Local SEO for Your Pet Care Business: How to Get More Leads from Local Organic Searches

The pet care industry is a popular one these days. Whether you’ve got a doggie salon, a mobile pet grooming business, or even a doggie daycare and pet sitting operation, you have a lot of options when it comes to marketing your business. Right now, you should be focused on digital marketing and all that it can do to bring in new clients. For a fraction of what companies used to spend on advertising, the Internet makes it easy to build your business reputation with efforts like search engine optimization.

A big part of optimizing your online presence is going to revolve around local SEO. After all, in the business of pet care, it’s unlikely that you’ll be attracting clients from far away. Local search engine optimization needs a strong strategy that will help you outpace the competition and create a professional, well-respected image for your business. This will help you get better rankings, more leads, and more notoriety. 

Keyword research 

While location keywords can sometimes be added to your existing keywords to create a new local keyword (doggie daycare + Chicago = doggie daycare Chicago), that’s not exactly the way to come up with them. You need to do research just as you did for your other keywords and find out what’s trending, as well as which keywords are most likely to get you the attention that you desire. 

Feel free to use your favorite keyword research platform, or you can check out handy tools like those from Moz and Semrush. Make sure that your research is thorough so that you can capitalize on as many local keywords as possible. 

Reviews always get points 

Google and other search engines are looking for businesses that have proven to be trustworthy and reviews are a big indicator of that these days. Reviews on your website are good, but reviews on third-party sites are even better. Google reviews get a lot of attention, obviously, so you’ll want to make sure that they’re accurate and that you have addressed any that require your attention. 

You can’t prevent negative reviews. You can report false reviews and try to get them removed, but if a legitimate customer or individual had a bad experience, they’re more than entitled to leave a negative review about it. What you should do is respond to their criticism, ask how you can provide better service or resolve the situation, and so forth. Even if they’re impossible to satisfy, your attempts will show that you’re worthy of not losing reputation points. 

Network with local pet stores, vets, and more 

No matter what type of pet care business you have, you’ll find plenty of local networking opportunities both online and offline that can help boost your reputation. When you network online through link building, it can help improve your SERP (search engine results page) ranking and the level of authority you have in the eyes of Google. Networking can also help you foster better business relationships, which will lead to all kinds of growth.

Consider online forums and social media pages that are related to pets and the type of pet care you provide. In addition to listing your business info, you can also engage with people, have conversations, and offer advice and insight from a professional standpoint to build stronger relationships. 

Create your Google Business Profile 

Formerly known as Google My Business, this listing is first and foremost on your agenda for your local SEO rankings. Google needs to know that you are a reputable business that has a lot to offer. They want to know what you do and how you do it so that they can share the information with their searchers. Therefore, you need to fill out your profile in full, use tags and keywords where you can, and make sure that your listing is complete, consistent, and informative. 

Audit your existing content 

You’re probably not starting from scratch here. Your website, social media pages, and the rest of your online presence up to this point need to be looked over. A full SEO audit will help you find areas where you can optimize content, figure out if any content needs to be removed, and come up with a strategy for adding to the material that you do have. This takes a little time, but it’s time well spent because you can make a lot of tweaks instead of starting fresh with all new content, saving time and resources. 

Check your citations (NAP)

Your name, address, and phone number, or citations, need to be exact and consistent across all channels. From your website to your social media pages, and your GMB profile—you should have an identical listing for your name, address, phone number, website, and any other contact details. Discrepancies or differences can count against you and cost valuable reputation points. Even something as simple as an abbreviation versus a full word or a period or comma that doesn’t match can count against you, so get consistent. 

While you’re boosting your SEO efforts, who’s fielding the leads?

After you get done setting up all your local SEO efforts, you’re going to want to make sure that you have the means to field all the new leads, starting with a 24/7 answering service. Partner with the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai and you’ll get that and so much more. We can also assist with lead intake and appointment scheduling, live website chat, and anything else that you need. 

If you’re still working on your strategies, ask how we can help with outreach campaigns and outbound sales support, too, ensuring that you never miss an opportunity and don’t have to do it all yourself. Plus, it will all come with a tailored strategy to make sure that we’re managing every last detail just the way you want. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation to discuss how the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can assist with your local optimization, or reach out to us at hello@smith.ai. 

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