Understanding search engine optimisation or SEO for personal trainers can transform the number of clients you have. The process will help your PT blog or website to rank higher on Google so that more people find your training services. If you’re looking for a way to get more fitness clients and boost your revenue, then optimising your site for search engines (as well as humans!) may be the answer.
In this article – we outline the fundamentals of SEO for personal trainers so that you can attract more local and online clients through Google.
We’re a specialist fitness marketing agency with 15+ years of industry experience, so we know first-hand what works (and what doesn’t!). We’ve helped gyms, fitness studios, and personal trainers to successfully promote their businesses online, so our SEO strategies are tried and tested.
Overview of SEO for Personal Trainers
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Why SEO Matters For PTs
Personal training is a competitive industry and it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. While the training you provide may be unique, conveying this can be difficult in a saturated market. Thousands of PTs are fighting to find clients both locally and online.
But search engine optimisation can help personal trainers to stand out from competitors and get more fitness clients. It’s a highly effective digital marketing strategy that helps your website or blog to rank at the top of Google (or other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu). This means that people searching for personal training are more likely to visit your site and get in touch about your training services.
When it comes to local SEO for personal trainers, you need to rank highly on Google for your specific city. This will ensure you attract clients who are located nearby so that you can train them in person. But if you run an online training business, then you won’t need to worry about the local aspect since you can coach people from anywhere!
You might also like… Search Engine Optimisation Strategies For Fitness Websites.
Competitor Research
The first step in optimising your personal training website is competitor research. This is something that fitness businesses often overlook, yet it’s a powerful tactic for improving SEO. Finding out who your competitors are and what search engine optimisation activities they’re doing gives you a blueprint for success.
Some of the benefits of researching your competitors for SEO purposes include…
- Identify what works well – researching your competition can show you which fitness keywords are bringing PTs in your area the most traffic so you know which you should target on your fitness blog or website.
- Find gaps in the market – research can help you find a niche that your competitors haven’t (such as training mums or older adults) and reveal which consumer needs haven’t been met so that you can tailor your product package to address opportunities.
- Set budgets – you’ll also get an idea of how much traffic your competitors are getting from pay per click and SEO so that you can estimate what budget you’ll need (if any).
Start by searching for ‘personal trainer’ + ‘your location’ in Google. Replace ‘your location’ with the city, town, or neighbourhood that you offer your PT services in. Then look at each of the top 5 results and assess the keywords, site structure, and ads (if any) the websites are using.
Keywords
What keywords do the search results include? Are there common words or phrases that the websites are using in their headlines and descriptions? Make a note of all the keywords you can identify as these will be ones you may want to target too.
Learn more… How to research fitness keywords for SEO.
Website Design & Structure
Look at the page and header menu of each website – how are they designed and structured? Is there just one page with all of the info on it or do they have a page for each of the personal training services they offer? Are there pages targeting specific locations on the site that are helping them show up for your area? Have they created clusters of pages all themed on specific topics?
Look at the design too – the headlines, sub-headers, and body copy can all give you tips on how to optimise your own site for SEO. The colours, images, copywriting, testimonials, and calls to action can also be helpful in identifying what aids sales conversions online.
Make a note of anything your website is missing in comparison to the competition.
Learn more… A complete guide to designing fitness websites that get leads.
Paid & Organic Traffic
If a personal training website is running Google ads, then it’s likely a strategy that’s working well for them. Businesses don’t reinvest in marketing tactics that don’t get leads and sales. Note down which sites are running ads and what their messaging is as this can be useful down the line.
You might also like… A Simple Guide To Google Ads for Personal Trainers.
SEO Tools for Personal Trainers
So far we’ve used Google to do our SEO research. It’s the best place to start to see what’s actually working well in the search results. But there are some other tools that are helpful for personal trainers at this point…
- Google Keyword Planner – will tell you how many people are searching for specific keywords and phrases, including location data (free).
- Moz – provides keyword volumes, difficulty, competitor insights, and backlink profiles (free for the first 10 searches per month, upgrade to a paid plan for more).
- Keysearch – also provides keyword volumes, difficulty, competitor insights, and backlink profiles ($17 per month).
- Ahrefs – comprehensive SEO tool that covers all of the above and much more ($100+ per month).
These tools make it quicker and easier to do your SEO research and find opportunities for your PT business. They’ll also tell you how many backlinks your competitors have which is something that’s hard to figure out on your own. But they shouldn’t replace your own Google research as this is the most accurate way to find and analyse the results.
Search Engine Optimisation For Personal Trainers
At this point, you’ll have a good idea of what’s needed to optimise your personal training website for search engines. You’ll have identified what competitors are doing, where the opportunities are, and any gaps you need to plug in your own site.
Make a list of everything you need to do and then prioritise it. This might look something like…
- Create a web page about personal training for mums and another page tailored to older adults.
- Create a web page about personal training in my town specifically.
- Write a blog post about the benefits of personal training for different age groups that links back to my other pages.
- Write 3 blog posts targeting 3 relevant keyword phrases over the coming month.
- Brainstorm ways to attract backlinks to your most competitive pages.
To create SEO-optimised pages and blog posts, simply write the best possible fitness article you can on your chosen topic. Then include your target keyword in the title, intro paragraph, sub-headers (also known as H2 headings), and sprinkled throughout your content. Write it for people first and foremost, then tweak it so the search engines know what it’s about too.
Create content for your website on a consistent basis and keep track of your analytics. Monitor how many visitors come to your site, which pages are the most popular, and how many convert into paying clients. This will help you identify what’s working well and where to double your efforts (along with where to improve if needed).
SEO Audits & Strategies For Personal Trainers
If you’d like help with your search engine optimisation efforts then get in touch. We can conduct an SEO audit of your website and develop a strategy to help you rank higher on Google.
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