If you simply redirect your old domain to the new one, you will simply be transferring all the bad links from one domain to another. If you are starting fresh with a new domain, you shouldn't be using 301 redirects.

An aged domain can sometimes retain some authority, but if it's been parked for a while, probably not. If the domain does not have any active links coming into it, then just the fact that it's old does not mean it's going to rank well. Best to just pick a brand new domain that's a better fit for your brand.

It's always good to include a canonical tag, because different versions of your URL could get indexed. If you are using Wordpress for your blog, it should generate the tag automatically.

tags are not that big of a ranking factor, if at all. They are important only insofar that they help Google determine what a page is about, which tags should do as well.

If you really want to see if they make a difference, try having your page with

tags one month, then without the next, and see if rankings change. Then write a blog post about it on YouMoz for a nice backlink.

Are you trying to 301 redirect a sitemap? A sitemap is just guide to help search engines crawl your site. If you feel a sitemap is no longer necessary, just remove it. No need to 301 it or anything.

If you are going to move content, include a canonical tag from the old content to the new content, and Google should be able to figure it out eventually.

You may be able to do a "site:domain.com" search of the directory to see how many pages are linking to you, that have been indexed by Google. You can also try using a crawler such as Xenu Link Sleuth or Screaming Frog to crawl the directory, and determine how many pages are linking to you.

It may help with consistency, but it certainly has no benefit from an SEO perspective.

I usually start link building by reaching out to people I know that own websites/blogs, and asking for a link. I will also do some submissions to niche/local directories. Then it's time to buckle down and come up with a contact list/link building strategy for your particular niche.

Here is a great list of link building ideas:

http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies

I doubt signing up for GWT had any impact on your rankings. I would start by adding the footer back, and seeing if that restores your rankings. Maybe it wasn't as spammy as you thought?

What do you mean by photo contest?

If you have Google Webmaster Tools, it will show you where all your broken links are. You can also use this broken link tool to crawl your site for broken links, or use a desktop too such as Xenu Link Sleuth or Screaming Frog.

They're created automatically and aren't accessible via the control panel.  If you want to change the way they work, you can edit archive.php.  If they're just duplicate content, you can noindex them with plugins such as "All In One SEO Pack".

I don't think it's that big of a problem, but if you really want anchor text, you could try this:  Use a javascript onclick event for the image instead of an anchor tag. Then turn the promotion title into a link:

• 

  onclick="javascript:location.href='link.html';">

  Jessica Simspon

  Extra 20% Off

Or if you don't want to use javascript, you could have 2 links:

• Jessica Simspon

  Extra 20% Off

  [

  style="float:left; margin-top:-XXpx;

  position:relative; z-index:-2">](link)

   

Hope that helps!

Sure, here's some pseudo-code:

• 

  position:relative; z-index:50">

  Jessica Simspon

  Extra 20% Off

Hope that clarifies things.

One solution would be to make each of the promo sections an image (like http://i.imgur.com/sA8DFYk.png), then make the image a link. You can then use css to float some text on top of the image, or if you don't care, just make the whole thing an image.  You could also separate out the product image from the grey background if you're feeling really nit picky.

The cache date that you see in the search results does not necessarily correspond with the last time your site was indexed.  Your site may have been re-indexed with your new content today, but the cache might still show your page from a week ago.

The best way to improve crawling and indexing is to improve your PageRank.  The higher your PageRank, the more resources Google will be willing to spend on your site.

301 redirects don't pass all their link juice, so you may see a slight rankings drop, but otherwise Google should treat the site the same.

In order to be compliant with HTML standards, all images should include alt text. This helps with users who are visually impaired. Also, it is good SEO practice.

Likes can impact search results in Bing. But beyond that, they're social proof more than anything else. Likes to your page, however, can be used as a way to connect with your fans over Facebook, and will likely have benefits for Facebook's new Graph Search as well. I would choose building up my Facebook following over having people like my homepage.

Agreed, the best links are the ones that are hardest to go after. Find high authority blogs in your niche, and reach out to them personally.