Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Provided the site isn't spammy and its content and link profile are of a decent quality, I can't forsee any problems.

Besides, what if a website was called freespeech.com? I cant imagine Google seeing that as spammy.

My first piece of advice would be to appeal to their human side - state your case that it's your hard work they're stealing and that duplicate content may actually hurt both of your rankings.

If that doesn't work which I expect it wont, dend a strongly worded Cease and Desist letter, you'll find some templates here:

http://minnesotaattorney.com/cease-desist-letter-template-example-sample-forms/

Ensure all of your content has a clear copyright mark.

Use the letter to make the point that legal action may be taken if they do not stop.

good luck!

Shifts are definitely towards content marketing for SEO - i.e place more emphasis on useful and relavant content as opposed to in-bound link building.

That being said, incoming links are still a measure of authority. The argument for quality content is that this will organically increase links through shares and trackbacks etc.

To get the process started (and to start building links) comment on other peoples articles where relavant, share on social media and generally join / add to the conversation

Good luck!

All absolutely valid responses - we currently just write copy for our users and optimise HTML for the search engines, seems to be working well thus far

Thanks guys!

If you have no physical premises (i.e. operate online) but you only serve clients in a specific area, what is best practice for targeting a local area?

I know G. Places can be used if you have a premises, and that .co.uk / hosting server location make a difference, but beyond that... ?

Thanks!