How to Rank Martial Art Websites on Google
Here are our favorite tips to optimize the online presence of martial arts studios, divided into technical, on-page, and off-page suggestions.
These SEO strategies apply to karate studios, taekwondo studios, judo studios, jiu-jitsu studios, kickboxing studios, muay thai studios, mixed martial arts (MMA) studios, self-defense studios, martial arts fitness studios, and other martial arts companies.
1.) Technical SEO Tips for Martial Arts Studios
Technical SEO refers to optimizing your martial arts studio website's infrastructure so it can be properly crawled and indexed by search engines, which includes aspects like site speed, mobile optimization, XML sitemaps, and structured data markup. This ensures search engines can easily access, understand, and rank the website's content.
We can help out with all of these items and more, or you can handle them on your own:
- Ensure your website has a responsive design that works well desktop, small laptop, tablet, and mobile devices. There are a lot of screen sizes out there to accomodate. On a desktop computer, you can resize your browser window from large to small to see how different layout elements adjust for smaller screen sizes.
- Evaluate your website's loading speed using a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights. Don't get caught up trying to pass Core Web Vitals. It isn't always possible on complex websites and might not be worth the investment. Instead, try to fix simple things to get a score of 60+.
- Utilize HTTPS encryption to secure your martial arts website. Most hosting providers offer free SSL certificates.
- Create and submit a sitemap of your martial arts website to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to aid search engines in indexing your website.
- Implement local business schema markup to assist search engines in better comprehending your martial arts content.
- Use canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues, particularly if you have identical content available on multiple URLs.
- Monitor your martial arts website's crawl errors and promptly resolve them. You can find such errors in Google Search Console.
2.) On-Page SEO Tips for Martial Arts Studios
On-page SEO involves optimizing each page of your karate instructor website to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. This often focuses on elements like keyword presence, meta tags, quality of content, user experience, page organization, and internal linking.
We can help out with all of these items and more, or you can handle them on your own:
- Create original and high-quality martial arts content that targets your audience's search intent. While ChatGTP is a popular content writing tool, don't rely solely on AI content. It is often generic, repetitive, and/or inaccurate. Be sure to proofread content before you post it.
- Incorporate relevant martial arts keywords in your website's page titles and meta descriptions.
- Optimize your website's headings and subheadings with target martial arts keywords.
- Include keywords in image alt tags to help search engines comprehend the context of your images.
- Use internal linking on your website to aid search engines in comprehending the structure and hierarchy of your martial arts content.
- Use descriptive URLs with relevant martial arts keywords.
- Display customer reviews and testimonials prominently on your website.
- Scan your martial arts website for broken links and repair them immediately. You can use this free tool from Ahrefs to scan for broken links.
3.) Off-Page SEO Tips for Martial Arts Studios
Off-page SEO involves all the actions taken outside of your martial arts studio website to impact your rankings within search engine results pages (SERPs). This includes strategies like link building, social media marketing, and reputation management. Such efforts help increase your website's reputation, authority, and visibility online.
We can help out with all of these items and more, or you can handle them on your own:
- Build high-quality backlinks from relevant websites, such as fitness or health blogs.
- Establish and maintain a strong presence on social media platforms to interact with students and promote your brand.
- Encourage satisfied karate students to leave reviews on Google My Business and other review sites.
- Collaborate with other local businesses, particularly fitness or health-related businesses, to cross-promote services and build backlinks.
- Create listings in local business or martial arts-specific directories and citation sites to increase visibility.
- Create informative and shareable katate infographics related to fitness or health topics.
- Make videos to showcase your facilities and services and build engagement with potential customers.
- Monitor your online reputation and respond promptly to customer feedback and reviews. Be sure to respond to all reviews, even negative feedback.
We can review your website and rankings, then provide a recommendation on which areas of technical, on-page, and off-page search engine optimization need the most attention. This will help establish a budget and scope for ranking you higher in search results!
Alternatively, if you don't need help improving your rankings, check out this guide on DIY SEO!
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Top Keywords for Martial Arts SEO
Looking for suggested keywords to target within the SEO campaign for your martial arts studio? Whether you plan to hire us, or optimize the site yourself, we've got you covered!
Before starting an SEO service for a martial arts studio, we like to scan the website and see what you've got to work with for content and link authority.
From there, we'll check to see what types of martial arts classes or programs you'd like to promote in your area. Maybe you specialize in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and want to attract more students. Perhaps you just don't feel like you are getting enough traffic to your website or social media channels.
Having this information helps us determine what types of keywords to focus on for content writing and link building.
Focus Keywords for Martial Arts Studios
- Martial arts studio [city/area]
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu [city/area]
- Karate classes [city/area]
- Taekwondo classes [city/area]
- Muay Thai training [city/area]
- Boxing classes [city/area]
- Krav Maga classes [city/area]
- Mixed martial arts [city/area]
- Self defense classes [city/area]
- Kids martial arts [city/area]
- Adult martial arts [city/area]
- Fitness classes [city/area]
- Sparring [city/area]
- Competition training [city/area]
- Martial arts weapons [city/area]
- Self improvement [city/area]
Keyword Tip #1: Martial arts studios often target keywords related to their specialty, expertise, and location. This helps you attract potential students who are searching for martial arts classes or expertise nearby.
Keyword Tip #2: You should consider targeting long-tail keywords, which are more specific and less competitive. For example, "women's self defense classes in Los Angeles" may be easier to rank for than just "self defense classes".
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