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I agree do 301 to each page and get people to the new site.
Overtime they will learn the new site domain and you will gain new links to the new site.
I just did the same thing and merged an older well ranking site into a new site a year ago, & did a bunch of 301 redirects from good high ranked pages and then I also did full global 301 from several smaller sites to the new site.
Start here:
http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
http://moz.com/blog/how-to-rank
These will give you tons of help in how to start ranking keywords.
Once you understand and implement this research/ideas/concepts.
THEN, keep track of what is working and do more of that.
Did they change a title of a single web page?
Or
Did they dedicate a whole website to the title of a product?
Some niche markets are very narrow and you WILL have matching phrases and titles and even products, if you run into that you just have to stay ahead of the curve and keep your site above theirs.
Also if you are selling a product, service, then make sure your website is dedicated to getting a better conversion for your clients.
People copy for lots of reasons:
1. They have the same idea and geographical region, or the same name.
2. They want to get an edge on a competitor.
3. They want to get hits on the keywords maybe for a different reason,
(http://moz.com/blog/barnacle-seo-whiteboard-friday)
If you're dedicated to your niche market, then keep the name and keep your site/media/web presence above theirs.
Videos are pretty new to Facebook.
We also know that Facebook does NOT show everything to all people, even if you engage and follow a page.
There is some sort of algo that hides posts and only shows to certain fans.
I would say that Facebook is deliberately throttling back on the videos more than regular posts.
This is an answer about Tumblr posts not showing up, and the answer might apply to Youtube as well.
Facebook wants to keep the "facebook content" and is hiding linked content.
I saw that video, yes it is a good one.
Interesting theory about the new "spam search queries" I can see that might be an issue with some sites, I'm not sure it is with mine.
There is something called "pink filter" that I have heard of that if google determines your website to be porn, it will not allow it when safesearch is on.
According to theory if I have not been hit by the "pink filter" I am not labeled porn and should not have my rankings dropped. It does look like Google is changing, I'll keep this in mind.
Geek away....
If this was a simple problem with one simple answer I would have fixed it 4 months ago 
I've had lots of suggestions and lots of bits of help.
I'm always glad for more, if your suggestion does not work, someone will pipe in and we all learn from it.
Here is another thread that has more data too to help you out.
http://moz.com/community/q/web-traffic-tanked-not-penguin-nor-panda-i-am-stumped
What do you see?
Fascinating theory, but this has been a slow steady decline since March.
Not an instant drop.
Here is an awesome graph of Jan to now.
http://www.bayareaboudoir.com/capture2.jpg
I erased all my stats Jan 1st from previous years.
But they had been slowly climbing.
This is am amazing detailed answer.
I went through and removed links to the inisignicfia blog entirely.
I found some forums I had a signature and removed the sig those on three forums.
I took down my entire tumblr.
I did a disavow on several domains & subdomanins that "collect" links.
Total of over 500 individual links have been removed via webmaster, signature removal, & disavowal tool.
I changed/removed anchor text/links on a few other older blogs/forums.
Get listed has me as two business, I'll update those so they all match.
Citation finder looks amazing I'll dig deeper after lunch.
I just added/fixed:
Nokia, teleatlas, navteq information
I will work on more reviews, (reviews for my clients are a bit tricky due to the nature of my business, but I can get some from my more public clients.)
Here is the rel canonical, Is it set up wrong?
http://www.bayareaboudoir.com/capture.jpg
I fixed the home page anchor text, I'll work on a "logo"
I'm not extra concerned about Oakland specific traffic, as my clients come to me from 25 - 200 miles away. I do like the SF page idea...
I'll revamp my meta descriptions.
I'm a little stumped on exactly how to code these?
Thanks again
Update:
I just went through and fixed the last of the 404 errors with 301.
I also changed the internal linking structure to have more links going to the home page and not to the contact page.
I hope this helps.
I'd love some more input on this issue.
Still dealing with the weird traffic drop on my website.
I have removed a bunch of old links from a defunct blog, 301 thin pages, added text to remaining pages.
I'm still stumped.
