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I had trouble but theres a link that you can click to show you exactly the protocol they want it to be in.

I can see what your SEO person is saying, in creating a themed silo site structure. However, you can do this with virtual structural changes vs. UI changes. Also, if you are battling to get back on top less changes to what Google has already spidered the better. And I agree with Claudio as well, don't make it harder for Google to do their job. Review your content to review cross linking abnormalities as well as missed opportunities in 'theming' your site structure and content. Answer the question: Does this link from page a <-> page b useful to the reader / shopper and subsequently, the search engine.

Excellent! Thanks guys! That was really stressing me out trying to figure out the best thing to do with those pages ...404 it is

Ah okay - that notice is definitely a factor then and an important consideration not initially mentioned.  So as long as you have someone else working on the other issues described then we can focus on the patterns concept I initially mentioned. Several things that stand out when I'm reviewing links on a mass scale.I prefer to look at links grouped by domain in the first pass to help see these patterns. 1. Page titles of pages sending links.  Quite often, they're titles that blatantly scream junk/low-quality or irrelevant to any topic your site is about, or even link-partnerships... or even outright mention SEO. 2. Domain names/URLs of pages sending links. Same concept - they can quite often obviously communicate that they're junk, irrelevant, or blatantly specifically sites for SEO or links. 3. Anchor Text - if you group by anchor text as a next pass, look for links where the anchor text is exact match keywords and then look at the page title of that linking page and it's domain name.  Patterns can be spotted of low quality.  If needed, you can click over to a URL and just look at the page that  link is coming from. 4. After all that process, as you have marked links as being bad, regroup them by domain.  At that point you will likely still need to go through remaining links and go to at least one link from each domain to examine the page or just look at the overall domain for quality. NOTE - the part where you examine a site sending links does require you to be able to know how to spot a bad site already.  Like - "Can I trust this site?" "Is this site obviously a fake site?" and other such questions need to be asked and answered. And if a link is on a good site, is it a forum or blog comment?  Is it using an SEO relevant keyword as the person's signature name? Or is it even a legitimate and relevant comment, even if the link isn't using keyword anchors? There are so many subtle indicators I could add but in reality the best way to go is to dive in and remember to look for patterns.  As you spend the time doing this work, patterns become more and more obvious...

I agree 100% with Matt. I would also recommend checking your internal links to ensure that they are all following the same format with or without the /.

Any domain that has been around for a long time will have some reciprocal links. Many sites will also have some multi-way links, even if they weren't sought out on purpose. I don't recall ever agreeing to a multiway link, but we have a lot of links, so there may be some that google will identify that way. You can't control what other people do, only what you do. I don't recommend doing any of those, but if you have a few, I doubt they will hurt you. Also, and this is where google has a problem, if you link out to another site, and they decided it would be a good thing to pump up the power of your page that links to them, they may have added multiple links or even link wheels to your page, and there is nothing you can do about it.

1. Absolutely. If you host them on the same server then the strength of the links won't be great. Remember to register the domains using a different registrar too and to a different person/company. 2. Grab all the domains 3. The keyword terms seem low to me but it isn't an area I am familiar with. Have you carried out some keyword research ? It looks like it is a training dog tag collar? If so, I would build the site using a broad keyword which you can use to do more than one product review on. If you use the domain Dogtra280ncpPlatinum.com then you are limited to the one product - therefore the site wouldn't get updated often/ever and its content would be static. Remember that time is key here. if you are looking to add some cheap links to your main domain then there can be better ways. You would have to spend some real time ensuring that the new review website you plan to build is well optimised and carries some weight in the search engines otherwise the link strength would not be powerful enough to make it worth your while. However, if you are in it for the long run then it is a good idea/concept. Just make sure you optimise the site properly and get some regularly updated unique content. Links should follow and you can do some work on link building to enhance. On a side note, try to link to other websites and domains as well as linking to your eCommerce site. Don't make it look like an obvious link tool for your main site.

All you need to do is check to see if any of the product pages are still listed in the Google or Bing index.  I'd expect they probably are.  If so, 301 redirects need to be implemented.  The best way to do this is if the old url structure was http://www.yourdomain.com/catalog/xyzproduct.aspx  then do a search on site:www.yourdomain.com/catalog/   that will show pages still indexed under that folder structure. 301 Redirects should never be pointed at an IP address, they should only be pointed at a resolved domain.

First, your dev is wrong. The url your dev has first is a dynamic url and you do not want that. You can spot dynamic url's by virtue of the ?, &, .cgi-bin etc. The problem is more in conversions than in a lack of indexing, etc. You do want to redirect url to url and most believe you will get 90 to 99% of the juice. (My experience is that it is over 90%). The preference from what you provided would be the http://www.k9electronics.com/designer-dog-beds/ Lastly, since you are going down this road, I suggest you read this post by Dr. Pete. It gives good advice on eCommerce. I think based on your question you would find it very helpful. Best

As a testament to the concept of a highly informative resource page a-la the TNJ example, I went there to see what it was like, and just read the entire page's content, it was that interesting.  So that would be a good start, though the 2nd "very ugly" example is of course, more likely for long-term success.  Throw in an infographic of facts related to the topic you're creating resource pages for, and then promote through social media. The concept it's got to be highly note-worthy, unique, or uniquely grouped content.

I'm not a dev.  Personally I stay at least ten feet away from any code when possible I'll respond to the site form rather than here regarding SEO services... no longer an independent consultant...

Also excellent advice ..thanks bevelwise

To add another perspective to it: I have used buidlmyrank.com. I would say that one of the only saving graces about it is that you can create your own content, submit it to them, and they will post it on a PR 1 - 4 website with a backlink to your site. So like Marcus said its great for brand new PR 0, PA 1 sites. They allow 1 backlink per 150 words. They also promote that if you want them to create content for you they can do it at $2.50 per 150 words / backlink. Needless to say the article is definitely worth just that. If you have great content post it on your own site and maybe consider hiring a copywriter to write an article about you then submit to buildmyrank. By all means please don't use this as your sole link building service as it won't get you very far in the long run. Consider high level directories like Yahoo, Best of the Web, DMOZ (good luck) and Business.com, and of course great content to get natural and earned links / citations. Enjoy

I am also with Spencer on this one. If the new site is done, then 301 the old site to the new and just maintain the backend on the old. If you admin logon is on the same domain, you might have to 301 individual pages over to the new site.