As the owner or manager of a gym, you must attract new customers. To accomplish this, you need to make sure that when people search for a gym or fitness center online, your website is easily accessible to them. Getting people to find your website requires the proper use of SEO keywords for gyms throughout your website.
This article explains how to use them to attract new customers to your gym.
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The importance of SEO keywords for gyms
What will make your gym appear near the top of the search results? The answer is the proper use of keywords for gyms placed strategically throughout your website. Think about what a person looking for a gym is likely to type into a search box. These are the SEO keywords. Having these keywords in prominent places on your website is crucial to your ability to connect with potential new customers.
Different names for gyms
When deciding which SEO keywords will work best for your gym, remember that not everyone will use the word “gym” when searching for a place to work out. Other possible choices, along with possible keywords, include:
- Fitness center: fitness
- Yoga studio: yoga
- CrossFit center: crossfit
- Personal training: training
- Workout center: workout
It’s essential to highlight all the specific fitness activities your gym offers to capture a general audience interested in exercise. For example, if you provide a spinning class, be sure that phrase appears on your website. If you offer kickboxing lessons, include that as well. You may have potential customers looking for these services, and they may use these words when doing an online search.
Accounting for variations in the way people will search for a gym is essential when choosing the best SEO keywords for your gym. To reach the greatest number of potential customers, you need to keep in mind what different kinds of words people use when searching for a gym.
Top SEO keywords for gyms
You’re probably wondering which keywords for gyms are the most popular. Here are some of the most commonly used keywords that can attract new customers to your gym:
- Gym, and
- Gym near me
- Fitness near me
- CrossFit near me
None of these are too surprising, but remember that any specific activities offered by your gym could be keywords to capture audiences who are looking for those services.
There are two types of SEO keywords: primary and secondary keywords. The phrase “gym near me” could be a primary keyword, while “yoga class” could be a secondary keyword if yoga is a specialty service provided at your gym. The primary SEO keywords should be general, and the secondary keywords can be more specific and target a particular audience.
Google’s Keyword Planner is a tool you might find helpful when deciding on the best keywords for your gym.
Where to place SEO keywords
Knowing the proper placement of keywords is very important. SEO keywords should be placed somewhat frequently on your website and any other online printed material. These are the places most likely to capture the most significant number of viewers.
Specifically, the website’s title is the most critical place to insert the keywords because that is the first place search engines like Google look for them. It is also a good practice to try to place the keywords toward the beginning of the title. Search engines limit the number of characters to search in a title, and you don’t want your keywords to get cut off.
It is also good to put the SEO keywords in one or two of the subheadings if possible. You don’t want to overdo it, but having your keywords included in at least one subheading is recommended and will lead to higher search result rankings.
It would help if you also placed SEO keywords sporadically throughout the body of the written content. Again, use them carefully, and include them only where they fit naturally.
What not to do with SEO keywords
As a gym owner seeking new customers, it might seem reasonable to place as many SEO keywords for gyms as possible in your publications. This practice — called keyword stuffing — is counterproductive.
The algorithms now being used by Google and other search engines detect when keywords are being used excessively and lower the search result placement. Therefore, having too many SEO keywords can be as bad as not having enough — having the right balance is the key.
There was a time when search engines were not sophisticated enough to recognize keyword stuffing. Website managers could pack their content full of keywords and consequently get higher rankings in search results. Those days are gone.
The best approach today is to make your written content user-friendly and readable. Insert SEO keywords in natural places, but not excessively. Search engines will notice if you go overboard and will actively penalize you in your search rankings. In addition, readers don’t want to read content that has keywords plastered all over the article in strange places.
Attracting the right viewers
Using SEO keywords to increase your gym’s visibility on the web is a good thing. However, attracting the right viewers is also essential. You want the people looking at your website to have a reasonable chance of becoming a customer. In other words, you want a higher conversion rate.
One way to reach people likely to become customers is to use long-tail keywords. These keywords are longer and more specific than general keywords, so they attract less web traffic. However, the upside is that they lead to higher conversion rates because they target particular populations that are more likely to become your customers. For example, instead of the general keyword “gym,” the long-tail keyword “gym in Miami” will attract people who are more likely to join a gym located in the Miami area.
The more effectively you can brand your gym, the more likely you can attract the types of customers you wish to target. Giving potential customers a clear idea of what your business has to offer will result in getting the types of customers that will likely be very satisfied with your services.
It’s not that general keywords are bad — they create lots of web traffic, which is good. However, it is also essential to track your conversion rate and take measures to improve it. Attracting the right viewers is an integral part of this.
Increase your membership
Finding the best SEO keywords for your gym and placing them appropriately at strategic places on your website is vital to increasing your search results rankings and, consequently, your membership. You should choose them to target the right kind of viewers — ones that are likely customers. When used effectively, SEO keywords could take your gym to the next level.
Search engine optimization may seem a little intimidating. Constant Contact provides useful online marketing tools and advice to small businesses that could propel your business forward.
