← Case studies/Case 03 / Fitness

From invisible to#1 in the local pack.

A 1,800 sq ft strength gym in McAllen went from page 3 to ranking #1 in the local 3-pack for 14 high-intent keywords, growing membership from 47 to 218 in 11 months.

Client
Six Points Fitness
Industry
Boutique Strength Gym
Location
McAllen, TX
Year
2023 — present
Engagement
Local SEO + reviews engine · Ongoing quarterly

47 → 218

Active members

#1

Local 3-pack

14 keywords

3,940%

Organic GBP calls

YoY

[ the situation ]

Where they started.

Six Points opened in late 2022 — a single owner, two part-time coaches, and a beautiful little gym with great equipment in a neighborhood absolutely flooded with fitness options (CrossFit, Orangetheory, three Pilates studios within 6 blocks).

They had a Google Business Profile with two photos, 11 reviews, and were getting buried by national chains with much bigger ad budgets. The owner had tried a marketing freelancer for three months in early 2023, paid $4,500, and gotten exactly two new members.

[ the problem ]

What was actually broken.

  • GBP was 23% complete — no services, no products, no Q&A, no posts
  • Existing site was a one-page Wix with no service-level pages to rank
  • Zero local citations beyond Yelp
  • Owner asked for reviews verbally but had no system — getting one a month

[ our approach ]

How we thought about it.

01

Local SEO is unglamorous and methodical

We do not promise 'first page in 30 days.' We do GBP optimization, citation building, on-page work, and a review velocity system, every month, for as long as it takes.

02

Build pages for what people actually search

Not 'strength training' — 'personal trainer McAllen,' 'beginner barbell class McAllen,' 'small gym near Bicentennial Park.' Eight new service pages, each targeting a real query cluster.

03

Review engine, run by software

Post-class iPad kiosk → SMS → Google review link. Took review velocity from 1/mo to 19/mo within 60 days.

[ execution ]

What we actually shipped.

Month 1

Foundation

Full GBP rebuild, 47 citation submissions, on-page audit, keyword cluster research, site rebuild on a fast Astro stack.

Month 2–3

Content

8 new service/location pages, 4 cornerstone long-form posts ('How to start barbell training in your 40s' style).

Month 4–6

Authority

Link outreach to local blogs and neighborhood publications, 9 backlinks landed, GBP posts weekly.

Month 7+

Compound

Rankings climb steadily, quarterly content sprints, monthly review of GBP insights and Search Console.

[ deliverables ]

  • GBP rebuild + ongoing optimization
  • Astro-based 22-page website
  • 8 ranking service/location pages
  • Review automation (iPad kiosk + SMS)
  • 47 citation submissions + cleanup
  • Quarterly long-form content (4 posts/quarter)
  • Monthly Looker Studio reporting

[ the results ]

By the numbers.

MetricBeforeAfter
Active members47218
Google reviews11241
Local pack #1 rankings014
Top-10 organic keywords6184
GBP profile views / mo4129,800
GBP-driven calls / mo5202

[ after launch ]

Still working together.

Status

● Active retainer

Cadence

Quarterly retainer

Scope

Quarterly content sprint (4 new long-form posts), monthly GBP optimization, review responses, link-building outreach.

I almost quit in month two. Rankings hadn't moved and I was paying them every month. Tania talked me off the ledge. Six weeks later we cracked the 3-pack and it's been a different business ever since.

Chris Akande

Owner, Six Points Fitness

[ keep results compounding ]

Add a Care Plan and we keep the wins coming.

Edits, SEO upkeep, and conversion work — from $50/mo.

See Care Plans →

[ your turn ]

Let’s write your case study.

[ 30-second start ]

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→ Inquiring about: Boutique Strength Gym