[00:00:00] James Breese: Strength Matters Media. Video. Print. Podcasts.
[00:00:05] Josh Kennedy: Today's topic is how long does it really take for SEO to work? James, you are, you are, I'm going to call you Mr. SEO. Uh, you are, you are the man in the know. Uh, do you want to, uh, talk, uh, let's start us off. Let's let's kick us off.
[00:00:20] James Breese: How long is a piece of string?
[00:00:23] Is
[00:00:23] Josh Kennedy: your answer? It depends.
[00:00:25] James Breese: Depends. It really does. I, I don't understand why people in business or local business don't put all their efforts into SEO stuff. Right at the start of their careers. I really don't, because it's like a tree, you plant it, as soon as you plant it, and nurture it, and look after it, it's going to grow and blossom, and 20 years later, you are going to have this amazing tree that's there, it's proud, it stands bigger than all the rest, and that is what it's like with SEO.
[00:00:54] You're not going to get results straight away when you first put a website live. However, if you nurture it, look after it [00:01:00] properly, you will have referrals and business coming to you like there's no tomorrow if you do all the right things. So I think SEO is the most important thing that personal trainers and fitness professionals can do to make sure they get found sooner, faster than anybody else.
[00:01:15] Why do I think that? It's because nobody else is doing it. Nobody else does it or puts the effort in or the time and focus into it. They're focusing on Facebook marketing. They're focusing on TikTok marketing. Alright, as we just spoke about on the podcast before. No one thinks about this because it's a little bit more technical.
[00:01:34] Okay. However, when everyone zigs, you want to zag. And this is what I'm talking about here now. So when it comes to SEO, I think you should be putting all your efforts into this. Because if you get to number one in Google, number one in the Google map, like I said, several times before and when you get all of everything right with SEO and your page and website is fast.
[00:01:51] You then put a Google app on top of it, you'll never have to worry about getting leads into your fitness business ever again. And it'll be predictable, [00:02:00] it'll be hassle free, and it'll be like you're doing nothing as opposed to content, creating content daily and getting super stressed all the time that goes with it.
[00:02:08] What are
[00:02:09] Josh Kennedy: some of the factors that contribute to getting you to the top of Google?
[00:02:14] James Breese: Well, so, so many things, but you starting at, let's go, so Google has this ranking system called DoubleEat, E E A T, expertise, experience, authority, and trust. That's how it looks at your website to determine whether to rank it or not.
[00:02:31] So straight away, it's all about the experience. So that means you have to have a very fast website. If your website is not fast. It's not going to get ranked highly because think about it. How many times do people switch off your phone or go away from a page when it's not loading fast? We expect instant speed.
[00:02:47] Okay, that's really important. That's the first factor and that comes to the architectural structure of your website. Right back to start here. Yes. That's a bit more techie.
[00:02:56] Josh Kennedy: What kind of load speed are we
[00:02:58] James Breese: talking about fast? Let's [00:03:00] less than half a second. We're talking less than half a second. Well, that's fast That's that's if you if if you want to get to number one and you want to get like high and score 90 percent in Google Stuff that's the speed we're looking at.
[00:03:11] All right, a second is too long. Like if you if you're in if you above a second You're literally looking at, you know, maybe 60, 70 percent in Google speed, uh, page rankings, um, Google page speed rankings. So it is important to understand that it's talking lightning speed. So it's going to be a fast website and most people haven't got that.
[00:03:33] So you're screwed already. Sorry about that for everybody. But that comes from here because most people optimize their website for how it looks. They're not optimizing for speed, but it's the experience that needs to be optimized for first. Then you can do the aesthetics afterwards. That's why I'm a big fan of doing less videos on your homepage.
[00:03:49] To begin with, because you're talking about speed ranking factor first, and then we're doing photos and images as part of it, basically. So, that's the first thing. Speed is important. Then it comes [00:04:00] down to your authority. So how, are you building a brand, a trustworthy brand is what Google is looking for.
[00:04:06] Now I'm not saying Nike or Apple or Google or stuff like that have been around for years. But what have you got other than your website? Do you have a LinkedIn profile that connects? Do you have your Instagram, Facebook and stuff? Because it looks at all these linking factors. Are you posting? Do you have content on these other sites coming towards you?
[00:04:23] Now, not just from Facebook and the social media channels. Do you have people linking towards your website? That's really important. Because there's a thing called domain authority. So your domain authority is through expertise, experience, authority, and trust, right? It takes time to develop, so you've got to start planting that tree now and build it over time.
