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Although this is a 2009 article, I still find it interesting : http://searchengineland.com/do-links-from-expired-domains-count-with-google-17811

"Buying Expired Domains: Don’t Expect Credit"

"Buying Domain & Running Web Site As Usual: Credit Likely"

Did you check with several tools that no links are getting indexed ? (Google Webmaster Tools, MOZ, Ahrefs, MajesticSEO...).

If your links are not visible on any of these crawlers, they are probably not very valuable anyway.

Matt Cutts on sitewide links : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTjN9x-by-I

A previous question about it on the forum : http://moz.com/community/q/are-sitewide-links-bad-for-seo

According to SEMrush, your website went from 600+ KW in top 20 for US in august 2012 to 150+ nowadays.

In my mind, links like http://www.freeadultwebsitesdirectory.com/stockings.html

http://kupilandia.ru/individual-order/

http://www.sexualallsorts.co.uk/xxxSextoyShop/Stockings-and-Hosiery-Tights/default.aspx

are not helping to stay out of algo penalty.

With owner permission "having your name on the site in unlinked text" seems the best to do.

I remember the penalty story of 'Web Design Yorkshire by Pinpoint Designs' - http://moz.com/blog/ultimate-guide-to-google-penalty-removal

<greyhat>Need to vary anchor text if you do it :).</greyhat>

1/ Get 200 MOZ points for the removal of "nofollow" from first custom URL on profile :p.

2/ I would recommend you to read "Link Building: The Definitive Guide" ; http://backlinko.com/link-building.

I'm working with an European e-commerce; they already have a French website with a .fr domain.

They want to target the Belgium with a .be domain and the Nederland with a .nl domain.

Belgium = 50% dutch, 50% French.

Is it better to do 3 websites, one per country, or 2 websites, one per language ? Thinking to SEO, costs, VAT management, what is your opinion?

As Richard mentioned "You want any links that your content builds to be directed to your website".

I would use <cite class="_sd">http://sites.google.com // blogspot.com //</cite> wordpress.com // tumblr.com etc. only as satellites.

From what I see :

• You don't own any game / have no original content.

• You don't host any game. And when a website like "Game Jacket" is down, the game is unavailable :

http://www.loglod.org/play-game/3168-raging-steel-2

• Few or no text on the website.

Sorry if it sounds harsh, just trying to find reasons...

1/ I would buy an exact match domain for a new and short term project only. If you have a 8 yo known brand/domain, keep it and don't bother with additional domains :).

2/ Your keyword is moderately competitive according to MOZ (39% difficulty score).

To rank on first page you should :

• Get 10-15 good links with appropriate anchors text.

• Have a great text/content (2000 words+ // http://bit.ly/1bQL13C).

To rank faster, you could 301 redirect your homepage to yourwebsite.com to yourwebsite.com/antique-fireplaces-london

3/ I assume that your title, headings and ALT attributes are already optimized ~~.

Just my personal experience in case it could help:

On some WP websites using "all-in-one SEO" to rewrite titles, Google rewrites my titles again.

On other sites using "yoast seo", I don't have this problem.

I will try to reduce titles length to see if it changes something.

Quick fact : an average first result in Google = 2 400 words.

http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/12/20/the-science-behind-long-copy-how-more-content-increases-rankings-and-conversions/

It you can do a great relevant text, just do it :).

1/ "This is not a competitive area"... It depends :).

Your homepage title is "Gîte en montagne - Chalet - Savoie | Alpage du Choaille d'en Haut"

"gite en montagne" "gite savoie" "chalet montagne" "chalet savoie" are quite competitive in terms of SEO or SEA.

It you want to target "beaufortain", you should include it in your page title.

2/ Average #1 ranking = 2000-2400 words. Your text = 200 words.

3/ As Matt-Antonino explained, you lack of authority ; you need more links... and more anchors text relative to your keywords.

4/ As far as I'm concerned, I would add a blog to talk about the area, to explain why it's great to stay there and what you can do, testimonials, videos etc.

Is there a way to do great content and to get a few natural links ?

You're welcome. I mean "I know you'll do that for someone else" ;).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-grant/pay-it-forward_b_4270340.html

To go deeper: average text of #1 pages in Google = 2000 to 2400 words. Adding a relevant text would be a good idea.

I checked the first results for "accessoire de mesure" on Google.fr

They don't sell the same product than you. There might be a semantic issue here.

According to Google, accessoire de mesure = building or sewing sector.

http://www.conrad.fr/ce/fr/category/SHOP_AREA_37381/Appareil-de-mesure

http://www.matopo.fr/mesure/accessoires-de-mesure/index.html

Quite the same for Google Images.

Is accessoire de mesure a good converting keyword in your industry ? Is it used by your competitors ?

Besides adding text, I would suggest to get a simple French URL + 301 redirect the old one.

IE : from http://fr.mt.com/fr/fr/home/products/Laboratory_Analytics_Browse/Meter_family_page/Meter_Accessor.html to something like fr.met.com/accessoire-de-mesure

I agree with Andy.

1/ According to SEMrush : feb. 2014 = 536 keywords in Google top. Only 269 in march 2014.

http://fr.semrush.com/info/smartpress.com+(by+organic)

Does Google Analytics show the same ?

2/ Did you modify website navigation/menus, template, server or htaccess file recently ? Probably not.

3/ Check Google Webmaster Tools for manual penalty. If you don't have a penalty message, look for an algorithmic penalty.

4/ No big change in 2014 algorithm according to MOZ yet : http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change#2014

But smartpress got a lot of new links recently :

https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/overview/subdomains/?target=smartpress.com

From 680 to 900 domains in few months; are all these links "natural" ?

I see that you did a lot of guest articles ; some are not really close to your niche. That may deserve you :

http://creditcard-lawsuit.com/credit-card-debt-management-and-related-ideas/

Matt Cutts warned people on jan. 20 2014 : "The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO"

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/guest-blogging/

I would also suggest to improve your internal linking. Link every article to one or two relevant articles of your website.

Thanks, this is the post I wanted to mention.

1/Links = 40% of ranking factors.

Try the first step to rank : write good content. Even a family owned and operated small business can do it.

Egol wrote a great answer about this recently but I can't find the post anymore. The idea is to write about your customers, their problems and how you help them #InboundMarketing.

2/ IMO, a spammy link is a link you can't control. With a charitable organization, you can always ask them to remove the link in case of a possible penalty. If their thank you page has a high PR, I would take the risk.

3/ When I get a new customer, I try to get him links from the town hall website, the local chamber of commerce, his suppliers, his clients, school they accept a trainee from etc. Try to think to everyone who has an IRL link with your client.

1/ Short term answer : EMD.

2/ Long term answer : forenamesurname.com

I vote for 1/ if :

• You have a limited budget / a limited time to rank.

• Your client is not able to help you to produce great content.

I vote for 2/ if your client is patient and willing to build his brand.

According to MOZ ranking factors, EMS is 7 or 8% advantage and I read that partial EMD is useless.

IMO, weddingmakeupbyforename.com is too long anyway.