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yes, this could be related to the footer. though if you have over 500k pages indexed I assume you do have duplicate content issues anyway.

Did you already set up this keyword in your Adwords campaign? Possibly, this keyword has too little traffic, so it's not possible to target it (it would then indicate "not enough traffi" or something).

But you're right, I don't see any paid ads for tobacco-related searches as you see here: http://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/176038?hl=en

Hi Alec

Depending on what your website is about, I usually find it best to get links from partners and cooperators. Is someone distributing or using your product? Try to get them to state this on their site! Anyone you regularly cooperate with? Make sure they will say so on their site.
Careful not to overdo it with the link. Take it easy, create links step by step and don't get too many at once...

I think without nofollow is okay since linking to your clients and projects is legitimate and as long as you are transparent about why you link to them (because it's your portfolio).

IMO keyword research is only possible by someone that understands the language. Otherwise you might run the risk of picking keywords that promise lot of traffic but are not related to your product (i.e. not used in the context of your website). you need to cooperate with the translator. here's a suggestion how to proceed:

1. create a list with the main keywords you target in english

2. send the list to your translator, ask to translate these words, but including synonyms and further keyword ideas

3. research those in the keywordtool (or let your translator do this) and define the ones you want to target to be included in the content.

This is the simplest way. If you want to do a thorough market research you'll have to work with someone who not only speaks the language but also knows the local market and culture.

In my experience, many so called SEO's don't have much experience and obviously rely on the wrong sources. They live in a lala-land, thinking they're the only ones who figured out how to trick the game and will "rank #1". Funny enough, they never even state what keyword they would like to rank #1 for... So that shows a clear misunderstanding of how people even search for and find stuff on the web.
I guess it has to do with a lack of training and maybe also the quick development of how things go on the web: Marketing standards from 1970 might still apply, while SEO from 2002 does not... And some people stand still and refuse to learn. Good for us! We can outrank them:-)

Couldn't an alternative be to disavow all links in Webmaster Tools pointing to the OLD domain and then still use 301 redirects? By using the disavow tool, the old domain should be in the clear, no?

aha, since it's a catering company it seems like a good idea to have a close look at the second link!

Hi Sam

IMO SEO is not the most crucial factor for this question. Yes, you have some slight benefits by using www.mydomain.com without /en for english. On the other hand, think usability and user interaction: Users who recognise the language patterns such as /ru and /es in the URL might want to reproduce the same thing for /en.

I think those are the two points of view that should be taken into account, but both are not that central and either way is okay. Some standard CMS's might not allow the special case for one language easily and you might have to use /en in order to be consistent. But personally, I would use www.mydomain.com without /en if the majority of your audience is english. That makes the site a little little bit "flatter" with one less subfolder in the URL.

That being said, one thing I absolutely recommend: Make sure the home page is actually www.mydomain.com (and not www.mydomain.com/en). Not using the root domain means throwing away backlinks and thereby site authority, so make sure it's available whether you use /en on the rest of the site or not.

100 points for you Martijn, thanks! I'm pretty sure you've found the problem and I'll go about fixing it. Gotta get used to having https used more frequently now...

Maybe linking each blog post might be overdoing it. But link to your sales pages where it makes sense, i.e. where you specifically talk about the products/services you sell. Don't overoptimize your anchor text though. But smart internal linking can indeed improve authority of your linked-to pages.