[00:04:40] So there's multiple factors about ranking fast, but that is the basic architecture right at the start from Google to see, are people linking to you? Do they see your content as trustworthy and valuable? And is it fast loading for high experience? And then with that comes, is your website set up to actually link it?
[00:04:59] To [00:05:00] Google so Google can actually understand you and read what you're doing, because if you're speaking English and they're speaking German, you, and you can't speak the language, you're going to screw, you're going to be screwed. So you need to have what we call schema data in place. So I may be getting a little bit too technical here now.
[00:05:14] And like, what is that in
[00:05:16] Josh Kennedy: Simpleton's terms?
[00:05:18] James Breese: Schema data is the translator between English and German for websites. But in terms of your website in Google. So it's telling Google where to look for certain things. I think that's the best way to, to explain it simply here now. So those are the late linking factors.
[00:05:33] But, going back to the original question, how long does it take SEO for you to, for it to work? If you know what you're doing and get everything right, and you're in a non competitive market, which is most of the time in local business areas, okay? And let's use Sasky Ford as an example. We went from having no website, To ranking her number two in the Google map pack and number one in Google for sports massage in less than a week.
[00:05:59] [00:06:00] Why? Because that took that long for Google to propagate and start reading the data. But more importantly, it, there was no competition. She had no competition whatsoever at all in that area. There was no one doing marketing for SEO or doing website design, stuff like that. So she went high straight away.
[00:06:18] Number one, because nobody else was doing it, but we did. And let's
[00:06:21] Josh Kennedy: be honest, it's changed her business completely,
[00:06:23] James Breese: right? It has. And we need to get on the podcast and interview about this actually, because it's, it has. Now on the flip side, let's talk about Simon Bradbrook from Stronger Bodies in London.
[00:06:32] He's based in Forest Hill in London, just outside Dulwich. London, super, super competitive market. So he has to do a much more advanced strategy. So not only does he have to have to have a good website that loads fast, that has links coming to it, he's going to create some more content to show Google that he is regularly updating his website and that he is to be a trusted factor to add to this [00:07:00] expertise, not experience.
[00:07:01] Okay. So he's going to do a lot more work for this because there's lots of people competing for the same places. He's also gonna do a load of other stuff behind the scenes in terms of getting reviews. Getting Google business, uh, up and running and posting regularly on that to show signals to Google that he's a legit business.
[00:07:17] There's lots of things he has to do. There's a lot more work, but we've managed to get him into the top three map pack. Okay, this is important. So it's important to get the map pack first. It takes longer for the website domain to come up to it. So within less than two months, we got to the Google map pack.
[00:07:31] That's two months for the Google map pack. He's still not on page one on Google for personal training in Forest Hill. We are working hard. He's now, he's now in the middle of page two. Before he wasn't even on page 20. So there was a lot of stuff here. So we've increased it a lot. But for him, we're looking at a 6 12 month maybe even 18 month period of hard work and labour to get to it.
[00:07:53] But it's work worth doing because it's going to pay dividends in the long run. If you get Think of the search volume in [00:08:00] London for personal training in me. It's way higher than it is in Machynlleth, where I grew up, in mid Wales, right? Try and pronounce that one. Try and pronounce that. Or in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyr Llanysiliogorth up in North Wales.
[00:08:15] Try that, right? So think about that. That's the longest train
[00:08:18] Josh Kennedy: station in the world, by the way. Here's a special message from
[00:08:22] James Breese: our sponsor. One more client, without breaking the bank on ads. Google is your ticket. Imagine being the first name. Clients, see when they Google your services near them. Sound impossible.
[00:08:32] It's not. When you've got strength matters on your side, we'll build you a website and get you ranked high on Google for free. You'll save thousands on. Web design and SEO services. Plus get a suite of business tools to help you grow your business effortlessly. All you cover is our bulletproof hosting that comes with a full 90 day money back guarantee.
[00:08:49] Ever wonder how many new clients you're losing by not being Google's number one. Don't wonder act now book your free strategy call at strengthmatters. com forward slash website today.
[00:08:59] Josh Kennedy: [00:09:00] Andrew, Andrew, did you have a, did you have a question for James?
[00:09:03] Andrew Wallis: Uh, he sort of answered it, but I think if we just come back to it just to, uh, signify the importance of why it's important to, to appear in the Mac pack, in the map.
[00:09:14] James Breese: Yeah, quite literally. So again, let's use an analogy, an example. You come to Cardiff to visit me. However, I'm late because apparently I'm always late. for meetings, according to Josh, right? So business, but yeah, anyway, so, but you there, you got an hour to kill then, which means you want to find a coffee shop.
