SEO Overview
The Search Engine Optimization or SEO in Hammerhead CMS is very advanced and yet very simple to use. Websites need SEO in order to gain search engine ranking and so appear closer to the first page of search results. Once they start to climb search engine rankings the more hits they get (that is when someone visits your website by clicking on your website's link) and the more hits they get the faster and higher they will climb. So we now need to make your website popular, and in order to do this we need to understand what to put on your website, not how the SEO mechanics work (most so called SEO ‘experts’ do not, so why should you?). This is one of the major benefits of Hammerhead CMS, you don't need a developer and a web master to add SEO to your website.
Your first main decision is which searches you want your webpage to target, by doing this you are deciding what your keywords need to be. Once you've chosen the keywords add them to the Keywords field at the bottom of the page make sure they appear in the webpage's titles, content, web address and description. Don't over do the use of your keywords, this is called keyword stuffing and will get your site deranked. It's important to make sure the content on the webpage is all relevant to topic of the web page. For example, if you are talking about a PADI Open Water Diver course page concentrate on making sure all your content is relevant. Use the keywords frequently but do not over use them as this will get your website de-ranked by search engines. Your aim is to plan which search terms you want to target, add these to your content and SEO fields, then let Hammerhead CMS do the rest.
All PADI dive center websites come pre-loaded with 58 PADI courses, but you must customize the standard content provided to make them unique - duplicate content on websites has a negative effect on search engine results. You can configure pages to be either visible or not visible to define which you want to appear in your website's menus. You can also update any photos and also add mention of your location to the content to 'geo-locate' your SEO. You should then update the Tab Title, Web Address, Web Description. to meet your requirements by inserting your keywords. Geo-location of your SEO is important as you need to make sure that you website appears when someone searches in a particular area. It's OK not to geo-locate your SEO, but results with search engines will take much longer as you're then competing on a global scale as opposed to your local competitors. You can also add in new information such as the name of a famous local wreck on the PADI Wreck Diver Specialty, but make sure you add this to your keywords and content.
Another thing to do is update the photo titles, as these are picked up by search engines and also cross referenced with all the details in the item and your website generally. Finally, keep adding new pages. Diaries are a great way to keep things fresh, and encourage others to submit articles too. The best way you can gain ranking is to keep your site growing and evolving. Do not let the competition out-rank you when a couple of hours work every two weeks can make you soar above the competition.
The SEO Fields in the Hammerhead CMS System
The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) fields are of critical importance in order to get your site noticed on search engines. Search engines use techniques to seek out these fields, match them up to all the data above and decide where to present your page on their results. The better the information, the higher you will rank, but this is a slow and gradual process.
Tab Title: The tab title appears as the title bar or tab name when you open the page on a browser.
Web Address: This is simply the location of the page on your website. For example you can use learntodive/PADI/OpenWaterDiver.aspx. Don’t forget the .aspx at the end of the address.
Keywords: You should add between 5 and 7 keywords, or keyword phrases, but no more. A keyword is a single word where as a keyword phrase is more than one word, for example Open Water is a keyword phrase but Diver is a keyword. If you find you need more keywords then you're porbably putting too many different topics on the same page. DO NOT add the same keyword multiple times, once is enough or your site will be deranked for keyword stuffing. Each keyword and keyword phrase should be separated by a comma.
Web Description: Your description will appear below your listing on any search engine results page; it is basically your sales pitch. Search engines display only around the first 160 characters (including spaces) of your description so make sure you put the import text in those first 160 characters. You can have longer descriptions, in to which you should add your keyword and keyword phrases. For example Learn to dive with the PADI Open Water Diver course in Phuket, Thailand. Small class sizes and almost individual tuition will make your first scuba experience both safe and fun.
Other Resources
The are many useful resources related to SEO on the internet, as you would expect. The information on this page is the basics so if you want to develop your SEO techniques further then so some basic internet searches and see what you can find. Hammerhead Technologies have created an SEO Primer For Hammerhead CMS Users that can be found on the Hammerhead CMS Resources page.