Google dropped a guide on how to optimize you website for AI search and I’m going to translate this guide for you and show you exactly what you need to do on your gym website.
If you’ve been panicking about showing up in ChatGPT and wondering if all your prior SEO efforts are going to be worthless, take a breath; I’m here to tell you it’s going to be okay. In fact, Google straight-up said the same SEO stuff you should already be doing (you know, the stuff I’ve been preaching about for years) is what gets you into AI results. This doesn’t mean there’s a guaranteed checklist for getting into AI Overviews and to show up in AI Search. It means the fundamentals still matter, and most gyms still haven’t done them well.
But there is some nuance and a few things that you may be wasting time on that don’t matter at all anymore.
Let’s break it down.
TL;DR
- AI search and regular Google search pull from the same playbook. Good SEO = good AI visibility.
- Stop writing generic “5 Tips to Lose Weight” blogs. Write stuff only YOU can write. Content about your gym, your members, your town.
- Don’t waste time on llms.txt files, “chunking” content for AI, or overdoing it with weird schema hacks. Google says you can ignore people telling you these lies (okay, they didn’t say it quite like that – but I am).
- Your Google Business Profile is becoming more important than ever.
- Make sure your site loads fast, works on mobile, and Google can actually crawl it.
“Is SEO dead?” Short Answer: Nope.
Every other LinkedIn post right now is some marketing bro telling you SEO is over and you need to “optimize for AI” with some new buzzword like AEO or GEO
Google’s response in this guide is basically: it’s all still SEO. AI search pulls from the same search index.
So if your gym website is a mess of stock photos and vague “we change lives” copy on your home page; fixing that fixes both problems at once.
The #1 thing that matters right now: write stuff a generic AI bot couldn’t spit out
This is the part most gym owners are fumbling right now. The old “volume over everything” idea that led to gym owners using AI to write all of their content isn’t going to cut it anymore.
Google specifically called out “commodity content” as a problem. Their example: “7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers.” Translated for us, that’s:
- “5 Benefits of CrossFit”
- “How to Lose Weight in 2026”
- “Why Strength Training is Important for Women Over 40”
These topics aren’t bad, but the way most gym owners (or their robots) write about them is. It reads like every other boring gym blog because it IS like every other boring gym blog, usually because someone fed ChatGPT the title and slapped the AI slop blog post onto the site. It’s also just plain boring.
If AI can produce your blog post in 30 seconds, why would Google’s AI pull YOUR version?
Do this on your gym website:
- Rewrite your “About” page with a real story. Where did you train? What certifications do you have? Why did you open this gym? Who’s the dude who’s been training with you since day one? What awards have you received?
- Take a look at your program pages and make sure they talk about your specific philosophy on training. Adding results or member testimonials to those pages is also a good idea.
- Take your top 3 blog posts and add first-hand experience. Member quotes or testimonials. Real numbers from real clients. Photos from inside YOUR gym.
- Kill or completely rewrite any blog post that sounds like it could’ve been written about any gym in any city.
Write for humans first. If humans can’t use your site, AI won’t have much reason to surface it either.
Google’s guidance: “focus on what your visitors would enjoy, find helpful, and feel satisfied with.”
Translation: stop writing for the algorithm. The algorithm is watching whether your visitors are satisfied.
Do this on your website:
- Use real headings (H1, H2, H3) that match how someone would search. “What to Expect at Your First Class” beats “Onboarding Process.”
- Break up walls of text. Short paragraphs. Bullet lists when it makes sense.
- Put the answer up top. Don’t make people scroll past 600 words of “in today’s fast-paced world…” to find your class schedule or other information they really need to make a decision.
The technical stuff you can’t skip
Google said it plain: if your page isn’t crawlable, it’s not getting into AI Overviews.
Do this on your website:
- Open Google Search Console (free). If you’ve never set this up, do it today. This is your inbox for Google.
- Run your site through PageSpeed Insights. As a practical rule, if your homepage feels slow on mobile, especially past ~3 seconds, fix it. Compress your images. Kill the slideshow or heavy home page video.
- Check your site on your phone. If you have to pinch-zoom to read it, you have a problem.
- Make sure every page has a unique title tag and meta description. Not “Home | CrossFit XYZ” on every page.
Local SEO matters even more now
Google specifically called out Google Business Profile and local business info as a thing the AI pulls into responses. Most of your traffic is probably people within 5 miles searching “best CrossFit gym near me” or “gym in [your town].”
Do this:
- Log into your Google Business Profile and check when it was last updated.
- Make sure hours, address, phone, website link, and class types are all correct.
- Add new photos monthly. These should be inside the gym when classes are happening or personal training appointments are being facilitated.
- Respond to every review with a message from a real human that cares.
- Post updates on your GBP like you would Instagram. This can be everything from events, schedule changes to new programs.
The stuff Google said to STOP doing
Google explicitly called out things people are selling as “AI SEO” right now that you do NOT need:
- llms.txt files.You may have heard that you need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, markup, or Markdown to appear in generative AI search. An Agency is going to charge you $500 to do this. You can skip it.
- “Chunking” your content for AI. There is a myth that you need to break your content into tiny pieces for AI to better understand it. Google is saying that is not true.
- Rewriting all your content in some special “AI-friendly” voice. It’s also not a thing.
- Paying for inauthentic mentions or backlinks to “rank in AI”. Google’s spam systems will pick this up. Don’t do it.
- Going overboard on structured data/schema markup. Something simple (like local business schema or Kilo’s Local Business / Fitness schema) is nice to have for rich results, but overdoing it is not required for AI.
Bottom line
The gyms that win in AI search are the same gyms that win at SEO: the ones writing real content about real people doing real workouts in a real location.
Also – update your Google Business Profile, because I know you haven’t done that in months.