So awhile ago I freshened up my website and thought I was "helping people" by making sure they could CONTACT the studio more easily... I added more links to the "contact page" I thought this would help conversions...This changed the number of links to my entire site....Would this be the problem with my ranking/traffic drop?
Get more relevant Denver photography links to your Denver pages.
That will help you rank for Denver.
If you have two locations do you also have two studio?
Google says maybe...
Once you use the rich snippets test link given to you by Bradly below:
Then you know it is "working"
Google states that there is no guarantee, I have seen on my websites the photo show up sometimes and not other times.
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1408986
Take a look at this:
It goes over text VS images on google
That is a friends old blog.
5-10 years ago everyone had a blog and everyone was linking to each other in blogrolls & lists. Time goes on and many of the older blogs have gone defunct, or just sit and are no longer updated. Now everyone is on Tumblr. I miss the old Livejournal days. I know that Google has made changes to the weight of blogs, since so many people have started blogs JUST to rank. You can now even BUY blogs and links for pay and the whole article spamming issue.
I was wondering if the older blogs & older defunct websites is part of what is dropping rankings since the "link juice" is now stale and no longer current. It just seems to be a bit too rapid for this to be the main cause, also most of the recent algo updates would have tanked me sooner?
So you're suggesting I ask to have some of the older links removed from defunct blogs/websites if I have contact with the webmaster or do disavow if I am no longer in contact? How old is too old?
3 years, 5 years, 10 years?
I am currently working on NEW FRESH relevant natural local links through other local businesses, current blogs, news outlets and the like. I have gotten some great press recently.
(boudoir site)
(to my portrait site)
I would say yes, include your location in your on page text.
If I am searching for shoe repair I would most likely search "city shoe repair"
If your shoe repair shop does pop up and you have NOTHING about where you are actually located, I might go to the next site that has a location.
And location will just reinforce the location shoe repair that Google has already started on.It also would help if I am out of town and a bit lost, knowing exactly where this show place is without having to go to googlemaps or places or another map site...
Many times I actually use Yelp (Yelp always has address right easy to find, when websites hide their address)
It might not rank your location-shoe repair SERPS that much, but it SHOULD help your buyers conversion...
I have tried to fix the wrong google maps/places address for 3 years now, they validate by sending a postcard to a defunct address...
When I get the Google Phone call I go over with them and they say they have the correct Oakland address...
My Auth and schema markup has the Oakland address on my websites as well.
I can not get rid of the old listing?
This listing is over 3 years old why would it tank my ranking this spring 2013?
I have some Yelp reviews:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/carle-photography-oakland-2
I have a google + page:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/103255579254885041970/about
I JUST found an OLD google plus page:
https://plus.google.com/113751542266047416565/photos?hl=en
& if you search for my name all sorts of other of my photography comes up with a 3 YEAR old address (I have been trying to fix for years)
Could having TWO sites be causing the issues?
I have had my current website for several years now, and traffic has been slowly building.
2010 = 49 hits a day, 2011 = 71 hits a day, 2012 = 157 hits a day.
I target local traffic and local keywords around by business.
I have kept up with SEO changes, using Facebook, social media, updated tags, and kept content fresh, added more galleries images, Auth tags & markup. I have 301 older sites that I have run in the past.
Then early this spring everything dropped, slowly but surely, now I'm at 90 hits a day
SERPS for my main phrase "boudoir photography" us at less than 50 according to MOZ.
I have been watching the new Algo updates, and never had any issues because I don't spam article marketing, I don't buy links, I try to keep content fresh, I don't use directories...I designed the site for PEOPLE not SEO.
I get major press about once to twice a year, newspapers still don't get links though.. grrrrr
I get natural links through gallery shows, events, local blogs, art shows...
So I thought it might be over the year I have slowly added too many less than 100 word pages?
Media, Bio, Art I combined all into one page. One page with 300+ words VS 3 pages of 100 words.
I did a 301 several pages and trimmed my menu down from 11 to 8 to help everything look cleaner and more eye pleasing...I started asking my friends/clients/collaborators for more links with no link text so they are natural...& not just "boudoir photography"
Traffic is still dropping...
What have I missed?
