Let’s Talk About Veterinary Hospital SEO

I recently lured Lauren Frazer, VetNetwork’s SEO Specialist, away from her computer to chat about SEO and why it should be an integral part of your veterinary hospital’s marketing strategy. Here is what she had to say.

SS: What is SEO and is it important for veterinary hospital websites?

LF: SEO refers to the techniques that determine a website’s search engine ranking, or visibility online. It’s important for everyone with a website who wants that website to be seen. The modern pet owner searches online for nearby veterinary hospitals, and statistics show it’s very unlikely that pet owners will see your veterinary hospital website if it’s not on page one.

Unfortunately, all your competitors are vying for that very limited space. Our veterinary hospital SEO clients know you now have to fight very strategically and daily for page one results.

SS: VetNetwork offers three SEO packages. Please tell us about them.

LF: Silver is a one-shot optimization package. While it is a solid introduction to SEO, to get page one ranking in Google and attract qualified traffic (the pet owners who are likely to become clients) to your site, one round of veterinary hospital SEO is not enough.

Gold is the most popular package and offers proven ROI for our veterinary hospital SEO clients. With this package, we are continuously analyzing results and refining tactics to bring your veterinary hospital  Google page one ranking and reaching qualified traffic.

With our Platinum package, we optimize your site for more locations and search terms and phrases, and deliver more in-depth monitoring, comprehensive analysis of website traffic, and conduct more off-page work. We also make regular customized recommendations for ancillary services in content development, social media, and mobile search. Veterinary hospitals that are in high competition, urban areas like New York City or Miami are best served by our platinum package.

SS: How should a veterinarian decide which package is best for his or her veterinary hospital website?

LF: Location and services are the top two factors to consider when deciding on a veterinary hospital SEO package. We typically recommend all our veterinary SEO clients start with a Gold package. Our team can review your goals and help you choose what works for you according to your budget and specific goals.

SS: SEO strategies are constantly changing to keep up with Google’s algorithm revisions. How do you stay on top of the latest trends so VetNetwork can deliver top-ranking search results for our veterinary hospital SEO clients?

LF: That’s my secret, but it works for our clients! But if I were to generalize, reading, researching, testing…constantly. SEO is extremely volatile and you have to stay one step ahead, always.

SS: Can you describe the success our veterinary hospital SEO clients have experienced after making SEO part of their veterinary marketing strategy?

LF: While we have many veterinary hospital SEO clients that have achieved success with our packages, one client, East Side Animal Hospital, stands out.

East Side Animal Hospital is located on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, one of the most competitive areas of the country for nearly everything. When I started working on their campaign in March 2012, there was a lot of work to be done. They ranked well only for very specific, low-volume keyword terms.

Within three months of purchasing our Platinum SEO package and an Adwords campaign, the hospital was on page one for most of the Manhattan, NYC,  and East Side terms and  their  site visits were up 18 percent – a very significant increase.  The practice is very happy with their veterinary SEO and website and they have signed up for another website for their second location in Long Island City, an accompanying Adwords campaign, and two mobile websites.

SS: What advice would you have for a veterinarian who is still unsure about the need for SEO for their veterinary hospital website?

LF: SEO is no longer a fluffy, gimmicky sounding online strategy for tech geeks. It is a vital component in everything online. If you have a business, you need a website. If you have a website, you need SEO. Your competitors do, and you won’t get found on Google without it.

VetNetwork is a website design and veterinary marketing company dedicated to promoting the growth of veterinary hospitals with leading-edge online and print solutions. For more information about VetNetwork’s veterinary SEO plans for your veterinary hospital website, please give us a call at 800-564-4215 or 603-743-4321 today!

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