Part of our guide to marketing and lead generation for yoga studios and personal trainers.
Someone in your town picks up their phone and types “yoga near me,” or maybe “hot yoga” or “beginner yoga Saturday morning.” Google shows them a map with a few studios pinned on it, and they tap the one with clear hours, a link to the schedule, and photos that make the room look welcoming. Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a new student sees about your studio, before they ever reach your website. If it’s missing hours, shows the wrong category, or links to a page that doesn’t help them book, they’ll tap the next pin instead.
97Display has already covered the general setup in how to use your Google Business Profile for local marketing and the bigger local picture in leveraging a local SEO strategy. This post focuses on the settings that matter most for a yoga studio specifically.
How does a yoga studio show up for “yoga near me” searches?
Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity. You can’t change how far a searcher is from your front door, but you can control the other two. Relevance comes from a complete, accurate profile that matches what they searched for, and Google states that businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results. Reviews feed into popularity, and Google notes that more reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking.
The Searches That Bring In New Students
People rarely search for a yoga studio by name until they already know it. A BrightLocal study of 45,000 business listings found that 84% of Google Business Profile searches were discovery searches, while 16% were direct. A discovery search is someone looking for a type of business, such as “yoga studio near me,” as opposed to typing your studio’s name. That study is from 2019, but the pattern it describes still fits how new students find a studio: they search for the style or the time slot, then choose from what shows up.
For a yoga studio, those searches tend to name a style or a need. Hot yoga, prenatal, yin, restorative, beginner, and early morning classes are all things people type. Mention the styles you teach in your profile description and services, and make sure your website has pages that describe them too, so Google has a clear picture of what you offer.
If you want students to find you this way, it helps to have something ready for them when they reach out. Download the free Follow-Up Script for friendly messages to send when a new inquiry goes quiet. If you also run paid ads, our guide to Google Ads strategies for yoga studios covers how to reach people searching for a class nearby.
Use Your Studio’s Actual Name and the Right Category
It’s tempting to stretch your business name into something like “Your Studio | Hot Yoga and Pilates Downtown.” Google’s guidelines ask that the name match how your business is consistently represented and recognized across signage, stationery, and other branding, and they specifically exclude marketing taglines and extra location details from the name. Keep the name as it appears on your sign.
Categories work the same way. Google advises using as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business, and suggests choosing categories that finish the sentence “This business IS a” rather than “This business HAS a.” For most studios, the primary category is the yoga studio category. Add a second category, such as Pilates, only if that’s a core part of what you are as a business.
Set Hours That Match Your Class Schedule
A yoga studio doesn’t keep store hours, which makes this setting easy to get wrong. Set your listed hours to run from your first class of the day to the end of your last one, so someone checking at 6:15 in the morning can see you’re open for the 6:30 class.
Holidays need their own attention, and with Thanksgiving and New Year’s coming up, now is a good time to check. Google lets you set special hours for holidays, special events, and other exceptional circumstances, for closures of up to 6 days in a row. If you’re closing for a week or longer, Google recommends marking the profile “Temporarily closed” instead. Updating special hours a few weeks ahead keeps someone from showing up to a dark studio on a holiday morning.
Point the Booking Button at a Page Built for First-Timers
Your profile has a spot for your website and, separately, for booking links. Google lets businesses add links that help customers book an appointment, and if you have more than one, you can choose a preferred link that appears at the top of the profile.
Where those links go matters a lot. A homepage makes them hunt for the next step. Instead, link the booking button to your intro offer page or your class schedule, the two pages most likely to turn a searcher into a booked first class. Our posts on building a yoga intro offer page and setting up a yoga class schedule page cover what those pages need. Adding a UTM tag to the website link also lets you see profile visits separately in your analytics, which our Google Analytics guide explains how to read.
Photos That Show a Beginner What to Expect
Google encourages businesses to show customers what you offer and tell the story of your business with photos and videos. For a yoga studio, the most helpful photos answer the questions a nervous first-timer has. Show the practice room with natural light, the entrance from the street, the check-in area, the props they can borrow, and a few of your teachers mid-class. When a beginner can picture themselves walking in, booking that first class feels a lot less intimidating.
Reviews are the other big piece of your profile, and they deserve their own plan. Our post on getting Google reviews from your regulars covers when to ask and how to stay within Google’s rules.
An Illustrative Example
This is a hypothetical scenario meant to show the pattern, so it doesn’t describe any specific studio. A studio opened its Google Business Profile years ago and hasn’t touched it since. The hours say 9 to 5, even though classes run from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The category is “gym,” the booking link goes to the homepage, and the only photo is the logo. A woman searching “beginner yoga near me” at 7 p.m. sees the studio listed as closed and moves on.
Fixing it takes the owner about half an hour. The owner switches the category to yoga studio, sets hours to match the schedule, adds holiday hours for Thanksgiving week, points the booking link to the intro offer page, and uploads eight photos of the room and entrance. None of it costs money, and the profile now gives that evening searcher an accurate picture of the studio.
Spend Half an Hour on Your Profile This Week
Search for your own studio on your phone and look at your profile the way a new student would. Check the name, category, hours, holiday hours, booking link, and photos, and fix whatever is out of date. Then make sure the page your profile links to is ready to catch the lead.
Our yoga industry page shows how 97Display helps studios turn those taps into booked classes. If you’d like help with what happens after someone taps through, tell us about your studio and our team will walk you through it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I add “yoga” or my city to my business name to rank better? A: Only if it’s part of your actual name on your sign and branding. Google’s guidelines exclude marketing taglines and extra location details from the business name, so keep it exactly as it appears on your storefront.
Q: What hours should a yoga studio list on Google? A: List the span from your first class to the end of your last class each day, then add special hours for holidays and one-off schedule changes so the profile always matches the studio.
Q: Should my Google booking link go to my homepage? A: Send it to the page where a new student can act right away, usually your intro offer page or your class schedule. The homepage adds an extra step.
Q: How often should I update my Google Business Profile? A: Review it whenever your schedule, hours, or offers change, and set holiday hours a few weeks before each holiday. Adding fresh photos every few months also keeps the profile looking current.
