Leveraging Local SEO to Dominate Your Fitness Studio’s Neighborhood

When fitness-based businesses want to grow, the typical solution of “get found on Google” is presented as the fix. While this may seem like a simple solution, search engine optimization (SEO) is not as passive of a marketing tactic as many owners would initially think. Further, SEO has multiple categories, but this blog will focus on increasing local SEO for fitness studios.

What Is Local SEO

So, what is local SEO, and how does it differ from regular SEO? SEMRush does a great job of defining local SEO as “the process of optimizing your online presence to increase local traffic, visibility, and brand awareness.” This visibility may manifest as premium positioning in Google search results or appearing in the Google Map Pack for searches, such as “fitness studios near me.” Local SEO results differ from the more generic search engine optimization version as they focus on local-based solutions for relevant queries. 

This difference is critical, especially for fitness studios looking to increase their local SEO visibility due to the nature of the proximity interest behind these types of searches. Typically, when someone searches for something locally, their intent to buy or find a solution is much higher. This intentionality often means hot leads, good conversions, and more clients overall—especially when messaging is properly aligned with the fitness studio’s target audience.

Local SEO Tools to Focus On

Google Business Profile

One of the easiest ways to increase your fitness studio’s local SEO efforts is to establish (or claim) your Google Business Profile. This feature in Google is not new, but it has become a standard go-to feature for many users, especially on mobile. It is essentially a quick overview of your business that helps users quickly find basic information about your fitness business. Data points like your studio’s address, phone number, website, hours of operation, and even customer reviews all conveniently populate on the search engine results page (SERP) profile feature.

Location Specific Content

The past few years have taught us marketers that content is king when ranking on Google (aka SEO). Local SEO is no different; however, there is a catch to helping increase your fitness studio’s local SEO quickly by leveraging it. Focusing on adding content to your website via blog or other website pages that focus specifically on local landmarks, businesses, events, etc., can help drive Google’s awareness of your location authority. Things like event recap blogs, local business partnership lists on a webpage, or even nearby business promotions for members may boost your facility’s local SEO prevalence. 

Backlink profile

Similar to location-specific content, getting other local businesses to link to your website or pages within your website can also help increase your fitness studio’s local SEO ranking. These links enable another SEO strategy mechanism called a backlink profile. One of Google’s algorithmic ranking mechanisms looks at other quality sites that link to your website as well. Authority and prominence scores are partially based on the linking website’s quality score and the total number of good links from other quality sites.

Gathering Reviews

Push comes to shove, good reviews can help seal the deal for potential clients. While review scores are a factor in your local SEO ranking, there are caveats and pitfalls you can run into. One of these damaging strikes can be due to too many positive reviews too quickly. While Google uses historical data to track unnatural spikes in reviews or systematic/fake reviews, it’s in your best interest not to try and game the system. Instead, focus on organic feedback and consistently ask for reviews within your customer base or as part of your new client check-in process. This steady flow of organic reviews will serve you better in the long run, both with local SEO and customer perception of your fitness studio.

Keyword Research

Outside of the main tools for local SEO, the other main piece is “what” people are searching for. This term is often called “keyword research,” and it involves looking at search trends within your niche to try and get a good understanding of what your ideal clients are searching for to find businesses, like yours, that solve their specific problems. 

The first critical element of this process is knowing your facility’s target audience. Understanding the pain points, values, and hurdles they experience in making a decision is an essential first step in positioning your business in front of them. This information will also be valuable in other ways, such as how and where you try to reach your audience. For instance, if your audience relies on mobile devices for directions, information, etc., local SEO will be an essential initiative in your fitness studio’s marketing campaigns. However, if your primary audience does not leverage technology as much and prefers print or other media types, local SEO might not be as large of a priority.

Next, finding the keywords or long-tail phrases that your audience uses is essential for the optimization of increasing your fitness studio’s local SEO position. While there are a lot of free and paid tools out there, Google’s Keyword Planner tool, through its Google Ads program, is a fantastic starting point for many owners looking to dive in. Additionally, one great (and often overlooked) way to find what your audience is searching for is to ask them. That’s right; ask your clients how they found you, what terms or phrases they used to search, and even what caught their eye about your business online. These questions will give you direct insights into your target audience’s mind and provide an excellent opportunity to interact with members personally.

Measuring and Monitoring Success

At GymSplash, we are cheerleaders for utilizing data to measure success and monitor programs for optimization opportunities. That said, SEO and local SEO are no different. Suppose you are investing in increasing your fitness studio’s local SEO strategy, and it has a high return-on-investment (ROI) capacity. In that case, we recommend investing in tools to monitor your efforts. Again, there are a lot of free and paid tools out there, but many times, paid software will include easy-to-use tools, quick and effective reporting, and email notifications for increases or losses in results. These types of tools are a great way to keep track of your fitness studio’s overall positioning online.

Making A Splash

In the modern mobile era, it is essential to position yourself well on a Google search results page. For local fitness studios, increasing your local SEO prominence can serve as a valuable marketing resource for driving new leads through organic measures. Additionally, investing time and money into a strong local SEO campaign can yield a high ROI, depending on your target audience and business structure.