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301 redirects do not pass 100% of page equity/authority.  I have no idea exactly how much is passed through a 301, but you're always going to be in for a wee drop during a re-build.

"rel="external" does nothing except notify the browser to open a new window, like target="_blank". The only difference is that rel="external" is xhtml valid, and target="_blank" is not."

Here is a good discussion on the subject... a little dated, but still holds true: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=61308

That's just it.  These kinds of sites are the reason the Panda update was created.

Build relationship's with other relevant websites in your niche.  Also, create content that is trustworthy and worth linking to, and the links will roll in, in time.

I don't think there is anything you can really do to prevent this.  That's just the nature of the beast when it comes to pages that can only be seen by privileged users.

Typically, sites I've created, all the "member" pages are located within the own directory, ie. /my-account/, where I place a block on the folder within the robots.txt file so crawlers can't get their hands on privileged information.

Both of those URL's you provided return a 404 error.

However, when I do click "English", the page loads up.  And if I visit this URL (which I created myself), the product comes up, too:

http://shop.samson.de/deutsch/products/hardwarepaket.html?___from_store=english

It seems you have some rewrite issues as you already mentioned.

When I load up "http://shop.samson.de/index.php/products/hardwarepaket.html" into my browser it returns a 404 page:

404 - Seite nicht gefunden

Leider konnte die angeforderte Seite nicht gefunden werden, scheinbar wurde eine nicht korrekte URL eingegeben. So ist der 404 Fehler entstanden. Bitte nutzen Sie unsere Suche oder wechseln Sie zu unserer Startseite um in unserem umfangreichen Sortiment zu stöbern.

The page might load up, technically, but it's returning a 404 Page Not Found header response, which is why crawlers, like SEOmoz, are displaying it as a page not found.

This is expected, and an acceptable practice, so I would not worry (unless that page is supposed to have content, then you had better check the code for any errors).

As Alan said, a 301 would not be the best thing to do.

Consider the link from ABC as being a valuable backlink to XYZ for that keyword/niche, and continue with a link-building campaign for both sites.  Since ABC is already ranking well for that keyword, you should not stop optimizing it.

It happens

But yes, it's easy to recover the next time the crawlers visit the site, fortunately.

My thoughts exactly (and other great points by other comments here).

There are many factors that go into this issue, and of course, I'd love to have say, houses.com or realestate.com for a website that was offering real estate for sale.  But that doesn't mean that I should create some long-winded, keyword-stuffed domain name (real-estate-and-homes-houses-for-sale.com) as that will not do anything for my cause.

I'm sure, as everybody has pointed out, that there is still some consideration into the domain match for the genre in question; however, domain name are basically impossible to come by nowadays for any popular/common item you are planning on building a website around.  I'm sure the search engines have also thought about that.

But in all honesty, look at a lot of the major players in any niche, and majority of them have a unique, highly-branded name that doesn't have anything to do with the industry.  Not to say you shouldn't do it, but with a legitimate link-building campaign and top-notch SEO tactics deployed throughout the site, you can rank for anything under any domain name.

Remove this immediately:

You are correct in that "exact match domain names" are dying out, and that is due entirely in part to spammers (don't they just ruin everything??). It's all about branding now, which means you can basically have any domain name you want and rank for anything you want. Mind you, you're not going to see cars.com trying to rank for telephones anytime soon, but you know what I mean. While it might be tempting, it is not necessary to have your niche keyword in your domain name anymore. Last I heard, Bing was the only search engine actually taking these things into consideration, and that was over a year ago, so I'm not sure whether they still do.

Well, is it content only available to French-Canadian's?  For example, would your company's services be relevant to somebody from, say, Dallas, Texas in the US?  Is any of your services relevant to English speaking people?  And if so, what is the percentage?

Build your site for your clients/customers/users, and whatever makes sense to them.  If only French speaking/reading people will be visiting your site (for the most part), then build everything in French (including URL's), as it will be legible.  For the same reason you a Hindu site might not be relevant to you, regardless of their services (taking a stab in the dark that you might not know Hindu; I apologize if I'm wrong

You know what I mean?  Bottom-line: build for your users and what is going to generate the greatest ROI.

Well, yes and no.  Like I said, it's indirect.

It can have an effect on the algorithm in that using certain elements from Schema.org (and others like it) to create, for example, proper breadcrumbs on your site, which will in turn be picked up by Google and display those breadcrumbs within the SERP's.

For example (and a little shameless plug), here is my site in the #1 position in the SERP's with Schema.org created breadcrumbs: https://www.google.com/search?q=2728+23rdwyandotte#hl=en&sa=X&ei=J_3YTrr8Neb20gGQ0JnSDQ&ved=0CBcQBSgA&q=2728+23rd+wyandotte&spell=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=1ee69a25240f81e5&biw=1920&bih=979

Others you can see will have an image of a video show up, or even an author and such.  Schema.org is more of a way of creating a unified method for crawlers to crawl and properly index ones website based on the usage of the Schema.org schematics.  THey can help draw attention to your listing within the SERP's, but to my knowledge, do not influence your position within the SERP's.

Hope that helps.

No, not at all.

I would say that it has an indirect impact on ranking, so-to-speak.

This is because, following a structured schema, like Schema.org, will help ensure you have legible code within your site for the crawlers.  Know what I mean?

Just because you have it on your site, however, does not mean you will automatically go up in rankings.

Yes, you should add "Page x" to the title, meta description tag and H1 header tag to avoid duplicate errors.

Exactly.  I don't think there is much SEO value to be honest; however, on a highly-trafficked site it will definitely help spread the word of your affiliations.

But like I said, don't try and get sneaky with the keywords.  In my opinion, stick to the brand name anchor text.

It's perfectly legit in my opinion, as long as it's honest.  Rule of thumb is only make changes/additions to your site where if penalized, you have a valid, honest explanation.  If you can't explain yourself, well, they'll have no mercy on you.

BTW, here's another example: http://oldnavy.gap.com/

My only suggestion to stay on the safe side would be to not use keyword-stuffed anchor text.  I would recommend using the brand name when cross-linking instead.

Take this site for example: http://www.hometrader.ca/  Go to the footer and see how they link to each of their sister sites under Partners.

Well, you said it "Either way, in my mind, it's useful to the user and that trumps everything"

Optimize for the end-user, and the rest will fall into place.  Don't be scared to link out if it's useful information for your user.

These days, nobody wants to link out to anybody.  It's ridiculous.  The internet is supposed to be a complete world of information, but every site on the net wants to keep everything to themselves.

I've come across articles in the past about how Bing takes this into consideration.  They share the same ideology as you in that your website should be a 'one-stop shop' for the user.

And there's sure nothing wrong with linking to any government agencies as their content is usually 100% legit and accurate.  Nothing to worry about there.

Go for it.