Keywords and Your Business Plan by Jon Roberts     If you have been using the Hammerhead CMS, you will no doubt have seen the ‘Keywords’ section in the Search Engine Optimization area. All websites should have this ability as a minimum function, a lot do not, but ours does.  If you are new to creating your own website using a CMS then this article may give you food for thought as to what to populate this area with.     To say that this is quite a misunderstood part of Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is quite an understatement in itself. There are even some who say that they do not even work, but we use them, and “yes” they definitely do! Keywords are now looked for in the main body text of your web pages. What are Keywords? Keywords are basically what a search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) uses to look for an indicator word in the content of the page it is crawling over.  Please read that again and again until you understand that statement. So for example,  if you put ‘scuba’ as a keyword, then if it finds ‘diving’ in the content it will automatically link those words, which is called ‘strings.’  Search engines rely on strings to form an opinion to whether your content is relevant to someone searching the web for in this case, someone searching for ‘scuba diving’. One of the most common issues is what to put in the keyword field. The choice has to be 100% linked to what you intend to target as a market. Do you have a niche, or a specialty such as rebreathers? Are you located in a town/area with little competition, could you use the location name? If you are in a location with a lot of competition in the general market, perhaps you ought to re-investigate your business plan? Look at the past years successes in bookings and capitalize on them with more content in that area and more keywords too. Keyword Stuffing    When you travel a highway, and you see a sign with a plate and a crossed knife and fork it is basically indicating that there is a food stop ahead. That sign doesn’t really tell you what to expect of course, hamburgers, fried chicken or home cooking, etc. but you know what it is indicating. Imagine if you arrived to find that there was only gasoline. This is what happens when a keyword, some people use ‘Facebook’ quite commonly these days, is used when the subject is totally irrelevant. You are not cheating at all, you are just confusing the search engine, which will abandon the page as junk, it's called 'keyword stuffing.' So try to keep it as relevant as possible.    If you are a franchise, another great way to get noticed is to use your brand name which people will search for. You can also use your membership to a diver training organization too. Just remember the following and you can’t go wrong:  <Subject> <Location> <niche market> Example keywords: Scuba, Florida, SS Copenhagen, Pompano Beach, small groups, Wreck Diving, private charter, PADI For the Subject: “Welcome to Wreck Diver Florida Inc., the most exciting scuba diving in the south. Our customers are treated to the very best service with small groups exploring some of the fantastic historic wrecks such as the SS Copenhagen, found in abundance off our beautiful coast of Pompano Beach. Whether you are just turning up for a day or pre-book a private charter, we will be happy to see you at our amazing dive center located in the heart of the tourist zone. And why not think about combining you trip with a PADI Wreck Diver Specialty too?