When I began working with EMD UK—the national governing body for group exercise in the UK—in July 2024, they had no formal SEO strategy. 

The organisation had gained organic traffic purely by chance, with outdated content scattered across the site from their previous identity as a training provider.

The website faced numerous challenges:

• Poor organic visibility (just 845 monthly clicks and 35.1K impressions)
• Outdated and irrelevant content still live across the site
• Lack of basic SEO infrastructure (Google Search Console wasn’t even set up)
• High volume of customer service calls for basic information
• Confusing user journeys on critical landing pages like fitness insurance
• Disorganized site structure making navigation difficult

The ultimate goal was clear: increase memberships across all categories while improving the user experience.

I immediately set up Google Search Console to monitor performance and identify opportunities. 

Analysing the data, I discovered EMD UK was receiving impressions for discipline-specific insurance terms like “zumba instructor insurance” and “yoga teacher insurance”—but had no targeted content for these searches.

By creating specialised landing pages for these high-intent queries, I achieved page one rankings within hours of publishing, capturing valuable traffic that was previously being missed.

Rather than starting completely from scratch, I identified existing blogs that were already getting impressions but hadn’t been updated since publication. 

By refreshing this content with current information, I amplified what was already working while simultaneously creating new, trend-focused content relevant to group exercise instructors.

For key events like IFS 2025 and Instructor Revolution 2024, I developed targeted landing pages that drove significant traffic and sign-ups. 

These pages were designed with clear user journeys and prominent calls-to-action to maximise conversions.

The fitness insurance page for EMD UK, a critical conversion point, was redesigned to prominently display FAQs and streamline the user journey. This significantly reduced customer service calls as users could now self-serve the information they needed.

In just 8 months (July 2024 to March 2025), the SEO strategy delivered remarkable improvements:

• Clicks: +261% increase (from 845 to 3,050 monthly)
• Impressions: +302% increase (from 35.1K to 141K monthly)
• Average Position: 25.6% improvement (from 29.3 to 21.8)

For the first time in EMD UK’s history, organic search became their #1 source of conversions, driving impressive membership growth:

• Pro memberships: +129% increase
• Group Exercise: +14.8% increase
• PT & Specialization: +9.9% increase
• Associate memberships: +14.4% increase
• Overall membership growth: +26.1% year-over-year

Beyond the numbers, the strategic improvements delivered tangible operational benefits:

• Significant reduction in customer service inquiries
• Enhanced user self-service capabilities
• Streamlined conversion processes

By analyzing search data, I uncovered untapped potential in discipline-specific insurance searches that competitors had missed. Creating tailored landing pages for these terms yielded immediate results.

Rather than focusing solely on new content, I optimized existing assets that were already performing, amplifying their impact while supplementing with fresh, trend-focused material.

Developing strategic landing pages for industry events created timely, high-converting assets that captured motivated audiences at peak interest moments.

By restructuring key pages based on actual user needs, particularly the insurance pages, I created intuitive journeys that not only converted better but reduced operational workload for the member support team by reducing queries for FAQs which previously weren’t displayed prominently on the website.