Discovering the power of keyword research is like finding the secret ingredient to boost your fitness business online. In today's digital age, it's not just a helpful tool – it's essential. By mastering keyword research, you'll unlock the key to making your fitness website stand out, attracting the right clients, and taking your business to the next level.
So, let’s discuss keyword research: the secret sauce for enhancing your fitness business’s online visibility.
When done correctly, keyword research is the cornerstone for successful blog SEO and other online marketing campaigns. It helps you create the right content to rank your fitness website high on search results while providing insights into the latest marketing trends you should focus on. This way, you’ll attract your best-fit clients in droves without spending a dime on Google Ads.
We’ll cover how to do keyword research correctly to help you position your fitness business in front of the right audience. So you can boost your organic traffic, sign new clients, and take your business to new levels.
What Is Keyword Research?
People use specific terms, commonly called keywords, when searching online for solutions to their problems. Keyword research is the step-by-step process of identifying and analyzing the terms people use in search engines, to use the data for specific purposes.
Business owners use data from their keyword research efforts to improve business processes, such as product development, search engine optimization (SEO), and general online marketing activities.
The best keyword research process not only reveals the search terms potential customers use. It also shows how many times people search for specific terms. You can use this information to target popular keyword phrases and align your marketing resources to produce maximum ROI.
Business owners use data from their keyword research efforts to improve business processes, such as product development, search engine optimization (SEO), and general online marketing activities.
The best keyword research process not only reveals the search terms potential customers use. It also shows how many times people search for specific terms. You can use this information to target popular keyword phrases and align your marketing resources to produce maximum ROI.
The Importance Of Keyword Research In The Fitness Industry
In the fitness industry, keyword research helps you identify the most relevant search terms your target audience uses when looking for fitness-related products and services online. This is essential for two main reasons:
1. Understanding Audience Intent
Your target audience uses different keywords to meet various needs. For example, a user who searches, “what is personal training” is likely looking for information about personal training. It’s different from another user who searches, “best personal training in Texas”. This one might be ready to sign up for a personal training membership compared to the first one.
When you perform keyword research, you can tell your audience’s needs, desires, and wants. Then create content and tailor your business’s offerings to meet their needs.
When you perform keyword research, you can tell your audience’s needs, desires, and wants. Then create content and tailor your business’s offerings to meet their needs.
2. Optimizing Content And SEO
SEO is the most dominant web traffic acquisition method for websites. According to BrightEdge's research, 73% of all clicks went to organic search listings in 2022.
Conducting keyword research helps you identify relevant keywords you can target to optimize your blog posts and other web content.
In doing so, Google will rank your website high in search engine rankings for various search queries. The higher you rank, the more organic traffic you’ll attract to your site. Targeted organic search traffic can easily convert into paying customers.
How To Do Keyword Research For The Fitness Industry
After understanding the pivotal role of keyword research in enhancing your fitness business's online presence, it's time to delve into the practical steps of conducting effective research.
Google processes nearly 8.5 billion searches daily. For your fitness website’s content to appear as the most relevant and helpful responses to some of these searches, you must identify and target specific keywords in the fitness industry.
Here are 8 steps to do keyword research correctly, identify the best keywords and dominate search results for fitness-related searches. By following these steps, you'll be equipped to identify the most relevant keywords, optimize your content, and ultimately attract more organic traffic to your website.
Google processes nearly 8.5 billion searches daily. For your fitness website’s content to appear as the most relevant and helpful responses to some of these searches, you must identify and target specific keywords in the fitness industry.
Here are 8 steps to do keyword research correctly, identify the best keywords and dominate search results for fitness-related searches. By following these steps, you'll be equipped to identify the most relevant keywords, optimize your content, and ultimately attract more organic traffic to your website.
1. Understand Your Audience
Thorough keyword research begins with understanding your audience. Who are your ideal clients and what terms do they use to describe your fitness services and other similar products? Also, what other related keywords do your potential customers use often?
You want to create a list of significant, relevant, general topics based on everything you know about your audience and your business. Examples include gym, fitness, workout, yoga, bodybuilding, nutrition, etc. A quick social media or Google search to identify the terms your audience uses may be of help here.
You want to create a list of significant, relevant, general topics based on everything you know about your audience and your business. Examples include gym, fitness, workout, yoga, bodybuilding, nutrition, etc. A quick social media or Google search to identify the terms your audience uses may be of help here.
2. Brainstorm Seed Keywords
Once you understand your audience and have a list of overall topics, brainstorm seed keywords around these topics you’d like your website to rank for. A seed keyword is a short keyword phrase, often three words or less, that describes your fitness niche and creates the basis of your keyword research process.
Come up with as many seed keyword ideas as possible. You’ll work with these to identify your target keywords later on. Some examples of seed keywords in fitness include 'fitness classes', 'workout routines', 'bodybuilding exercises', 'yoga poses', 'personal training', 'meal planning', 'weight loss', etc.
Answer the Public can be a great tool to help you find out some of the questions people interested in your services will be looking for online.
