In this digital age, gym businesses have learned the importance of establishing and maintaining an online presence to get their customer share of the online community but a lot of them have been doing it wrong, thinking that the game is only as good as putting up a website. This is where Gym SEO comes to the rescue…
What is Gym SEO?
Gym SEO, or also known as Gym Search Engine Optimization, is a process that aims to enhance a fitness website’s rankings on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. It is the one responsible for making sure that the official website of your gym can be seen on the first page of search results. As it is a common behavior of online users to check only the first few results of search engines, the more your website gets to the top of the list, the more people click on it and find out about your gym business. Besides rankings, your gym SEO expert also mans the building and maintenance of your business’s brand authority.
Using Gym SEO Appropriately
Just because a lot of people visit your gym’s website, does not necessarily mean all of them are potential leads. Unless your fitness company has branches all over your state, your gym SEO techniques should be able to target and fish local audiences more. Below are some local SEO tips that will deliver the best results for your gym business:
1. Use the right keywords.
When it comes to ranking websites, Google and other search engines mainly take keywords into account. Hence, the first step of your gym SEO should be to identify the right keywords relevant to your services and business. Are you offering more about Zumba and Yoga, or your services are cardio-centered? What services do you market the most? Is it CrossFit?
If you do not know how to come up with that list, there are online tools like Google AdWords and Keywords Everywhere that can help you with the identification. What these tools do is they fetch the keywords your target market often searches depending on their intent. This intent can either be research or buying oriented.
Research-oriented keywords are those internet users key in on search engines to look for workout or fitness-related information such as type of workouts, diet preparations, and a lot more. Meanwhile, buying-oriented keywords are precisely the services your target market look for and are ready to sign up online. These keywords do wonders in attracting potential clients to sign up for your gym. So, for instance, if your gym is based in Los Angeles, you might want to promote keywords that attach your services to the place like “gym Los Angeles”, “CrossFit Los Angeles”, and so on.
Although you cannot expect visitors joining your gym community right away, the effort significantly boosts your online presence and website traffic which is how it should be.
2. Join Google My Business community.
The convenience that the internet offers in finding a gym that best fits your requirements is incomparable. As the gym owner, part of your responsibility is to enhance your visibility to take advantage of that opportunity. One great way to achieve that is by listing your gym on Google My Business and all the necessary information like your gym center’s name, address, phone number, photos, and geographical sketch. Moreover, a small description of your gym business should also be indicated. While that is definitely doable on your own, it is best to hand the job to your gym SEO provider. The company will make sure that your listing is verified and will not hurt your rankings.
Here’s the catch, though. Google values consistency. So, whatever information you indicated on Google My Business should coincide with what is indicated on your official website and your other listings. But it is something your gym SEO partner has definitely got covered.
3. Website Optimization is important.
Imagine a potential customer getting redirected to your website because you made it to Google’s top list but she closed the window after a few seconds because of your website’s ugly look, irresponsive buttons, and lack of information about your services. What would you feel? Isn’t it painful knowing the opportunity slipped off so easily? This is precisely why website optimization is important. It makes sure that people who visited your website will want to check out your content.
The website’s usability and user-friendliness are major factors of website optimization just as much as your content and loading speed. Hence, make sure that all the information is well presented, your potential customers will not have to make lots of clicks to get the information they are looking for, and smooth user experience is given.
4. Link Building is another vital step.
If your gym’s website just recently went live and you want it to be known at least within your target location, you need to build links to fast track the process.
Link building is one of the most effective ways to rank a website. It is a product of content creation and linking of a relevant text from the content to your website or webpage. This relevant text or phrase is called anchor text.
You can link your anchor text to another page and yield outbound links to gain extra points from Google. However, with the inbound link building, the requirement is different. Your gym SEO provider has to make sure that the other website or webpage you will be linking your content to has a high domain authority score than your website. Inbound link building is a powerful technique that can tell Google that your fitness website is relevant and credible.
To know the right number of links to be built for your gym, your gym SEO service provider will spy on your competitors’ content and gather specific keywords that they are promoting. Link building must never be overdone. Otherwise, Google will take it as spamming and it can downright push your ranking back to square one.
