How Upp SEO Grew Cult.fit’s Local Visibility by 551% in 9 Months
About the brand
Cult.fit is a fast-growing fitness brand with dozens of studios across major Indian cities. Great product, strong word of mouth—but their Google Business Profile (GBP) presence was uneven across locations. That meant missed “near me” demand and fewer walk-ins than the brand deserved.
The brief
“Help people nearby find our studios—fast.”
The goals we aligned on with Cult.fit were simple:
- Lift discovery on Google Maps & Search for non-brand queries (“gym near me,” “fitness center in {area}”).
- Turn those views into calls, direction requests, and website visits to book trials and memberships.
- Standardize local brand presence across all locations.
Where things stood
Our first pass through GBP and Search Console told a familiar story:
- Profiles existed for most studios, but inconsistent categories, names, hours, and photos were holding them back.
- UTM tracking was missing, so website clicks from GBP were undercounted.
- Location landing pages varied in quality—some lacked unique local content, FAQs, and schema.
- Review volume and response cadence were uneven, which hurt trust in competitive neighborhoods.
Our game plan
We split the work into three tracks and ran them in parallel:
GBP foundation (fix the basics everywhere)
- Standardized NAP (name, address, phone) and studio naming rules (no keyword stuffing).
- Chose the right primary & secondary categories per studio (not one-size-fits-all).
- Filled every profile field: attributes, hours (incl. holidays), services, products, amenities.
- Rolled out clean UTM parameters on Website, Call, and Directions actions so we could see which studios and surfaces drove results.
Relevance & engagement (earn the right to rank)
- Launched a reviews flywheel: short links/QRs, on-site prompts after classes, and friendly templates. Replied to every review with helpful, non-canned answers.
- Posted weekly GBP updates: offers, events, and class highlights to keep profiles fresh.
- Uploaded real photos & short videos (studios, equipment, trainers, classes) to beat stocky competitor imagery.
Website support (make Google’s job easy)
- Built/optimized city & studio pages with unique copy, nearby landmarks, parking tips, class highlights, FAQs, and embedded Maps.
- Implemented LocalBusiness/Organization schema with geo-coordinates & sameAs links.
- Tidied internal linking so city pages funneled to the nearest studio page in 1 click.
Execution highlights (what actually moved the needle)
Maps data clean-up, at scale
- Location audit → bulk fixes → QA loop. We created a simple playbook so every new studio launches with perfect GBP hygiene.
Category & content matching
- Mapped neighborhoods and intent (“gym,” “fitness center,” “yoga classes,” “personal training”) to the most accurate categories per studio, then mirrored that language on the matching studio page.
Photo & video cadence
- A monthly drop of fresh, real media (including short 10–20s clips) consistently lifted photo views and profile engagement.
Reviews program
- Gentle, timely asks after class; spotlighted staff names; and responded within 24 hours. Review velocity + relevance keywords helped close the ranking gap in dense markets.
Tracking & reporting
- UTMs on GBP + GSC/GA dashboards meant we could see which studios, posts, and keywords were winning—and move resources quickly.
Pro tip: Use clean UTMs such as
utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp
(and add utm_content variants for Website/Call/Directions) to separate behavior in your analytics without polluting channel groupings.
The wins (9-month outcomes)
- +551% growth in Google Business Profile traffic
More people discovered studio profiles across Maps and Search, driven by better category matching, richer content, consistent data, and review momentum. - +208% jump in website visits from GBP
With UTMs in place, we could finally see the real lift. More profile views turned into site sessions, trial bookings, and membership intent. - Stronger local presence for non-brand keywords
Screenshots from competitive neighborhoods showed Cult.fit breaking into the 3-pack for queries like “gym near me” and “[area] fitness center,” not just branded searches. - Healthier engagement signals
Direction requests, calls, and photo views all trended up—classic signs that visibility translated into real-world activity.
(Those “before vs after” charts you see—Website Visits and Total Search Impressions—tell the same story: steady compounding growth as GBP hygiene + reviews + local content stacked up month after month.)
What we learned (and kept doing)
Do this
- Keep names clean and consistent (no keyword stuffing).
- Pick accurate categories per location; don’t force a global template.
- Post real photos/videos regularly; spotlight staff and classes.
- Ask for authentic reviews and reply fast—useful replies help more than “Thanks!”
- Maintain holiday hours and attributes; stale info kills trust.
- Add services/products and use GBP Posts for timely offers/events.
- Track everything with UTMs and read it alongside Search Console.
Avoid this
- Duplicates, mismatched addresses, or “creative” business names.
- Stock imagery and walls of generic text.
- Ignoring Q&A or letting reviews go unanswered.
- Setting one category for every location “for simplicity.”
- Launching new studios without a GBP + location-page checklist.
Why this worked for a multi-location brand
Local SEO rewards clarity + consistency + real-world proof. By fixing the data, mirroring how people actually search in each neighborhood, and showcasing real studios and real members, Upp SEO helped Google connect nearby intent to the nearest Cult.fit door—reliably.
The tidy summary
- Challenge: Inconsistent local presence across many studios → underperformance on “near me” demand.
- Strategy: Standardize GBP data, match categories to local intent, earn trust with reviews & media, and support everything with strong location pages + schema.
- Execution: Scalable playbook, monthly content cadence, fast review ops, and clean analytics.
- Results: +551% GBP traffic and +208% website visits from GBP in 9 months, with clear lifts in calls, directions, and non-brand local rankings.