[00:09:31] So what do you do? You pull up your phone, you go coffee shop near me, and you then look at the reviews, you then look at how, you know, the business, you click on the website, have a look at it, go, yeah, this looks pretty cool. Let's go here. That's a decision made maybe a matter of seconds based on visual imagery, reviews, stuff you're doing here.
[00:09:50] The map pack. It's the same for most local businesses, like personal training, gyms, and things like that. 86 percent of decisions and [00:10:00] buyers make the decision from the map pack. It gets 86 percent of the traffic on that front page goes to the top threes, uh, uh, businesses in that map pack. The top three in the map pack.
[00:10:10] Yeah, it is significant. It is huge. If you're not in the map pack, you're missing out on a hundred leads potentially. It's where you need to be first and foremost. So we need to optimize for that. to allow you to give you a chance to help rank higher with your website later down the line. And if you have that in place, you are then going to have an infinite number of people coming to you on a regular basis, as long as you have a fast loading website, a clear, concise message that attracts your target audience and market.
[00:10:37] That is really important.
[00:10:39] Josh Kennedy: So that we talk about a lot and we do about coffee shops and restaurants and stuff. We always look obviously first the map pack and then we look at reviews.
[00:10:47] Andrew Wallis: We do. Anybody that knows us just knows that we're into our coffee and that's the one of the first searches that we do whenever we we visit somewhere new.
[00:10:55] So equally, it's the same for any service based industry. Hence [00:11:00] why as personal trainers or fitness professionals, you know, we need to obviously address that as quickly as we can in it. It pees me off knowing that, particularly over here on the Isle of Man, where I'm visiting at the moment, that very few have got websites that's all dependent on, on Facebook or WhatsApp messages to try and generate traffic.
[00:11:22] And then they wonder why that they're not getting the amount of leads they need to generate to survive and thrive. I
[00:11:29] James Breese: think, Andrew, I think it's an important point and that we can compare this to personal training. Let's give an example of a client who comes to you. They want to sign up for six months personal training, right?
[00:11:40] However, you know, they can't get results in a month. They can lose some weight. They can do a little bit here, but they, but over six months they've got to commit because over six months they can make some real lasting change. But if they don't commit and they do the workouts, they follow the nutrition plans, they do the homework that [00:12:00] we assign them and they come to the end of six months and they go, this training plan hasn't worked.
[00:12:05] It hasn't worked at all, right? How many times do you hear that sometimes from people who, who blame everybody else but themselves, but it's about taking responsibility. So the same thing with SEO, you've got to take responsibility for this and commit to it. It's like a training plan that goes for the last six months.
[00:12:22] Are you going to do this regularly and consistently? Because if you are, you'll get results in six months time. And it's the, it's the hard work and hard gains now that will benefit you long term. to allow you to get the results that you want. So if you want that six pack right, you've got to put the hard work in.
[00:12:38] However, if you don't put the hard work in, you ain't gonna get a six pack unless you're genetically gifted and on steroids. Okay? So with the SEO, it's the same principle. You've got to put the hard work in, but once you do the hard work, it's easy to maintain. And that is why, again, we spoke about this off air, that When we, when we post [00:13:00] articles and blogs on YouTube, on, on, on, uh, our website now.
[00:13:04] Sorry, couldn't, couldn't get my words out there. So, when we post our new blogs now, we can get them ranked to number one very quickly. Because we've developed the trust, the authority, and Google regularly searches and crawls our website every day. So if we optimize the keywords, we optimize the speed of the page and deliver the high quality content, Google trusts us now.
[00:13:29] So therefore, if we provide a better article than what's already out there, they'll rank us to number one. And we're seeing that. I think it's professionalized fitness business, fitness business for beginners. We know we've got two articles in the top three, right? Because we've created high quality content.
[00:13:44] We've got a fast loading website, and you've got the architecture in place that Google allows, is able to read it from it. And we've got the trust and authority from it. We follow the EET model, double EET, expertise, experience, authority, and they trust us. [00:14:00] That's it. There we
[00:14:00] Josh Kennedy: go. There we go. So focus on your SEO.
[00:14:02] Put the hard work in now and it will pay off down the line. It's all about the long game guys. That is it for today. Please don't forget to rate, review and subscribe and if you want to find out what's holding you back from growing your fitness business, get yourself a free website audit by going to strengthmatters.
[00:14:17] com forward slash audit.