If you’ve been looking for tips on SEO for coaches you’re in the right place. This comprehensive guide has been completely updated for 2024.
Without SEO there’s a strong likelihood that the only people visiting your website are you, your best friend from primary school, and your Mum!
That’s because coaching is a highly competitive niche and Google only wants to display the very best results to people who are searching online to find a solution for whatever issue they’re facing in their lives.
If you’ve been looking for information on getting started with SEO for coaches for a while, you know the internet is full of jargon and confusing terminology that makes you feel like pulling your hair out.
The good news is that getting coaching clients from your website doesn’t have to be complicated.
This post covers in-depth what you need to know about an SEO strategy that works if you’re serious about getting more highly targeted leads from your website.
What you can expect from this ultimate guide on SEO for Coaches:
#1. – an explanation of the benefits of SEO for your coaching site
#2. – an in-depth look at how to apply the three types of SEO
#3. – tools and resources to help you
Click on a topic below to go directly to that section, or scroll through this guide and read it bit by bit, your choice!
Is SEO right for your coaching business?
Whether you’re an experienced coach or just starting your practice, getting clear on SEO is essential to help you get highly targeted visitors to your website.
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimisation” and it means all the things you can do to help prospective clients easily find your website on Google, etc.
In other words, SEO means that your website shows up on search engines like Google, Bing, etc. when someone enters a search query that is relevant to your website. They then click on your website and might read your home page, your About page, and your blogs and sign up for your email list.
Over time, there’s a good chance they’ll sign up for your offers or services. You may also get more word-of-mouth referrals as they get to know, like, and trust you.
SEO can help coaches get found online by people who have never heard of you before.
When you know the right keywords to use and where to place them it can help your audience to find your content and learn about your services and what you offer.
Sadly, you could be the best coach in the world, but if your website isn’t SEO-friendly, very few people will ever find it.
That’s why SEO can be an incredibly powerful tool for coaches seeking to work with a specific niche. It’s not just about getting more “traffic” (visitors to your website), it’s about getting found by potential right-fit clients who are willing to pay you and actively looking for what you offer.
If you’re still unsure about this, you may benefit from my guide on simple SEO tips to boost traffic to your website.
Benefits of SEO for Coaches
Have you ever wondered why some of your peers can be found on the first page of Google, while your site doesn’t seem to show up at all?
SEO is what makes all the difference. With a well-thought-out SEO strategy, you can be found by ideal paying clients who are ready to work with you. You’ll get more targeted visitors to your website who will see the value in what you offer.
SEO can help you promote:
- lead magnets
- your podcast
- courses, workshops, memberships, and group programmes
- your 1:1 services (whether in-person or online)
- your expertise as a speaker, etc.
It’s so worth investing time and energy into learning SEO and targeting the keywords you want to be found for, as your blog posts and pages can continue to be found by people who search for coaching for years to come!
1. Organic Marketing
By optimizing your coaching website with keywords and phrases targeting specific phrases your target audience is already searching for, you can get in front of exactly the right people, without spending a fortune on an expensive ad campaign.
You might be thinking “But social media marketing is free, I’ll stick to that”. But remember that you’re at the mercy of the algorithms and your reach can be unpredictable.
One of the benefits of SEO is that it can help you increase the number of organic visitors to your coaching site. This could mean more potential coaching clients for you.
Simply put, rather than investing in Facebook ads or Google ads, instead, you could focus your energy on free marketing strategies such as writing a helpful blog featuring a coaching keyword to attract your dream clients.
Skip to tips about the keyword research process
2. Boost Visibility
SEO-friendly content on your website can attract the right people to your website – on repeat. Without you having to faff about making Reels, researching hashtags, or trying to come up with a compelling caption.
If you have a love-hate relationship with social media like me, you’re probably breathing a sigh of relief!
If you’re willing to invest some time and effort (or outsource), SEO can really pay off. Even better, with SEO there’s a tipping point and once your content starts ranking, you could reap the benefits for years to come.
3. Boost Credibility
SEO helps Google and Bing to understand your services. Your website is more likely to show up at the top of the search results if it’s optimised for search.
Being featured on page 1 of Google conveys credibility and trust and potential clients are more likely to click on your link than if you’re languishing on page 47!
4. Stand Out In A Sea Of Coaches
Chances are, other coaches are not aware of SEO, or even if they are, they get so far and give up, mistakenly assuming that SEO doesn’t work for coaches, that it’s too techy and this, my friend, is where you have an amazing opportunity to stand out.
Many of your peers may be looking for quick wins and ignoring the benefits of SEO. If the majority of other coaches in your niche are disregarding SEO in favour of marketing on social media or speaking at events, it could be extremely worthwhile for you to learn search engine optimisation tactics to grow your coaching business.
According to Ahrefs, over 90% of websites get no traffic (visitors) from Google. Sounds like an opportunity if you are willing to invest some time to optimise your content!
If you’re stuck for blog content ideas check out these posts:
Blog content ideas for coaches
Best SEO Keywords for Coaches
Many coaches make the mistake of thinking all keywords are created equal and end up choosing the types of keywords that are too competitive to rank for.
For example, if you’re a life coach and you’re new to SEO, naturally you might think “life coach” would be a great term to target.
Unfortunately, plenty of other coaches will have had the same idea and it’s unlikely you’ll be able to rank your website with terms like “life coach” when your website is just getting established.
The other problem is that if someone types in a word or phrase like life coach when they’re searching online, it’s not clear what type of information they are hoping to find.
They might be looking to find and choose a life coach, but they could easily be looking into training as a coach themselves.
That’s why you need to use longer keywords like “life coach Dublin”, “Business coach Galway”, etc. if you want to use SEO effectively.
If your website is brand new, it’s even more important to aim for a key phrase (also known as a long-tail keyword) rather than trying to rank for a keyword like coach etc.
There’s also a fine line between choosing keywords your target audience is actively searching for and being overambitious about the likelihood of ranking for that search term.
That’s why you should aim for a keyword or more likely a key phrase with a relatively high search volume and low competition, especially if your website is brand new. You need to know about SEO search volume and keyword difficulty and search for keywords you have a chance of ranking for.
Your website can help you get more coaching clients by researching popular industry terms, long-tail phrases, and trending topics related to your niche.
You can also get keyword ideas by looking at what your peers are writing about – but put your own spin on it!
SEO for Coaches: Step-By-Step Guide
Here’s how to find and choose niche keywords:
Step 1. Do a brain dump of the best life coaching keywords
Market research and tuning in to your audience will help you find the best life coaching keywords for your niche.
Here are some tips to help you generate a lot of keywords even if you’re not familiar with SEO:
- Join Facebook groups related to your niche: For example, if you’re a health coach working with women in perimenopause you can scan the group to see what types of questions your audience is currently stuck on
- Find keywords using Answer the Public, Also Asked, and Answer Socrates: These SEO tools can help you identify the things people search for online
- Enter the type of coaching you provide into Google and scan the list of autosuggestions, people also asked, and related keywords sections
- Use Pinterest and YouTube to create a list of keywords you can use to grow your business
Step 2: Use Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research is essential if you want to give your website a fighting chance of ranking well online, yet so many coaches skip this step.
Finding the right keywords can seem overwhelming and a lot of coaches make the mistake of trying to rank for overly competitive terms that they don’t stand a chance of ranking for.
You don’t have to invest a fortune to use a keyword tool.
Ubersuggest and Keywords Everywhere are a couple of cost-effective tools to help you refine your list.
Step 3: Choose specific keywords
Specific keywords are far more useful because they target a more refined audience.
Your site visitors will want to find specific information or answers and these keywords help you connect them with the right content.
That might be
- a helpful guide or tips that you link to on your article to grow your email list.
- worksheets or a free course that you offer to nurture potential clients.
- blog posts that would interest new clients
- case studies that explore helpful tools and techniques
Specific keywords can be easier to rank for and they can also indicate that your website visitor is “problem aware”, i.e. they are looking for a solution.
Read this article if you are looking to create quality content for clients.
You can see how having an SEO strategy rather than making it up as you go along could improve your website content to match the needs of your target audience.
Step 4. Use the keywords to promote your coaching services
Now that you’ve found relevant keywords for your website pages and posts, we’re going to add them to your site.
Add your keywords:
- to page titles and blog titles
- to headings and sub-headings
- in your URLs
- to your meta description
- in the first 100 words of your post
- within the last 100 words of your post
- 2-3 times within the page or post
- when naming your images
The beauty of SEO is that it can help you to create content your ideal client is eager to read AND bring you a lot of traffic over time as you start to rank for that keyword.
Researching keywords and search phrases can take time, but it’s a worthwhile investment of your energy!
Remember SEO helps coaches just like you to get found online by their ideal clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Best Way To Optimise My Website For SEO?
If you want better visibility online you need to do some SEO work to increase the quantity and quality of visitors to your website.u003cbru003eThis takes thoughtful planning, keyword research, optimising your content, link building and other tactics to help your site appear higher in SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages).u003cbru003eHere are six tips to help you optimise your website for SEO:u003cbru003e1. u003cstrongu003eResearch keywords and key phrasesu003c/strongu003e that are relevant to life coaching. Choose words or phrases that a potential client is likely to type into Google when searching for a life coach.u003cbru003e2. u003cstrongu003eAvoid keyword stuffingu003c/strongu003e – create content that answers user queries with valuable insights.u003cbru003e3. u003cstrongu003eCreate brand awarenessu003c/strongu003e by writing blogs that position your offers as a solution to a problem your ideal client is experiencingu003cbru003e4. u003cstrongu003eUse internal linksu003c/strongu003e to other helpful content you’ve created to keep visitors on your websiteu003cbru003e5. u003cstrongu003eBuild links from trusted, high-authority websitesu003c/strongu003e back to yours as part of your ongoing SEO strategy. These links indicate to Google u0026amp; co. that your site is credible.u003cbru003e6. u003cstrongu003eTrack your progressu003c/strongu003e using analytics and measure how well your efforts are paying off over time.
