Why is SEO important for Businesses in the fitness industry
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimising your website for more organic traffic. This may include changes to the design, layout, content, and other technical and non-technical aspects of the website to achieve the best results. As a result, your website should be able to attract enough traffic on its own without requiring you to spend loads of money to reach your target audience. This is a sustainable way to get more website traffic in the long run and is worth the effort.
The entire SEO game is a race to rank a website's landing page on the first result page of a search engine for a particular query. For example, suppose you search Google for the term "Gym near me" The Search Engine Results Page (SERP), which displays the websites associated with your search query, is displayed. Users will rarely scroll past the first page of search engine results so page one is where you want your website to rank.
In order to improve onsite SEO, keywords are crucial. Keywords in title tags, headers, descriptions, hyperlinks, and throughout the content of your website will help your page rank higher.
Localising keywords can also increase the amount of traffic to your website. For example, add location names like gym near me instead of focusing on basic keywords like best gyms and fitness class. Then, rather than casting a wide net and attempting to attract everyone interested in fitness, you'll be able to find people who live nearby and are more likely to use your gym.
It is important for small fitness businesses to have their business page set up on "google my business" with the right name, phone number, and address/Eircode visible, so customers can easily locate the business if it's their first time visiting.
SEO can help drive more traffic to your gym's website if used to its full potential and in time will increase business performance.
Great blog post. Especially liked the advice about not casting the net wide. I imagine sometimes businesses get tripped up on trying to appeal to the masses, whereas, as you rightly pointed out, you are better off focusing on potential customers who are most likely to require your service.
ReplyDeleteI know any time I am somewhere new and need recommendations I Google something along the lines of 'best .....in (wherever I am)', just goes to show how important having a good SEO strategy is. Also, solid advice on having all contact details visible and correct, nothing worse than trying to search details and finding old or invalid details, more often than not I will go to another site.
Thanks Dervla! This is going to be super helpful for anyone who is looking into SEO and how it can benefit their business.
ReplyDeleteI really do like how you highlighted key words in particular as they are so so important in getting traction to your website. Localising is another big thing as we all are looking for "gyms near me" "Cafes near me" "atms near me"... nowadays we all rely on google for our recommendations, directions and more so its important to get your business noticed for where it is to help boost up the ranking on the SERPs when someone is googling the area or is nearby!
Definitely agree with you saying you should minimize the search somewhat - start small and then expand as you grow, no point having a small local corner shop advertising so broadly. Sometimes SEO to me seems like a game of risk - you hope certain keywords will attract traffic so you throw them out there and try to catch a customer. I also like that you mentioned that business owners should put their information on Google too - the amount of times I have been in a small town and this is not done just baffles me - take advantage of what's there - it's for your own benefit.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Google’s economic report for 2020 “Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, and Google advertising tools helped provide $426 billion of economic activity for more than 2 million American businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators, and developers 2+ billion monthly direct connections”. These figures show the importance of understanding SEO and how to benefit from the reach that Google has. Afterall considering according to CounterStats they have about 96% of the market share in Ireland, it is really is about optimizing for a Google Search. As you mentioned it takes work to appear on the first couple of pages as people rarely scroll past the first couple of pages. Understanding key words is key to building long lasting traffic and ultimately increase those sales.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post, Dervla! I totally agree with all your points on why small businesses should invest in their SEO and love how've you connected this post to the fitness world. SEO leads to more views and more potential members so you hit the nail on the head! This blog post will definitely be a great resource for any small businesses hoping to dip their toes into the organic search results world as it really lets them know the importance and the benefits of optimising their website. Why wouldn’t do they do this and win the race to rank #1 on Google!
ReplyDeletegreat post
ReplyDeletegreat tips and some excellent takeaways and food for thought.
Caitriona