started with our niche products and secured those rankings and then expanded the program to include local results.  Rev is up, trans# is up, but conversion rate dropped.

Here is the question...is there an acceptable ratio between the percentage growth in visits and the percentage decrease in conversions?

Google will deliver personalized results including, but not limited to: browsing history, geographic location, etc.

For instance, if you've been to your own website and search for a specific term tied to your site, your site may rank higher on your computer because Google's been altered that you've been to the site before and might want to see it again.  This was a fun lesson for me when I was thrilled when one of our key terms hit #1 on my computer only to have the powers that be pull it up on their computer and it was at #6.  I use SEOMoz Rank Tracker and love it.

White - Only for the consumer.

Black - Only for the search engine.

Gray - Where most of us live.

That example is a dark shade of gray.  I mean who in their right mind would find that second example helpful?

I've found pluralized versions of a word tend to be searched more than singular versions - at least according to our set in Google Keyword Tools.  I look at customer intent.  Would a customer search for thai food restaurant in oregon, or thai food restaurant(s) in oregon?  If there is a clear winner I would go after that.  I'm not absolutely certain if Google will give you a solid ranking for the singular version because it is embedded in the pluralized version.  Maybe someone can confirm.

Bonne chance(s)!

Maybe consider how you want to present the data?  Just shooting from the hip, I'd say create three - one combined and two separate.  But there might be filters within one profile that will split this data.  I believe in identifying the goal (in this case how to display the data) and then formulating an action plan to get to that goal.

Are you talking about coming up in Google Places as the #1 position or in the regular organic search?  Rand just put up an awesome tutorial on local search - go to Learn SEO, then Pro Webinars and look for the one about local content.  I just finished watching the video, and it was awesome! Tons of ideas.

Did you use the seomoz.org/rank-tracker tool?  Does it show you rank #1 for this term?  My guess is that it doesn't....I'm interested to know.

Look for the SEOMOZ tutorial by Benu Aggarawal (spelling might be wrong).  The focus is on local optimization and they really go into detail about citations, links, NAPs (yes nap), etc.  I haven't seen Yahoo local mentioned in a long time - is it that significant that it deserves that much focus over Google & Bing?  Here's a pure speculation on my part, but if you do edit Yahoo Local as you've suggested, the PA might not be as strong, but wouldn't the DA retain it's integrity?

Definitely spend the hour or so in reviewing the tutorial - I think it's called Google Places Best Practices or something like that.  Very good stuff when it comes to optimizing for local.

Wow, that's a really good question.  If there were only one image on a page (e.g. selling a product), I'm sure that labeling it as you suggest wouldn't get flagged as keyword stuffing.  Certainly you want to enrich the human experience, but to be honest, I haven't noticed as much impact with the alt tag as I have with other methods.  I'm interested to see how this discussion evolves.

It appears that the free online tools limit the number of URLs they'll include.  What tools have you had success with?