SEO Questions You May Want Answered (Part Two)

Carrying on from SEO Questions You May Want Answered (Part One), let’s shed some light on more questions, which still remain unanswered!

Question Nine

What is a robots.txt?

This is a page where search engines get information about pages of a company that want to be indexed or crawled. This page can be found by going to: YOURDOMAIN/robots.txt.

Question Ten

What is the sitemap.xml file?

This file is an index page of all the pages on your site. It is a quick reference for search engines of content you may want indexed.

Question Eleven

What is the difference between crawled and indexed?

When a search engines looks through the content on your website, it is ‘crawling’ your site. Whilst they crawl your site, they ‘index’ content that will appear in the search engine. However, a point to remember is that NOT all content is indexed. Search engines will pick the content they want and WONT index as they go through the crawling process.

Question Twelve

How do I know what pages are indexed?

Simply type this in to your site: www.YOURDOMAIN.com and you will come across the pages on your site that are indexed.

Question Thirteen

Why is it important to have alt text on images?

Search engines cannot read images, but they can read text. This text, known as ‘alt’ text helps them figure out what the image is about. Also, if a page is unable to load for any reason, then people can still find out what the image is by reading the alt text.

Question Fourteen

How long does it take to see results from SEO?

When it comes to how quickly or slowly results will come, then a couple of different factors are included, which determine the result. These can include;

–          The quality of the content

–          How much content you have created

–          How the content reverberates with your audience

–          If the site is big or small with a strong or weak domain authority

With a large site, you may start to see the results in a couple of days; that is if the search engine regularly crawls. A smaller site will take longer because they are crawled less often. You should be patient for at least a week or even closer to a month, before you go to change your SEO strategy. However, if you are brand new to SEO, then you should consider waiting a little longer.

Question Fifteen

Shall I hire someone to do my SEO?

Hiring someone internally or externally for SEO can be helpful, but it could also be dangerous if the person is not aware of the modern rules of SEO.

Question Sixteen

What is a good goal to set for SEO?

When thinking SEO goal, then don’t just think about the increase in visits to your website. Also think about full marketing funnel as well as how much quality traffic you are getting to your website. People who are finding your site through SEO – are they qualified prospects for your business? If no, then does it matter that your traffic has increased?

Whilst creating your goals, you should also have in mind what general traffic VS quality traffic means to you.

When setting your goals, don’t just think traffic, but base them on your entire marketing funnel.

Question Seventeen

Has SEO changed in the last few years?

YES, most definitely it has! 2014 has brought many changes and these certainly include changes in SEO. Our SEO Guide section includes many updates, which you may also be interested in reading.

Question Eighteen

Where is the “|” on my keyboard?

Refer to images 1

1 If you still haven’t found the answer to your question, then still don’t panic; just write it in the comments section below and we will try our best to answer it for you!