Keyword research for yoga studios

It’s pretty easy to get more local website traffic to your yoga studio. Competition isn’t that difficult unless you’re in a large urban area (in which case you may target neighborhoods instead of the metro area).

In this post, I set out additional ideas for keywords to attract traffic to your yoga website.

37 Excellent Local Keywords and Article Topics for Yoga Studios

X = your town or area

Y = yoga style

I used SEMRush software to come up with this list.  There are literally thousands more you can come up with SEMRush.

  • Yoga in X town
  • Yoga Classes in X Town
  • Y Style of Yoga X Town (multiple posts)
  • Yoga Studio in X Town
  • Morning Yoga Classes in X Town
  • Evening Yoga Classes in X Town
  • Afternoon Yoga Classes in X Town
  • Yoga for men in X town
  • Yoga for runners in X town
  • Yoga for weight loss in X town
  • Yoga for beginners in X town
  • Yoga for seniors in X town
  • Yoga for kids in X town
  • Yoga for neck pain in X town
  • Yoga for anxiety in X town
  • Yoga poses for two people in X town
  • Yoga for flexibility in X town
  • Yoga for constipation in X town
  • Yoga for scoliosis in X town
  • Yoga for sleep in X Town
  • Yoga for strength in X town
  • Yoga for knee pain in X town
  • Yoga for depression in X town
  • Yoga for golfers in X town
  • Yoga for athletes in X town
  • Yoga for shoulder pain in X town
  • Yoga for headaches in X town
  • Yoga for stress relief in X town
  • Yoga for carpal tunnel in X town
  • Yoga for pregnant women in X town
  • Yoga for teens in X town
  • Yoga for hamstrings in X town
  • Yoga for menstruation cramps in X town
  • Yoga for climbers in X town
  • Yoga for bloating in X town
  • Yoga for weightlifting in X town
  • Yoga for improved health in X town
  • Yoga Workout in X Town

Try SEMRush to get many more great article topics for your yoga blog so that you attract more local aspiring yoga students.

Notes about the above list of keywords:

  • In some cases, you’ll want to combine keywords on the same page.  You must avoid publishing articles and pages that essentially say the same thing.
  • In other cases, the topic or keyword is a stand-alone article.  For example, “yoga for teens in X town” could be a stand-alone article.
  • Your articles: They should be in-depth and detailed. Do not publish thin, lousy content. The article needs to fully cover the topic.
  • If your studio is in a large metro area like New York City, you may use your neighborhood for X.

Keyword Research Tips for Yoga Studios

1. Nearly every keyword you use will have a geographic area in it.

Your prospective yoga students are looking for a local yoga studio. Using geographic locations in your keywords is good because there’s much less competition and therefore easier to rank well for that keyword in the search engines.

Example: Don’t go for “Bikram Yoga.”  Instead, go for “Seattle Bikram Yoga”.

2. It’s okay to go for keywords with few searches.

That’s the wonderful thing about a blog.  You can add as many posts as you like.  Even targeting a keyword that receives only 2 searches a day can work.  If you have 50 posts on your website, each ranking well for keywords that receive 2 searches a day, you’ll attract website traffic.

3. Expand your keyword terms.

Once you’ve targeted your main keywords – the obvious ones that will attract the most traffic, expand your keywords. Start expanding the geographic areas you target. Think of neighboring towns and your state or province.

Once you exhaust neighboring towns, then consider expanding into related terms such as “fitness” or “personal training” or “meditation.” Think about the benefits your studio offers and if relevant to various searches, start targeting those keywords.

4. Focus on ranking well for your best keywords.

Despite #3 above, it’s usually best to work on ranking well for a few excellent keywords than ranking well for several less than optimal keywords.  Start expanding your keyword terms only after you’re ranking well for your best keywords.  Perhaps target five great keywords, rank well, then move on to the next best five.

If you’re on page two or three for all your keywords, even though you’re targeting many, you’ll likely receive less website traffic than if you ranked in spot #1 on the page of Google for three or four good keywords.

How to write blog posts targeting a similar set of keywords

You probably figured out that the keywords set out above are very similar. How many times can you write about yoga in Seattle?

DO NOT write a series of duplicate content on your blog targeting slightly different keywords.  Nothing kills a website in the search engines like duplicate content.

Instead, be creative. I suspect, as a yoga studio owner, that you could write a book about yoga.  Well, that’s what you can do with your yoga studio website… in a fashion.

Using some of the above keywords, I’ll set out some yoga blog post ideas for you that will result in unique and informative content for your yoga website visitors.

Website Home page: I would target the main keyword which is Seattle Yoga. Be sure “Seattle Yoga” is in your home page title.

Blog Post 1 Title/Topic: What is Iyengar Yoga? Find Out at This Seattle Iyengar Yoga Studio

Write all about Iyengar yoga peppering Seattle in the blog post.

Blog Post 2 Title/Topic: What Are Some Seattle Yoga Classes Teaching These Days?

Write about some of the yoga classes your yoga studio teaches – going into detail about the yoga styles you teach.

You get the idea.  When you can, place the keyword in your title.

What if putting the geographic area in the title sounds clumsy?

If it sounds clumsy to put your geographic location in the title (and it will sometimes), then do the following:

Keyword targeted: Seattle Yin Yoga

Blog Title: What is Yin Yoga?

Sub-heading using an h2 meta tag: XYZ Yoga Studio teaching Yin yoga for 6 years

Write about Yin yoga peppering Seattle in the content – but be sure the focus on the post is about Yin yoga.

How long should the blog posts be?

Aim for 400 to 3,000 words. I generally write articles that are 650 to 1,300 words long (this post is 1,480 words).

Some people suggest splitting up long articles into several blog posts. You can do this as well. I do it sometimes. However, I like longer posts and they do well in the search engines for me.

How often should you publish blog posts?

As often as you like. If you anticipate getting busy in the future, you can write a series of posts, and simply set the date on which you wish the posts to go live on the Web (at least you can do this in WordPress – I suspect it can be done in most blogging software options).

What if you don’t have a blog on your website?

The above techniques work well using pages as well.  You don’t have to use a blog. I recommend a blog because it’s very easy to use.

If you have a static website in HTML or Flash, talk to your webmaster about adding a blog. In most cases, you can add a WordPress blog to a static website.

I hope these ideas get you started with getting more traffic to your yoga studio website. Please understand there are no guarantees when doing search engine optimization. At the end of the day, as long as you publish unique and helpful content, you should be fine and do well in the search engines.

Please also note that this is not the only way to attract more website visitors.  But it’s practically free and can be effective.