Home » Personal Trainer Business & Sales » 3 Local SEO Tips for Every Fitness Professional to Follow

April 24th, 2017 | Updated: April 23rd, 2025

Very recently, a good friend of mine, who owns a gym and is a well-respected strength coach in his area, asked me for some advice on improving his local search engine optimization (SEO). I gladly reviewed some documents that were proposed to him and ended up recommending that he not pay a SEO company upwards of $ 8,000 per year, and instead learn free methods that have helped me in the past and currently help me run KIPS. Having done SEO for my old fitness boot camp company, I have more knowledge in this area than the average person, and I actually enjoy learning about how to improve SEO.

Before I dive into the tips to help you with your local SEO, I think it’s essential to discuss how to interpret SEO as a fitness professional. I view SEO as providing organized data to search engines so that they can better understand what your website is trying to sell or promote. With free resources like YouTube and numerous SEO blogs, any small business owner can expand their audience and ultimately increase their monthly sales. Creating an SEO strategy is not just about doing it; instead, it involves incorporating tactics as a fundamental element of growing your business. If you have a website, wouldn’t you rather do it well and have people view it? Following the three steps below will get you started on the right path, but there are always more ways to explore, assess, and alter. If the plan you have doesn’t work after 2-3 months, tweak your process. SEO isn’t an overnight success story. Just like with fitness, you have to stay consistent and give it attention.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a strategy that focuses on optimizing a business’s online presence to attract more customers through local searches. This involves enhancing visibility in local search results on platforms like Google, primarily through the use of local keywords, optimizing Google My Business listings, and securing local backlinks. Effective local SEO ensures that a business appears in local packs, maps, and organic search results when potential customers search for services or products in their vicinity. By enhancing directory listings and gathering positive customer reviews, businesses can significantly boost their chances of being found by local consumers, ultimately driving foot traffic and service inquiries.

1. Use Google Search Console

Probably the best small business tool created by Google that SEO companies will most likely not want you to know about. Google Search Console essentially helps you tell Google (in a quicker manner) what your website is about. It also allows you to see how search posts and pages are performing, and enables you to connect your sitemap directly to Google. 

My favorite part of the Search Console is the ability to upload sitemaps. Your XML sitemap is essentially a digital map of your website’s content. Like I mentioned earlier, SEO should be viewed as providing information to search engines so they can better understand and catalog your website. Not only can you upload your sitemap to Search Console, but they will also manually update it for you, which is typically recommended once new content is published.

If you’re using a WordPress site, utilizing the Yoast plug-in makes this process simple and can be completed in under ten minutes. I have also done this with websites developed on SquareSpace, which again is a quick process.

2. Use Location Tags

This tip might sound pretty standard, but you would be surprised how many websites I’ve seen that do NOT include information about their place of operation. On most website builder sites, this can be achieved in the settings tab, where you can enter your location’s address. Alternatively, if you run a mobile or online business, entering the city will suffice.

Taking this one step further, if using SquareSpace to build your website, you can even enter the location of each blog post, which ultimately means more information being provided to Google. As I will continue to stress, thinking of SEO as providing information to search engines will help you understand why you are utilizing tools such as Google Search Console and using sitemaps.

3. Set Up Your Google Profile

To improve local SEO as a personal trainer, start by optimizing your Google My Business profile. Ensure your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are accurate and consistent across all platforms. Add high-quality images and a compelling description of your services. Encourage satisfied clients to leave positive reviews, as these enhance your credibility and search ranking. Incorporate local keywords into your website content, such as “personal trainer in [Your City],” and create blog posts related to local fitness trends or events. Engaging with your local community on social media can also increase visibility and drive more traffic to your profile.

Conclusion

Local SEO is more focused than national campaigns, but it is a good practice for individuals and companies looking to gain more exposure in the future. SEO is not a one-post-a-week deal, and then stopping efforts because sales didn’t increase. It is a constant of your weekly tasks that can have big payoffs in sales and marketing expenses. When I ran my bootcamp business for 4 years, I made the mistake of spending money on an “SEO Builder”, and to this day I believe it was one of the biggest wastes of company money. Since then, I have invested in tools and tasks that I can do every week, and cost the business ZERO dollars. Often, my boot camp would rank on pages 1 and 2 for the popular target words, and this was achieved by following the three tips listed above.

Stay consistent and invest in learning via the free resources available on YouTube. I want to emphasize the significant benefits of these 8-10 minute clips and how they can alter your perspective on SEO.