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By off-page, do you mean link building and the like? You're going to have a tough time getting quality links if you're not allowed to work on the content. I'd take a second look at the client and consider if it's going to be worth your while with the restrictions you've been given. Would it help if you had your client read the Beginner's Guide to SEO at http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo to let them know why you need to be able to change things?

Hi Christopher Looks like it was done correctly. There's a few ways you can check. One easy way is the Redirect Path Plugin by Ayima. Shows you the status code right in Chrome. http://screencast.com/t/wBqiYMzJf You can also use a header checker like URI Valet - as long as you see a 301 code when running it the redirect is correct. -Dan

as EGOL says approach them, and also let them find you. Also be selective

tente aumentar os links para o  http://www.vipgoldrj.com

Just because your site has more links, a higher domain authority, and other competitive factors does not mean you will out rank other sites in search engines. What you should do is a on page analysis of your competitor, for the page that they out rank you for in the SERP, and then do the same for you page that shows below theirs. Compare the two, and see who has the better grade. It sounds as though they have better on page SEO for that Key word. If the results come back the same then they are a lot of other factors that could be causing them to rank above you. Like better off page SEO or a lower bounce rate.

long url ... could be seen as over optimisation / manipulation also went to that page and nothing was found / out of stock - no description it also reads like a bog standard manufacturer description that other sites would also use and so is duplicate content in some ways (i am looking at other lawnmowers) the list in the content is not a list it's a bunch of images and text? mega menu = lots and lots of links - could be bad not really much to go on I know but it does seem content update would be good plus some working on cleaning out html and urls

Thanks EGOL,  Fantastic answer.  I'm looking for a new foundation to work from and would love to work hard on just one site.  I'm pretty sure the sites will work best together in the long run but,  I sure don't want to mess up what I already have.

Excactly what I was looking for.  Thanks.

Really??  That's strange - if you PM me the domain, I can do a bit more digging.

I don't think I've seen any tests on that but one way to test would be to put link to three separate but very similar pages from three other pages of very similar strength--one of those would have a link to one of the target pages from the footer, one would have a link to the second target page from the body, and one would have a link to  the third target page from the navigation bar.  All links would use the same nonsense anchor text.  Once all the pages percolated, you'd expect that a search in google for the nonsense term would show that the top result would be from the strongest link.

Also check Google webmaster Tools. When doing a site: of your site, there are some odd-looking SERPs and at least one page has a message that the site might be compromised.

Thanks Keri, Yes the domains I gave were examples not the real domains, to demonstrate a service industry. That was in my thinking, however, as it's a service and that service being "cake baking in London" and not www.smithscakes.com and my client buying "www.smithscakes.net, i was a tad unsure but after some research i "think" that should be fine as there are no TM infringements. Also the .com owner leads the visitor not by saying welcome to "domain name" but welcome to "brand name". So they would be competing on service not brand. Hope that helps shed a bit more light on it for you.  Lesson there to structure my inital post with more meat on the bones. Thanks Mark

ok thanks

After reviewing your site, I can see that: Your site is well indexed by Google. Your site has very thin content. Your site is mostly duplicate content. I think you'll need a content strategy to achieve and maintain significant rankings. You'll probably need to noindex your entire site except for a few pages that you add significant and valuable content to. (Unless you have the resources to write good content for your entire site.)

Hi Tom, Thanks for your feedback. I actually hadn't looked at the Moz' recommended companies yet but have now... Will make sure to check out 3DoorDigital. Cheers

Why are you trying to reduce the number of links on your homepage? It sounds like you are doing rather well already if you are ranked #1 on Google for different keywords. If you are referring to the site listed in your profile (re: mattresses, bed, etc.), you do have a lot of links in your top navigation; however, I think it does a great job of sorting pages from a usability standpoint. If you have links in navigation and in the area below with the images, that is fine - as long as you feel you have designed it this way for users. I read somewhere that Google only counts the first internal link on a page to pass link juice - so if you have 5 links to "bed frames" you aren't going to get any extra link juice... just the initial link receives it. Long story short - if you believe that the top navigation does a good job of sorting your content to make it easy for users to find - keep it. If you think that the images and links of your top selling products make sense for your users - keep it. If you are worried about going over 100 links per page, I think the main reason for that "rule" is 1) it can make crawling more difficult for Google and 2) so you don't create link farms. As long as your website is being indexed properly and you are ranking well... I wouldn't worry about it. Hope this helps. Mike

Egol, Kind of the manufacturer pages was to create a virtual silo for that particular set of keywords. I love the idea of the bigger pictures and we will implement this. I also love the idea of the product pages linking out to "How To pages" as you state. Now I just need to think of some How To's for Boots. Thank you again for your comments they are very informative and much appreciated.

No Problem Richard - Glad I could help - as you say two sites is twice the work to manage and market so it dilutes your effort. Good luck with your new project

Without seeing the actual site in question, that's my opinion, yes.

"First off, does the age of your site matter? Now, this is purely from an SEO perspective, in terms of if I have exactly the same effects going on, the same number of links pointing from the same places pointing to the same pages with exactly the same content. But one of those sites was produced in 2008, and one was made in 2000. Is that going to substantively change rankings? The answer is almost certainly not. Almost certainly not." I would not even worry about it. Source