Come up with as many seed keyword ideas as possible. You’ll work with these to identify your target keywords later on. Some examples of seed keywords in fitness include 'fitness classes', 'workout routines', 'bodybuilding exercises', 'yoga poses', 'personal training', 'meal planning', 'weight loss', etc.
Answer the Public can be a great tool to help you find out some of the questions people interested in your services will be looking for online.
3. Use Keyword Research Tools
Next, use keyword research tools to get more keyword ideas from each seed keyword you brainstormed under Step 2. To do this, plug your seed keyword into a keyword research tool and click ‘search.’
Most keyword tools work the same way, although they produce different results. You should be able to pull several keyword ideas from these tools based on the seed keyword you searched for. We recommend using more than one keyword tool to generate a comprehensive list of different types of new keywords.
A few paid and free keyword research tools to consider include:
When using keyword tools, pay attention to the following keyword metrics to discover the best keywords worth investing in:
By the end of this step, you’ll have a list of keywords you can target from each keyword research tool.
Most keyword tools work the same way, although they produce different results. You should be able to pull several keyword ideas from these tools based on the seed keyword you searched for. We recommend using more than one keyword tool to generate a comprehensive list of different types of new keywords.
A few paid and free keyword research tools to consider include:
When using keyword tools, pay attention to the following keyword metrics to discover the best keywords worth investing in:
- Monthly search volume – how many times the keyword gets searched per month
- Cost per click (CPC) – how much it costs to target the keyword through paid advertisements, such as Google Ads
- Keyword difficulty – how easy it would be to rank for the keyword
By the end of this step, you’ll have a list of keywords you can target from each keyword research tool.
4. Explore Long-Tail Keywords
In an ideal situation, you’d target keywords with the highest search volumes, but these are often competitive and difficult to rank for if your website is not well-established.
Instead, filter the keyword list you created in the previous step to find long-tail keywords you can rank for fast. You may note the high search volume keywords separately, so you’ll target them later once you’ve established your authority online.
For now, focus on long-tail keywords. They have a low monthly search volume but are often more specific and closer to a sale. As a result, they’re less competitive and have higher conversion rates.
Instead, filter the keyword list you created in the previous step to find long-tail keywords you can rank for fast. You may note the high search volume keywords separately, so you’ll target them later once you’ve established your authority online.
For now, focus on long-tail keywords. They have a low monthly search volume but are often more specific and closer to a sale. As a result, they’re less competitive and have higher conversion rates.
Using these as your target keywords can help you rank higher on search results faster. Good examples of long-tail keywords include ‘best yoga poses for better sleep’, ‘customizable meal planning software for personal trainers’, etc.
5. Analyze Competitors
You also want to analyze your competitors to identify keyword phrases they’re ranking for, but you’re missing out on. Commonly called a keyword gap analysis, this process helps you identify highly relevant keywords you should be targeting. Most keyword and research tools allow you to perform a keyword gap analysis in a few clicks. Add any keywords you identify in this step to the spreadsheet you created earlier.
6. Evaluate Keyword Difficulty
Nearly all keyword research and SEO tools have a score (1 to 100) that shows how competitive a keyword is. A keyword difficulty score of 1 means low competition, and 100 is the highest competition. Sort the keyword list you created earlier based on their keyword difficulty – from the most competitive keywords to the least competitive ones.
7. Refine And Prioritize Keywords
After evaluating keyword difficulty, refine your list to identify the keywords you’ll prioritize. The most crucial factors to consider when prioritizing your keywords include:
As a rule of thumb, always prioritize the least competitive, long-tail keywords that are a phrase match to your seed keyword and have a moderate search volume.
- Relevance to your specific fitness services: Do the keywords contain your seed keyword? If yes, are they a broad, exact, or phrase match or related keywords? You want to ensure you target and attract relevant organic search traffic.
- Search volume: Because you’re targeting long-tail keywords, all the keywords may have a low to moderate search volume. Still, check the search volume data to pinpoint keywords with the highest search volumes on your list.
- Competition: The lower the competition, the better.
- Keyword intent: The search intent determines the business value of a keyword. Most keywords are either informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational. Prioritize the keywords whose search intent matches your current business goals.
As a rule of thumb, always prioritize the least competitive, long-tail keywords that are a phrase match to your seed keyword and have a moderate search volume.
8. Create Content Around Keywords
By now, you have a list of relevant keywords that are the basis of your content strategy. Create high-quality content around these keywords following SEO best practices to ensure you dominate search results.
High-quality content, in this case, refers to content that's well-researched, helpful, and, above all, meets the user’s search intent effectively.
High-quality content, in this case, refers to content that's well-researched, helpful, and, above all, meets the user’s search intent effectively.
Final Thoughts
Performing keyword research for SEO is crucial for successful online marketing. If you follow all the steps above and focus on creating helpful content that fully meets user intent, you’ll earn Google’s trust and the trust of your target audience. As a result, you’ll rank high and maintain a solid online presence. Good luck!
