Ben Bergeron, a prominent figure in the CrossFit community and owner of CrossFit New England (CFNE), recently announced his decision to disaffiliate after nearly 20 years. His move has sparked discussions among gym owners about whether they should follow suit. Bergeron cited a misalignment of values and concerns over leadership as primary reasons for his decision. A pivotal moment influencing this choice was the handling of athlete Lazar Đukić’s tragic death during the 2024 CrossFit Games. Bergeron expressed that CrossFit HQ’s response lacked transparency, accountability, and compassion, which conflicted with the core values he upholds in his community.

There is always talk about disaffiliating in the gym owner groups I am a part of. Some owners are disappointed with the support CrossFit HQ gives affiliates, for others it’s more of a cost savings decision and for some it is a similar decision that Ben made – aligning with an organization that reflects your gym’s values. These are all highly personal decisions. However, CrossFit disaffiliation does come with challenges – especially in terms of web traffic, search visibility, and competition in the broader fitness market. Understanding the SEO implications of CrossFit disaffiliation is crucial to ensuring a smooth transition, should you choose to go that route.

Web Traffic Implications of CrossFit Disaffiliation

1. Loss of Organic Traffic
   If your current website domain contains “CrossFit” and you’ve been an affiliate for several years, expect a significant decline in organic search traffic after disaffiliation. Search engines associate your site with the CrossFit brand, and removing that keyword from your domain will impact your rankings. However, if you’ve been operating under a broader brand (e.g., XYZ Fitness, home of CrossFit XYZ), the disruption may be less severe. Maintaining a strong online presence and effectively communicating the transition can help mitigate traffic loss.
2. Changes in Search Visibility
   Potential members often find CrossFit gyms by searching for “CrossFit near me” or “CrossFit in [city].” Without the CrossFit name, your chances of appearing in those search results diminish significantly, leading to fewer organic leads from individuals specifically seeking a CrossFit-style workout.
3. Increased Competition in Broader Search Categories
   Competing for terms like “gym near me” or “personal trainer in [city]” is more challenging than ranking for CrossFit-specific keywords. Depending on your location, these general fitness terms can be five to 20 times more competitive. Without robust local SEO strategies and targeted marketing efforts, attracting new members online could become more difficult.

Business Impacts of CrossFit Disaffiliation

• Short-term Decline in Leads and New Memberships: Individuals specifically searching for CrossFit may not find you as easily, leading to potential drops in leads and new memberships.
• Brand Identity Challenges: If your gym has been known as a CrossFit affiliate for a long time, rebranding can pose identity challenges.
• Increased Marketing and Advertising Costs: Establishing a new brand presence may require additional investment, and will most certainly cost you time, in marketing and advertising.
• Financial Costs of Rebranding: Expenses related to new logo, signage, merchandise, website redesign, marketing materials, and legal fees.
• Community Perception: Members might feel uncertain about the change. People who specifically joined your gym to do CrossFit, say they go to a CrossFit gym and want to do specifically CrossFit, may quit. Clear communication and emphasizing continuity in training methodology can help alleviate concerns.

How Long Will It Take to Rebuild SEO?

Recovering lost SEO momentum after CrossFit disaffiliation can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. This timeframe depends on factors such as the age and authority of your website, local competition, and the aggressiveness of your new SEO strategies. A well-planned and consistently executed SEO campaign can accelerate this process.

How to Rebuild SEO as Quickly as Possible

Use a Keyword Research Tool: Before rebranding, use a tool like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to analyze how people currently find your gym online. Identify the keywords that drive the most traffic and determine new, relevant terms to target after CrossFit disaffiliation. You should be able to find what other keywords that are not “CrossFit” that you can try to rank for and as long as they fit with your new brand and direction, use those to harness the traffic that is already searching for those things.

Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile: If you don’t already have a Google Business Profile – get one. Ensure your listing reflects your new branding, keywords, and location details. Inlcude the keywords that you researched in the task above and make sure they are on your profile somewhere.

Content Marketing & Blogging: Regularly publish high-quality content on fitness, strength training, and functional fitness, targeting your new keywords. Write “people first” content that your target audience is actually searching for. Answer questions that they might have, address fears and concerns that they might express and make those into thoughtful blog posts and emails to send to your lists.

Local SEO Strategies: Make your new brand famous in your local area. Build backlinks from local business directories, collaborate with local influencers and other local businesses, and encourage new members to leave positive reviews.

Social Media & Community Engagement: If you haven’t been active on social media before, that will need to change immediately. A new brand is going to need a lot of content to attract as many eyeballs as possible. Actively post on social media, run targeted ads, and engage with your community to boost visibility.

