How to Do SEO for the Fitness Industry?

The fitness industry has enormous potential. The cult of a beautiful body, increased awareness of civilization diseases such as overweight or hypertension, healthy and wholesome substitutes for the so-called junk food - all of these influence the improvement of the quality of our lives. We could even say that being fit is a global trend that is bound to stay in fashion for a very long time. But what in a situation when new fitness clubs appear out of nowhere and the competition on the market is still doing well? In our today’s entry we’ll tell you what to pay attention to when doing SEO for the websites of businesses operating in the fitness industry.

The fitness market in Europe

number of members [caption id="attachment_17553" align="aligncenter" width="750"] source: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/pl/Documents/Reports/pl_EuropeActive_Deloitte_2019_PL.pdf[/caption]

According to the latest European Health & Fitness Market Report 2019, the membership rate of European fitness clubs amounted to 62.2 million in 2018, which is a result 3.5% better when compared to 2017. Germany with 11 million fitness club members leads in the ranking. The McFit chain wins when it comes to the number of regular visitors - it managed to attract as many as 1.95 million customers. The Scandinavian countries with 20.5% remain the undisputed leader when we consider the penetration, meaning the number of members in proportion to the total population of a given country. The Netherlands performs equally well - with 17.1% it’s second in the ranking. But what influences it? Well, this is part of Europe characterized by high urbanisation rate and special focus on the importance of physical activity.

number of objects and revenues [caption id="attachment_17555" align="aligncenter" width="750"] source: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/pl/Documents/Reports/pl_EuropeActive_Deloitte_2019_PL.pdf[/caption]

In Europe, there are nearly 61,984 fitness centers with 62.2 million visitors who account for 7.8% of the European population. Benefit System, providing access to fitness clubs, sports facilities and other activities either directly or thanks to the employer, comprises the greatest number of objects. In terms of revenues, Germany still remains the undisputed leader with revenues reaching 5.33 billion euros in 2018. The second, also very important place, belongs to the United Kingdom whose revenues reached 5.25 billion euros.

Trends for the upcoming year

boutique fitness clubs

But what does it mean? If you come across this name for the first time, boutique fitness clubs are just small fitness centers with an area not exceeding 500m2. What’s more, such places are created to build customer relations and encourage visitors to meet new people and interact with each other. Boutique fitness clubs are characterized by an individual approach and focus on the needs of every visitor.

diet caterings

Diet caterings are probably about to become even more popular in the upcoming years. So why are they so adored? First of all, a box diet is usually prepared under the supervision of a nutritionist whose main task is to compose wholesome meals according to the selected calorie count. Besides, the offered meals are not monotonous and are based on various ingredients. Another advantage of diet caterings is the fact that meals are delivered to the indicated place so that the customers can fulfill their plans and achieve even better results and all of these is done to ensure the users’ well-being. [caption id="attachment_18891" align="aligncenter" width="750"]

source: https://www.cateredfit.com/[/caption]

The seasonality of the fitness industry

The fitness industry definitely needs to cope with seasonality. Most of us begin every January with a long list of New Year’s resolutions. It’s at the beginning of the year when the fitness clubs are incredibly popular and overcrowded. And this level of interest can be noticed up to the middle of February. Although together with the beginning of March less and less people decide to visit fitness clubs, it’s not so noticeable because of the fact that the other group of customers decide to work out to achieve their dreamed body shape before summer starts. The biggest decreases can be seen during the holiday season when people prefer different types of outdoor activities and due to their vacations they often suspend their passes. The arrival of autumn brings a gradual recovery which stays almost at the same level until the end of the year. So what’s the conclusion? You should do SEO all year round, not only during selected months. But why is it so important? Because planning SEO activities well in advance enables us to schedule specific actions both before and after the peak of the season.

SEO for the fitness industry - what to keep in mind?

Local SEO

Creating your Google My Business listing is the first step you need to take. Then, you have to optimize it properly - include there information such as opening hours, address, phone number or customer reviews. Thanks to that, a user who entered a particular search query into the search engine will instantly get all the necessary information just with one click.

Optimize your website for selected local keywords

Imagine that you own a network of fitness clubs that are located in different districts of one city. In such a situation you need to have separate subpages for each location and optimize them for appropriate keywords. Precise long-tail phrases will make it easier for users to get to the site, moreover, they’ll receive up-to-date information about current special offers and available classes which in turn can positively affect their decision about buying membership.

Social media fanpage

Take care of posting your content regularly, pay attention to its quality, interact with users and organize various contests - this way you can be sure that people won’t get bored with your activities, moreover, there is a great chance that they’ll start interacting, commenting or sharing your posts. Think about encouraging your customers to create a motivating slogan, collect stamps for each training or offer them a free consultation with a professional dietician or a personal trainer. It can be a real driving force. [caption id="attachment_18894" align="aligncenter" width="499"]

source: https://www.facebook.com/HardcoreFitnessDowntownLA/[/caption] What’s more, the fanpage in social media is supposed to increase the brand recognition and its credibility. And from the SEO point of view, having accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter is a great way to obtain valuable external links.

Cooperation with influencers

The fitness industry is also so successful thanks to influencers. Together with the growing interest in the healthy lifestyle, we can observe the increasing number of social media accounts dealing with this subject. More and more (famous or not so famous) people post pictures with their beautiful body shapes and accentuated silhouettes. For example, the fitness industry in Poland is growing in strength thanks to personal trainers, dieticians and sportsmen and the so-called influencers - Anna Lewandowska, the wife of a famous football player, and Ewa Chodakowska created well-known brands. And motivating people to change their eating habits and take up some sports has become an incredibly lucrative business. Cooperating with influencers can improve not only your revenues but also the brand image. Public figures have their permanent group of recipients, the so-called target group which can become your potential customer. Influencers operating in the fitness industry and recommending a product, place or service suggest their followers that they take advantage of the advertised object themselves and thanks to that they achieved the dreamed body shape.

Conclusion

Being fit has been trendy for quite a long time and it doesn’t seem to go out of fashion in the upcoming years. So what’s the conclusion? Companies operating in the fitness industry have great prospects for development. An appropriate SEO strategy: local SEO, selecting suitable local keywords, a fanpage in social media or cooperation with influencers and bloggers can significantly affect the visibility of your fitness club and consequently attract new club members.