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Understandable, that it would cause worries. I've only been with this company for about 8 months, and walked into a terrible platform. Sadly, every automotive website provider I talk to has their system that they use, and I'm stuck trying to find both the best ecommerce platform, as well as overall site build.
I'm switching to a different company that supposedly has built their own. I'm currently using Seritas, and I'm switching to TK Carsites. The current company uses a jumbled mess, while the new company designs it with keywords in mind.
I'm just entering the process of switching web developer companies, and I was wondering what process would be best for redirecting our old product (new and used cars) pages. Our current design leaves much to be desired seo wise (http://www.resslermotors.com/index.asp?cmd=detail&vin=1FTSX30F3XEC01446&stocknumber=123911&sg=ocor5h42d2yhkla&Make=Ford&parCertifiedFlag=&Model=&parVehTypeID=&p=6&page=1), and redirecting all of them seems like it would be pretty complicated.
In addition to that, we currently have 35,000 pages. Is there a practical way to do redirects with this many pages?
Duplicate content can be stressful, especially when you first start looking at your websites metrics. However, there are only a few cases where you should be really concerned.
1. When you search specifically for a line in the article, who pops up first?
2. Who has a more authoritative website?
3. Who's generating more links with the content?
4. Have you emailed the webmasters of the websites?
If it were happening to me I would see which domain google is treating as more of an authority (Who pops up first when searching specifically for the article). If I was first I wouldn't worry too much about it at the moment.
If I wasn't, then I would email the webmaster asking for a recognition within the post that I was the original poster. I would then look at their link metrics and try to see if I could convince any of those people to link to me as well/instead. Those two things will help reestablish the authority balance (if you are convincing).
The third option would be to email the webmasters and ask them to take down your article, but that wouldn't help the future of your website.
Reviews would be a great way to go, too. You get the press, as well as a link.
I don't believe the layout is used within the SEO measurements, besides linking structure, so having the same looking website shouldn't matter. Even though you have mentioned that you are going to do this, I figured it wouldn't hurt to repeat, just make sure you have unique content.
I would use this: http://www.paywithatweet.com/
People have to tweet about your book in order to download it. Social Marketing at its best.
A Second Alternative would be to create two different funnels. One for customers in CA, and the other for the customers in UT. You would then have to create landing pages specifically for each City, State in order to most efficiently utilize the system. So, your current home page would be for brand searches, a CA landing page for those keywords and a UT landing page for those keywords. This would cost you quite a chunk to build, unless you can do it in house, but you would have the benefit of your current domain authority.
Just as a reminder, there are many different pieces to the SEO puzzle, and my offered solution may hinder you in achieving the results an a very competitive market. If you do have stiff competition, or anticipate any, than a new domain would be the best answer.
Either way, you are going to have to do some on-site SEO, like Ryan said.
meta-keywords and description don't count towards the content on your website, based on whatever I've read, but the description is extremely valuable in getting people to click. Alt tags do have some influence, but make sure the alt tag is for the user, and not just for the search engines. Here's what SeoMoz says about description tags: http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/meta-description
Sadly, I'm in Montana, and have very few bushes around, so option D) is out of questions 
How is the new domain ranking for other keywords? Maybe like 4 slice toaster, or whatever phrase gets a lot of traffic? If it's ranking high for other phrases I would use it as a temporary test dummy. Pretty up the website, and find out which phrases, designs, etc. convert the best while you improve your original /toaster website. Once you have all the data you need, and a highly improved /toaster page, just 301 it over.
However, if you don't have that much time, I'd just 301 it over, and go on with your day. There's always room for hopes and dreams, but this whole 24 hours in a day thing can get in the way if you don't have help.
If you choose to redirect, I would definitely put it on the inner /toasters page. It looks like you already have a good amount of links pointing to your home page, and not many to the inner page.
Well, I wouldn't expect you to jump to the first page just from 301'ing their website into yours. There are other factors at play, as I'm sure you know. However, you can expect a good portion of the link juice pointing at the other website to be transferred to yours. Depending on the other factors on your particular website, you should see a jump in your current ranking.
What would you do if a competitor had their main domain, and then another domain targeting your local area with the same exact content?
That's currently happening to me, and I'm not sure what I should do about it, if anything:
http://www.bozemanchevrolet.com
and
You could set up Google Alerts for phrases you are interested in (I follow all the makes of cars I represent), and follow some blogs that continue to have breaking news first. I have mine set to make a noise when something pops up.
I'm the Marketing Director at a car dealership that is trying to break into online shopping. We have had an internet sales team for about 4 years handling online leads. These leads were generated by forms present on our website. However, I'm trying to step up our production of leads online (we are currently at 1-2%).
Here's my problem:
The current method that car dealership website developers use, at least the 4 I've utilized, makes all the search pages have duplicate content, and many of the product/car pages have duplicate content (Title, etc.). Is there a way to stop all of these search pages from coming up as duplicate content?
My other question is:
Our inventory completely refreshes about every two months, what would be the best option for our product web pages?
Should I no-index them?
301 redirect to a similar vehicle?
Any better options?
Thanks
Optimizing for phrases like "Toyota Dealer" Will allow you to still show up for those searches, but I've experienced the best benefit at my car dealership by optimizing for "City Toyota" and "Toyota City". I then followed that up by using "City car dealership" and "City used cars." However, I have over 100 domain links to my website, so It's easy for me to rank well in local search.