Growing your business as a veterinarian in the digital age requires an online presence. According to data from Statista, surveys and studies routinely show that consumers are increasingly turning to the internet to research and discover certain types of local businesses.
That’s not to say that every online presence delivers equal results. For a veterinarian’s website and social media to help their business attract more clients, a proper veterinary SEO strategy is necessary. A veterinarian’s SEO strategy should focus on local SEO in particular.
What is Local SEO for Veterinarians?
A website is important for virtually any business owner because it can help new leads discover their business. New potential customers may discover a business through its website when performing relevant online searches. If a page from the website ranks high in the search results page, a user may click on it and engage with the business.
Ranking high in search results pages is essential. Research indicates a high rank translates to more clicks.
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps a website and its individual pages rank high in relevant search results pages by optimizing factors such as keyword density, formatting, technical performance, and more. Local SEO is a subset of SEO. A local SEO strategy focuses on attracting website visitors who reside in a specific geographic area or region.
How Local SEO Benefits Veterinarians
Geography is a critical factor in determining whether a veterinarian can serve a customer. Some types of professionals can offer their services remotely. Aside from basic consultations, there are virtually no services a veterinarian can offer through the internet.
A veterinarian can only serve customers in their service area. Their SEO strategy should account for this. Benefits of local SEO for veterinarians include:
Saving Money
An SEO strategy that drives many visitors to a website isn’t always a successful one. A veterinarian doesn’t benefit much from a large volume of website traffic if that traffic is coming from regions they don’t serve.
A veterinarian might actually waste money implementing a general SEO strategy if it only helps them attract attention from leads who can never become customers. A local SEO strategy guards against this. Local SEO can help a website and online presence generate traffic from users in a veterinarian’s region.
Improving a Veterinarian’s Reputation
Part of a local SEO strategy may involve prompting happy customers to leave reviews on platforms such as Facebook, a Google My Business page, and other platforms where someone might review a veterinarian. Generating more high-quality reviews across these platforms lends a veterinarian a degree of social proof that can help their practice thrive.
Speaking to the Community
A veterinarian’s online presence should offer valuable content to their customers and overall audience. For example, a veterinarian might regularly post blog articles explaining to customers how to protect their pets from the various risk factors that can endanger their health or safety. What those factors are can vary from one region to another.
For example, in a warm climate, a veterinarian might post a blog article addressing how to keep pets from falling ill in the heat. In a dense urban area, a veterinarian might offer advice on how to ensure a pet doesn’t walk out into traffic.
Those are just two examples. The main point to understand is that a local SEO strategy helps a veterinarian focus their content on the types of topics that are relevant to people in their service area. As a result, the content they offer is more valuable. The more valuable the content is, the more it might help a veterinarian attract clients.
Local SEO for Veterinarians: Help is Available
You don’t have to develop and implement a local SEO strategy alone if you’re a veterinarian. You can always partner with experts to save time and be confident your local SEO strategy is sound. Their advice can give you the peace of mind that comes from knowing your website is serving its intended purpose.
What’s most important to remember is that SEO is a worthwhile investment. If you’re patient, over time, you’ll see for yourself how local SEO helps your veterinary practice succeed.
Main Street ROI offers local SEO services to veterinarians and professionals across a wide range of industries.
