Do I really need a robots.txt file and what else helps with SEO?

[Clydie]

I have a website http://www.chihuahua.co.za and I want to be SEO compliant. Do I need a robots.txt file?
What else can I do to help with SEO?

[Jake]

Adding more full length text articles to chihuahua.co.za like: "The Chihuahua" can help get more search keyword matches.

salehouse.co.za seems like a very simple site that may not need a robot.txt, which most often is used to block exclusive information from being indexed.

You might for example allow a property listing to be search indexed but exclude a price info page.

[Bob]

Yes, its a better to have a robot.txt file.Disallow’ing dupes is one of the most common SEO mistakes by the way. Of course search engines encourage this bad practice, but that’s not exactly a good reason to follow the crowd.

[The IT]

The most important piece of advice I can give you is to "be who you are" on the web, and not try to manufacture false views by pretending to be something else.

Google changes its algorithm every so often and the changes can be details here:
http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

Also regardless of your industry, make sure your website has a Twitter and Facebook account associated with it - perhaps Pinterest too if you are very keen!

What makes SEO effective differs between who you talk to but the common ground is details in the article here:

http://theithandbook.com/2012/09/10/webs...h-engines/

Also it's really worth getting some analytics so you can see usage trends in terms of who views your site how many people bounce straight back to Google, what keywords they found you via etc. Google Analytics is incredible and its free, have a read about it:

http://theithandbook.com/2012/10/18/goog...-business/

[Hal Smith]

You don't really need a robots.txt file for SEO but if you have one make sure you set it up correctly for search engines. Have a sitemap. Put good unique and intelligent content in your site, making use of keywords that you research for your site and also research what your competitors use. Do backlinking and social media marketing. If necessary you can do PPC but that can cost a lot. Have a good SEO company look at your site and offer you free advice and maybe get a good discounted affordable cheap SEO package from them to cover your needs.

Hal Smith
URLdreamer Consultant