How to Optimize Your Fitness Studio's Google Business Profile
Did you know that completed Google Business Profile listings are seven times more likely to get clicks than those that aren’t?
This is just one of the reasons why knowing how to leverage SEO for your fitness studio matters. Because everyone can use more leads, right?!
As a fitness, yoga or Pilates studio, you most likely already have a Google Business Profile (GBP) set up. It was probably something you did in the early days of getting your business up and running and maybe haven’t thought about it since. But you should!
Let’s take stock of where you’re at now:
Go to Google and search for your primary service + your location (not your business name) ie. “pilates studio Roseville, CA”… does your business come up? Where does it rank in the list? Do you have a pin on the map? Where are you in relation to your competitors?
More importantly, what can you do to get your business to rank even higher?
Improving SEO for fitness studios may seem like a lot of work, but actually, it’s one of those things that with some quick strategic updates, you can start making some headway in a short time. Plus it’s a free business asset, so its a great place to start if you’re considering paid ads and other lead generating activities.
In this post, we’re going to run through the things you can change AND can’t change on your Google Business Profile, and provide you with a handy checklist so you can start working on improving your search rankings.
What is Google Business Profile? Why Does it Matter?
As per Google, your Business Profile is a “free tool that allows you to take charge of the way your business appears on Google Search and Maps.”
Example Google Business Profile listing for fitness studio
It is truly the #1, most important piece of real estate on Google for a business with local services — and it’s one of the best places to improve your overall SEO for fitness searches.
An estimated 97% of users primarily learn about local companies online, which goes to show just HOW important GBP can be for your business.
As discussed in a previous article about local content marketing, not all traffic is relevant traffic. Your local market is where the majority of your target clients will be, so you want to focus on getting local traffic to your website.
There are only going to be so many keywords and phrases that signal local buying intent in a Google search, so identifying those keywords and incorporating them into your GBP (and website!) is necessary.
Google Business Profiles (aka, “the map”) show when Google infers that the searcher has local buying intent — which is exactly what you want to capitalize on if you own a fitness studio.
SEO for Fitness Searches: Where to Begin
If you haven’t already done so, your first step is to go to Google.com/business to claim your profile. Google will send you a postcard in the mail to confirm that you are the business at that address. Once confirmed you’ll be able to build out your profile—pretty simple. If there’s already a listing for your business in the search results (Google will eventually do this for all businesses it’s aware of), you can click the link on it to claim the business if it hasn’t been claimed yet.
If you’ve recently purchased a studio, make sure that the Google Business Profile is transferred to a Google account you have access to. That digital real estate is crucial part of your online footprint.
Next, let’s take a look at what impacts how your profile shows in relation to your competitors.
Example “local pack” search results: Google Business Profile listings + map pins
According to Google itself, these are the things that impact your ranking:
Relevance - How closely your service descriptions match what the searcher wants. This is where being descriptive with your services below can help!
Distance - How far physically your service is from the searcher. There’s not much you can do about this, except be sure your location info is accurate.
Prominence - How well known your business is. Improving this will require some longer-term strategies, but by capitalizing on some key SEO for fitness studios you can start making your business more visible.
Some of those things take time to build credibility, and others you can influence in a short period of time. The best thing you can do to make your GBP effective is to be detailed, accurate, and engaging.
Here’s how we’re going to do that…
Step One: Choose Your Visuals
The visuals on your GMB profile matter.
You want your photos to make an immediate impression, so here are some tips you can use:
Must be smaller than 5MB in size, and should be at least 720x720 px.
Name them with this formatting: business-name-location-service-description.jpg
Select a variety of photos that show off different aspects of your studio.
Main (best) cover image.
1+ image of the external street view for your studio.
1+ image of your team.
1+ of the working environment showing off your services.
Example of yoga studio photos uploaded to Google Business Profile
Step Two: Optimize Your Profile
Now’s the time to start updating your profile with an eye for maximizing your SEO for fitness websites. Peppering in keywords that are commonly used for your industry can help people find your GBP that much easier.
This information should include:
Information to add to your Google Business Profile
Business information
Basic info, category, address or service area and hours of operation. (This should match your website. If not, make the change so it mirrors what you have on Google.)
Business description using keywords, but written for humans.
Business attributes / More (these change from time to time so check back regularly to see what type of info Google’s most interested in now!)
Products - skip unless you also sell retail products.
Services + Pricing
List most popular offers
Add a description for each service, you can pull this from your website services page if available.
Unless service has fixed pricing, use “starting at” price for classes based on lowest listed pricing (drop-in or intro.)
Booking
Select “online booking tools” and link to the schedule page on your website (if not using Google integrated widget).
Photos
Don’t delete photos that are already there, just add new ones.
To better manage photos in various categories, you, may need to view via business.google.com instead of in the Google search results page
FAQ section
Yes! You can ask your own questions!
From the business owner’s account, find the business profile and click the “ask a question” button. Submit questions. You may want to refer to your website FAQ if you have one.
Then answer the all of the questions!
Step Three: Improve Your Trust Factors
Improving your trust factors is something done over time, but here are some things that can help.
Look for local / industry directories you can have your business listed and make sure your info matches your GBP exactly
Put a system in place to get steady reviews.
Email/text requests after X visits
Generate a direct link to leave a review here
Add that link to your booking thank you page
Other engagement ideas
Ask friends/family to ask questions (then answer them)
Post regularly to your GBP
Sales/promos
Motivational content
Showcase your reviews
Blog posts
SEO For Fitness Studios: Get the Support You Need
As a website designer for boutique fitness studios, I know how important having strong local SEO is to my clients, and it’s at the core of my web design services.
Interested in learning more about how your website can support your visibility in the google search results? Contact me.
