Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy that improves your online content to increase visibility for your veterinary practice. Optimizing your website helps it rank higher on search engine results pages, connecting your clinic with more local pet owners. At New Wine Digital, we assist vet clinics across the country in reaching more local patients through our SEO and digital marketing services. Continue reading to learn more about local SEO for veterinarians.
Why Is Local SEO Important?
SEO is a content marketing strategy that involves writing easy-to-read, well-organized content using relevant keywords. Optimizing your content around industry-specific keywords helps search engines like Google interpret valuable information and understand which services your practice provides.
If you want to reach pet owners in your area, then you need web content written with local SEO in mind. Local SEO focuses on location-specific keywords along with industry-related keywords. By incorporating local SEO, your vet clinic is more likely to show up as a high-ranking Google Maps or Google Search result when someone looks for veterinary services in your area.
Four Steps to Improving Local SEO for Veterinarians
Step 1: Determine Local Keywords
Incorporating specific keywords across your website is what helps pet owners find your clinic when searching online. Local SEO keywords for veterinarians should include the veterinary care services your clinic provides, along with your city and/or state. For instance, keywords like “Emergency vet Phoenix” or “dog dentist Colorado” may apply to your clinic. Pick two or three keywords to target per page of content, then proceed to optimize your content accordingly.
Step 2: Optimize Content for Local Keywords
Optimizing your content for keywords helps search engines understand your content better. So, if you write a blog post about hip problems in dogs with keywords like “dog hip pain,” your website has a better chance of showing up when someone searches for information about their dog’s hip injury.
It’s important to optimize for local keywords as well as veterinary care keywords so that your clinic can help pet owners with more than just information. Google uses a browser’s location information to display the results most relevant to them. By optimizing for your location, someone seeking help for their pet can find your clinic even if they don’t search your location by name.
To optimize your content, make sure to use your keywords in the page or article title, in the content itself, and in the meta description (the snippet of information that appears underneath a web page title in search results). Remember that keywords should always fit naturally into content. For example, a title should read something like “Experienced Dog and Cat Dentist in Pittsburgh, PA,” not just “Dog Cat Dentist Pittsburgh PA.”
Step 3: Avoid Overusing Keywords
Review your content to make sure you aren’t overusing any of your target keywords. Since optimizing for keywords is so beneficial, it may be tempting to overload your content. However, using an exact keyword too many times on the same page is called “keyword stuffing,” a practice that Google penalizes. Google penalties prevent your website from being seen by anyone for a period of time, reducing overall web traffic. To avoid penalties, use keywords organically and strategically.
Step 4: Claim Your Clinic on Business Directories
Besides optimizing your site content, you should also be claiming and optimizing your business listings. Online directories list important information about your clinic and connect more pet owners to your website. Business profiles like Google My Business are also a place where patients can find or leave reviews about your practice.
When you claim your clinic on an online directory, you can usually edit the profile to optimize it for local SEO. Adding your address and optimizing your profile description with keywords will help your business profile rank higher. Make sure to update the information on each directory profile on a regular basis to prevent negative patient experiences.
Some free business directories your vet clinic should be on include:
- Google My Business
- Bing Places for Business
- Yellow Pages
- Yelp
SEO and Content Marketing Services for Veterinarians
Search engine optimization requires creating and updating content regularly and monitoring your website’s performance. At New Wine Digital, we know veterinarians are often too busy to maintain their vet clinic website on their own. That’s why we offer a wide range of digital marketing services for veterinarians that include local SEO. If you’re interested in reaching more local patients with professional content marketing, call 480-516-1819 today.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (3/18/2022). Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash