Members are the lifeline of any soccer club, but it can be a tricky task to gain more. Fortunately, you can grow your soccer club through SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, and potentially boost memberships exponentially.
SEO is the process of refining online content to be deemed more favourable by search engine algorithms, therefore placing it higher in search results.
Web goers are far more likely to visit higher search results than lower ones, and thus sites that can consistently place at the top of search results will receive far more web traffic.
For your soccer club, the greater level of web traffic you have, the greater your chance of gaining more memberships.
While the process of SEO may seem large, complicated and ultimately daunting – this guide will provide simple ways to boost your SEO practices.
Understanding your club’s online position
Before you begin implementing SEO practices, it’s important to acknowledge how your club is tracking online.
If your club has a website, check for an analytics section. Website builders like Wix and WordPress offer analytics information such as the amount of web traffic a site receives, or which pages on a site are accessed the most.
If you do not have a club website or want to improve it, click here for Soccerscene’s club website guide.
If you want to upgrade the level of analytics at your disposal, Google Search Console is an incredibly useful tool available. It allows you to see which search queries are bringing visitors to your site, in addition to far more.
Once you have checked your website’s analytics, make note of the successes and areas for improvements across your website. These notes will help you start your SEO practices.
Targeting the right audiences
To attract new members, it’s important to target the right people and not just the most amount of people.
As a club, your SEO practices should always prioritise your local area. Your local area is where you are going to find the most likely people to join your club, and also the least competition from other clubs.
To target your local area effectively, create a Google My Business profile and add your club’s address and contact information. Here you can add your club to Google Maps, add photos and much more.
In addition to targeting your local area, consider what type of soccer club you are marketing for. Is it family friendly, social, competitive, or something else?
SEO Tips and Tricks
When you know the audience of your club, you can start implementing SEO practices.
Keywords: Keywords are the words people are using to search for content online. As a club, you want to be using specific keywords to draw in the right visitors, such as “inclusive”, “all-levels welcome”, “professional”, or “competitive”, depending on the audience you’re aiming for.
Keywords should be used multiple times across your website, especially in your title, Web URL, and in the first 100 words of text on a page. You should also include synonyms to your keywords across your content.
Linking: Search engines find sites easier when they are linked elsewhere. There are two types of SEO linking, internal and outbound links. Internal links are links within your website, while outbound links are to other websites.
When internal linking, try linking articles within your site to related content. When outbound linking, always link to trustworthy sites, and to related content. Outbound linking is also an SEO bonus to where you link to, so consider linking to your sponsors or local community directories.
Readability: It may seem obvious, but it is incredibly important to have a readable and navigable site. When visitors quickly click on and leave multiple websites, search engines assume the websites are unhelpful and thus lower the website’s rankings within their algorithms.
To prevent people from rapidly leaving, ensure that information on your site is easily laid out and concise. Bullet points and short paragraphs can assist with this.
Additionally, ensure pages are easy to access and avoid cluttered website designs.
Mobile Optimisation: The majority of searches are performed on mobile phones, so it’s vital to cater to them. Make sure your website design is navigable on a phone. Furthermore, ensure that image or file sizes do not cause lengthy load times on phones.
Chrome Lighthouse can run reports on how successful your mobile site is.
Conclusion
In the modern footballing world, it is crucial to grow your soccer club through SEO. With so many businesses and clubs flocking towards it, now is the time to jump on board to boost the number of people interested in your club.
If you would like to know more, feel free to contact Football Pro Directory.
