SEO for gyms

SEO plays an important role in increasing your online presence and attracting potential members. Many people begin their gym search online, and by employing a strong SEO strategy, you can ensure that your gym is visible when people search for fitness options in their area. In this article, I share how to effectively use SEO to attract more members and grow your gym.

Why SEO is important for gyms

SEO helps gyms bring their services to the attention of potential members who are actively searching for fitness options. Whether it is specific workouts, group classes, or an all-inclusive fitness center, you want to make sure you are visible in search results when people search for these services. SEO ensures that your website appears higher in search results for relevant searches, leading to more visitors and ultimately more members.

A nice benefit is that SEO gives you control over what kind of members you want to recruit. You can do this by targeting. What keywords do you ultimately want to rank at the top of Google for? And what intent is behind this targeting? This ultimately determines what kind of members you will recruit.

Local SEO for gyms

Gyms rely heavily on local customers. That’s why local SEO is one of the most important parts of your SEO strategy. You want to make sure that people in your area can easily find your gym when they are looking for fitness options in their area.

  • Optimize your Google My Business (GMB): Claim and optimize your GMB profile with all business information, such as your address, business hours, contact information and photos of your facilities. Encourage satisfied members to leave reviews, as these play an important role in your local findability.
  • Use local keywords: Use keywords such as “gym in [stad]” or “fitness center in [regio]” in your content. This will help you be more visible in local search results and attract customers to your gym.
  • Location-specific pages: If you have multiple locations, create separate landing pages for each location. These pages should contain detailed information about the facilities, trainers, and classes specific to that location. This will help you attract local traffic and rank better in local search results.

This is an important part for all gyms doing anything with SEO. In particular, it is important to gather as many reviews as possible through Google My Business (this ultimately largely determines the order of local results in Google).

Content creation for gyms

The key to a successful SEO strategy for gyms lies in valuable and inspiring content. By creating useful and motivating content, you not only attract more visitors to your website, but also convince them to become members.

  • Blogs on fitness and health: Write blogs on topics such as “The benefits of strength training” or “How to create an effective fitness plan.” This content not only helps attract visitors, but also positions your gym as an authority on fitness and health.
  • Member success stories: Share success stories of your members who have achieved their fitness goals thanks to your gym. This motivates potential members and shows that your gym can help them get results.
  • Guides and workout plans: Offer free fitness guides or workout plans on your website, such as “Beginner’s guide to strength training” or “Weight loss workout plan.” This type of valuable content can help inspire potential members and encourage them to sign up at your gym.

In doing so, this also makes it even possible to attract visitors who not only want to work out, but also want to purchase a nutrition plan (or supplements), for example. From that strategy, it is possible to expand your revenue model.

Please note, the level of competition within this market is very high. For a picture herewith, see the image below.

SEO focused on intent: attracting quality leads

The goal of SEO for gyms is to attract people who are actually looking for a gym to join. This means targeting keywords that show strong intent to action.

  • Conversion-oriented keywords: Use keywords such as “gym membership application,” “free trial fitness class” or “boot camp sign up.” These keywords indicate that the user is ready to take action and is actively looking for a gym.
  • Long-tail keywords: Target specific long-tail keywords such as “best gym for strength training in [stad]” or “yoga classes for beginners in [regio]”. These terms often have less competition and attract highly targeted visitors who already know what they want.

Do pay close attention to the level of competition in the market. I see that there are many competitors by region and a lot is going through local SEO. So make sure that if you go for this, you have enough strength to break into the top three. Otherwise, you won’t get many clicks in this market.

Conversion-oriented landing pages: From visitor to member

A good SEO strategy is not only about attracting visitors, but also about converting those visitors into paying members. This means that your landing pages should be geared toward conversion. Some of the things I think about:

  • Make sure each page contains clear call-to-actions (CTAs), such as “Sign up for a free trial class” or “Request a fitness consultation.” Make these CTAs prominent and inviting so visitors can take immediate action.
  • Offer easy-to-use forms that make it easy for potential members to sign up for a trial class or membership. Consider promoting temporary offers or discounts, such as “Sign up now and receive 50% off your first month.”
  • Post reviews from satisfied members on your homepage. This helps build trust with new visitors and encourages them to contact you or sign up.

The most important part (for both SEO and conversion) is the reviews for the gym. Everyone who wants to become a member looks at this at least once when viewing the website. So make sure that satisfied members leave a review, to convince new members.

Technical SEO for gyms

A fast, secure and user-friendly website is essential to ensure that your visitors have a positive experience and linger on your site.

  • Mobile-friendliness: Many people search for gyms via their smartphones, so make sure your website is fully responsive and works well on mobile devices.
  • Optimize website speed: A slow website can deter potential members. Make sure your website loads quickly by compressing images, implementing caching and minimizing heavy scripts.
  • Security and SSL certificate: Your website should be secured with an SSL certificate (HTTPS) to gain visitors’ trust and rank better in search engines.

Link building and local listings

Link building is an important part of SEO for gyms because it helps to increase your online authority and improve your visibility.

  • Collaborate with local blogs and influencers: Collaborate with fitness blogs or local influencers to write guest blogs or promote your gym. This will help you get valuable backlinks and increase your reach.
  • Local listings: Make sure your gym is listed in local business directories and fitness platforms. Consistent NAP information (name, address, phone number) on these websites will help improve your local SEO.

Conclusion

SEO for gyms is all about increasing your online visibility, attracting local customers and converting visitors into paying members. By focusing on local SEO, valuable content creation, conversion-oriented keywords and a technically strong website, you can ensure that your gym is more findable in search engines. This leads not only to more traffic, but also to more sign-ups and satisfied members who are happy to keep working out with you. Keep evaluating and optimizing your SEO strategy to grow with the needs of your members and the changing market.

Senior SEO-specialist

Ralf van Veen

Senior SEO-specialist
Five stars
My clients give me a 5.0 on Google out of 78 reviews

I have been working for 12 years as an independent SEO specialist for companies (in the Netherlands and abroad) that want to rank higher in Google in a sustainable manner. During this period I have consulted A-brands, set up large-scale international SEO campaigns and coached global development teams in the field of search engine optimization.

With this broad experience within SEO, I have developed the SEO course and helped hundreds of companies with improved findability in Google in a sustainable and transparent way. For this you can consult my portfolio, references and collaborations.

This article was originally published on 26 August 2024. The last update of this article was on 14 January 2025. The content of this page was written and approved by Ralf van Veen. Learn more about the creation of my articles in my editorial guidelines.