Pilates vs Yoga in Philadelphia
Posted By: Pamela Toy
Both Pilates and Yoga are really popular forms of exercise. I wanted to break down both options specifically in Philadelphia.
In this post, we will discuss the differences in prices, the types of classes offered, popularity, and overall benefits.
Let’s go ahead and jump in.
Pilates vs Yoga – Philadelphia Prices
While both Pilates and Yoga are fairly popular in Philadelphia, one of the most important questions revolves around pricing.
Which form of exercise is more expensive?
Let’s break it down.
How much does Pilates cost in Philadelphia?
- Pilates classes can cost anywhere from $60-$100 for a private lesson.
- Duet/Semi-Private classes can run anywhere from $50-70 a session.
- Group Classes can run anywhere from $40-$60.
- Monthly memberships can cost anywhere from $130-200.
How much does Yoga cost in Philadelphia?
- Yoga classes can run anywhere from $20-40 for drop-in group classes.
- Privates can range anywhere from $70-100.
- Monthly memberships can cost anywhere from $120-200.
Bottom Line:
The pricing for both Yoga and Pilates is relatively similar in Philadelphia. This may differ in other cities, however. Drop-in fees tend to be higher for Pilates. This is probably because of the equipment needed and limited space as a result.
Whereas with Yoga, you typically only need a mat. In a city like Philadelphia, most Pilates studios probably have a limited amount of space.
Pilates vs Yoga: Popularity in Philadelphia
To compare popularity in Philly, we are going to use two different tools called Semrush and Google Trends.
Semrush Analysis
Semrush is an SEO tool that provides keyword search volume data.
Search volume is the average number of times a specific search query is entered on a search engine per month.
I wanted to narrow down our search queries to the two highest searched local keywords for both Pilates and Yoga.
Let’s start with Pilates.
Currently, Semrush is reporting 720 Monthly searches for the keyword “pilates philadelphia”.
For the keyword “Pilates studio Philadelphia”, Semrush is reporting a very modest 110 searches a month.
Yoga Keywords:
Semrush is reporting 590 monthly searches for the keyword “Yoga Philadelphia” and 390 for “Yoga Studio Philadelphia”.
Bottom Line:
The top two Yoga Philadelphia-specific keywords receive an estimated 980 Monthly searches per month whereas Pilates keywords receive an estimated 830 monthly searches. Yoga appears to be more popular on search engines.
Google Trends
Semrush is great for getting estimated search volume via Google/Search engines, but it doesn’t paint the entire picture. It only accounts for volume via organic SEO.
Additionally, we can’t get the interest for near me terms via Semrush (it only shows total search volume and is not sorted by locality). For example, if I wanted to search for Pilates Near Me, I would only get the total search volume for that query.
Enter Google Trends!
Google Trends is a website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages.
Now Google Trends does not give the overall volume of mentions, but rather the “relative” search interest over time.
When analyzing “near me” terms in Philadelphia, we can see that Yoga studios outperform Pilates near me by a significant amount. We can see that currently, the search interest for Yoga near me is at 59 whereas pilates near me is trending at 13.
This is a significant gap.
When analyzing the query Pilates Philadelphia and Yoga Philadelphia, Yoga is showing slightly more interest now (5 vs 9).
We can also see that Trends is showing that Yoga has more search interest over time (since 2004) as well.
Bottom Line:
Yoga appears to have a higher search interest overall (since 2004).
How do we get more accurate data?
As we mentioned, Google Trends and Semrush don’t actually give us accurate numbers to go off. Trends show us relative search interest over time, but it doesn’t show the actual search volume via organic, social, etc.
Semrush provides only an estimation, so it isn’t 100 percent accurate…
Previously, we wrote a post specifically about how popular Pilates is in Philadelphia. In that post, we used a tool called Google Search Console.
Search Console is great since it is all first-party data given to us by Google, but it’s useless in this case because our website doesn’t rank for any yoga-related keywords.
To get more accurate data, we would need to either rank for the keywords around Yoga Philadelphia, or we would just need to bid on the keywords via Google Ads.
Pilates vs Yoga: Accessibility in Philadelphia
We’ve talked about price and popularity, but you are probably wondering which form of exercise is more accessible?
Let’s check out our trusty friend Google to see if they are indexing more pages for Yoga or Pilates.
We are going to use search operators to check URLs that are indexed that only contain the keywords “Yoga” or “pilates”, “Philadelphia” and “studio”.
Let’s start with Yoga.
We can see there are 985 indexed pages Google is returning. Nice.
Let’s check Pilates Studio Philadelphia.
We can see Google is only returning 224 search results for this keyword.
Now you may be asking, does this mean that there are 985 Yoga studios and 224 Pilates studios in Philadelphia?
Absolutely not.
Many of the search results are likely web directories like Yelp.
However, this still gives us an indication that there are many more search results specific to Yoga Studios.
Let’s check Google My Business as well.
Looks like there are 5 pages of results popping up for Pilates Studio Philadelphia.
There appear to be 9 pages showing up for Yoga Studios Philadelphia.
This tells me there are quite a few more Yoga Studios located in the Philadelphia area.
There may also be a lot of other Pilates or Yoga Studios in Philly that don’t have a verified GMB listing or website.
However, given this is 2021 let’s assume this makes up 95% of Yoga and Pilates studios in Philly.
Class Space
In terms of Mat Space, Pilates classes may get filled more easily. This is because of the equipment required like a reformer or chair. Some studios probably have a limited amount of reformers and only a few people may attend class.
Yoga requires very little equipment resulting in bigger classes overall. There are also mat classes in Pilates however.
Which Should You Choose?
Overall it appears that Yoga is sought after more in Philadelphia. However, both Yoga and Pilates are beneficial for the mind and body. We recommend giving both a shot to see which is right for you.
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