Why is SEO important for coaches?
Optimising your website is essential if you want more targeted visitors through organic search.u003cbru003eSEO should form part of your marketing strategy for your life coaching services as it can help to improve the visibility of what you do online.u003cbru003eInvesting time in SEO can help you to get more coaching clients.
How Do I Choose The Right SEO Keywords For My Niche?
Either invest in SEO services or take time to learn SEO marketing strategies yourself so that your website content reaches its intended audience.u003cbru003eStart by researching what other health coaches or life coaches in your field are doing in terms of website content.u003cbru003eNote down the phrases or topics that are relevant to what you do. Use tools such as Google Trends to generate ideas based on popular searches over time.u003cbru003eOnce you have identified potential keywords, use keyword research tools such as Ubersuggest or Keywords Everywhere for further insight into how frequently the term is searched and how competitive it is.
How Often Should I Update My Website With SEO Content?
The best approach is to stagger out your SEO tasks and update your site regularly.u003cbru003eSome tasks will take you less time – updating image alt tags or writing a meta-description for example.u003cbru003eYou can refresh existing content by adding FAQs or including a content upgrade (a freebie opt-in) that gives a potential client a quick win and showcases your coaching business.u003cbru003eEven tiny tweaks and updates can help to increase visibility and page ranking.u003cbru003eAnalyse your competition to get an insight into the type of content they’re creating and how often they post new content.u003cbru003eReview your analytics to gauge which posts are most successful in driving traffic based on user engagement metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) u0026amp; dwell time.u003cbru003eYou may choose to focus your efforts on boosting the posts that are already popular.u003cbru003eSet realistic expectations when it comes to your editorial calendar – it’s far better to write 12 comprehensive posts a year than to write a weekly post that isn’t as in-depth.u003cbru003eFocus on quality over quantity so that you gain some traction in organic search. Over time you can revisit older posts that aren’t performing as well.u003cbru003eUse Google’s u0022People Also Asku0022 and the auto-complete feature to add new content to existing pages and posts.
Can I Outsource Content Creation?
Absolutely! But use discernment. You want to increase the number of website visitors who are truly interested in your services.u003cbru003eSEO can help you differentiate yourself from your peers and get found online. However, you also need to create content that gives a sense of who you are. So if you choose to outsource your content creation, you need to make sure it still has your voice.u003cbru003eIt could be well worth your while to invest in a content brief – tapping into the expertise of a professional who can advise you on drafting an outline that covers the range of topics your reader will expect you to cover in your articles.u003cbru003eThey can also help you to identify easy-win long tail keywords to give you the best chance of ranking.u003cbru003eA VA could also help you to craft effective titles and tags if they understand how keywords and keyphrases work. Outsourcing helps you to scale your content creation and hiring an expert means that they will research the types of content that work best for your niche.
What Are Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid?
Don’t be too u0022spammyu0022 – avoid over-optimising your posts by trying to use your keyword/keyphrase too often.u003cbru003eCheck that the pages you want to rank aren’t marked with a u0022no-indexu0022 tag.u003cbru003eMake sure that your website is mobile-friendly and that your theme isn’t slowing down your site.u003cbru003eAvoid uploading very large images as these can take a long time to load and affect your site speed.u003cbru003eMake sure that you have identified a specific niche, otherwise, your content will be too generic and won’t rank.
Wouldn’t It Be Easier To Forget About SEO And Just Pay For An Ad?
There are two problems with that approach -u003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e1)u003c/strongu003e your potential clients may be less likely to trust a result that is labelled as an adu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003e2)u003c/strongu003e once you stop paying, your coaching website will no longer rank high in the search results.u003cbru003eIn my view, it is a mistake to be completely reliant on paid strategies to grow your coaching business.
Your coaching site is open for business 24/7, even if you are on holiday, feeling sick, or going through a tough time.
If you create evergreen content (content that isn’t time-bound and is relevant at any time of year) and implement SEO effectively, you will still build awareness about your services even if you need to take some time off.
Conclusion
If you want to increase the number of qualified visitors coming to your website, then you need to make sure that your website is ranked higher in the SERPs. This means that you need to ensure that your website has the right SEO.
I hope you found these simple SEO techniques help to attract more targeted visitors to your site. I’d love to hear how you used these tips to connect with the humans who need you.
Resources you may find helpful:
Click here to download my free resource – 10 bite-sized steps to research, write and share your 1st or next blog post (without letting Imposter Syndrome, Overwhelm, or Perfectionism get in the way).
Thank you Marie. This post was insightful and exactly what I needed for my website. I will definitely use your tips to help climb up the ranks.
Looking forward to more of your posts.