Technical SEO Optimization: Ensure your website is fast, mobile-friendly, and well-structured for search engines. Kilo can help you as it’s part of their standard offering.

Paid Search & Retargeting Ads: Utilize Google Ads and social media retargeting to reach individuals searching for CrossFit-style workouts in your area – if that is your focus. If not, it’s still useful to run ads in the early days of a new brand as it’s a great way to get awareness out to a new audience.

OK, you’ve decided to Disaffiliate from CrossFit, now what?

This is a huge decision and if you’ve come this far, you aren’t taking this decision lightly. You know what you are in for and you have weighed the SEO and web traffic risks against the new brand you are building and what that means to you. You want to plunge ahead, but you want to be prepared. Below you will find all the steps to take to move forward with your CrossFit Disaffiliation.

Exact Steps to Take for a Smooth Transition

1. Purchase your new Domain: once you know your new business name get the web domain purchased as soon as possible. Create new email addresses for you and all your staff.
2. Hire Help: new logos and brand will take some time to build and you do not want to do this yourself. Hire professionals to design new logos, new brand guidelines, redesign (or design a new) website etc. Do not cheap out on this. I recommend using Kilo for your website (obviously) and Milena at New Breed Design for your logo and branding needs.
3. Update your CRM: If you use a lead management tool like Kilo’s Gym Lead Machine, update your domain, login, reply to addresses etc. Kilo’s support team can do all of this for you – just email hello@usekilo.com. This is probably a good time to update your email address in any other software you own as well.
4. Warm up your email addresses: Brand new email addresses need to be “warmed up” before you start sending out mass emails. Most inbox spam filters will filter out emails from non-reputable sources. So start sending a few individual emails to people outside your organization and have them reply and mark your new email addresses as “safe”. If you are using Kilo’s Gym Lead Machine, we’ll do this for you, but it doesn’t hurt to do this on your own.
5. Update Your Online Presence: Once you have all your new marketing collateral you can start updating your online presence. Revise your website, social media profiles, and online directories to reflect your new brand identity.
6. Optimize and Update All Website Content: Replace “CrossFit” with new branding, on pages and in blogs and optimize for newly targeted keywords. Your website company should be able to do this for you as long as you provide the written content and know what keywords you want to focus on.
7. Update Your Google Business Profile: Ensure the new business name, categories, and keywords reflect your rebranded gym. I wrote a guide on optimizing your gym’s Google Business Profile that might be helpful.
8. Communicate with Current Members: Clearly inform your members about the transition, addressing any concerns and highlighting the benefits. Host Q&A sessions. If you are memberships are changing, offer transition promotions. Do as much as you can to highlight the continuity in coaching and programming to retain existing members.
9. Encourage Members to Leave New Reviews: Ask your members to leave Google and Facebook reviews mentioning your new brand and ask them to add any relevant keywords that you are looking to rank for.
10. Launch a Rebranding Announcement Campaign: Utilize email, social media, and in-gym communication to inform members and the local community. Continue to build your email list by delivering high value content on socials and asking people to opt in for more information.
11. Run Google and Social Media Ads: Now is the perfect time to run paid advertising. You’ll want to get your new brand out there and drive traffic to your new website. Target local fitness-related keywords and audiences who previously engaged with CrossFit-related searches.
12. Leverage Video Content: Create and post short-form videos on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube discussing your gym’s new direction, what you want to be known for and what your expertise is. Link back to your website whenever possible.
13. Write 5 Blog Posts Per Month: I know, it’s a lot – but this new brand needs a lot of new content. Focus on local fitness topics, workout programming, the problem that your gym solves and the benefits of your training methodology.
14. Secure 1-2 Backlinks Per Month: Reach out to local directories, fitness blogs, and industry websites for link-building opportunities – offer to write blog posts or create content for them that links back to your website.
15. Host a Community Event or Open House: Invite local residents to experience your gym’s training style and new branding. Invite the local newspaper, generate buzz and press around the event.
16. Monitor Website Analytics and Adjust Strategy: Regularly check Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track progress and optimize your approach.
17. Notify CrossFit of your decision.

While your software providers can help you update some items, like your website, remember that the keyword research and overall brand identity is up to you. Don’t be upset when your “website doesn’t rank well” if you aren’t clear about what you want it to rank for. They will need input from you, and you are ultimately responsible for giving them direction.

For another perspective into the costs and considerations of rebranding, you can read more from Two Brain Business: Costs of Changing Your Brand.