Sgt_Kickaxe - 7:52 am on Feb 3, 2013 (gmt 0)

Backlinks - I'm not sure why it's not been mentioned yet but backlinks still trump all other SEO. In fact there is likely less that you can do on-page to impact results than ever.

Branding - The decline in traffic you describe vaguely resembles the traffic increase many big brand sites are seeing. Google likes brands and the CEO says "what's not to like about brands?".