Local SEO vs. organic SEO for veterinary businesses

The PetDesk Agency team puts in much effort to ensure you win both sides of the coin when focusing on local SEO vs. organic SEO. To be visible to potential customers online, you must optimize your website for search engines. This is where SEO comes into play in terms of a marketing strategy.

If there’s no plan for search engine optimization (SEO), your business won’t reach the many local prospects who don’t even know that they exist! Then how do you ensure local and general organic searches find your website? What distinctions are there between them? Our experts have covered everything you need to know on SEO for vets.

What is local SEO?

By optimizing their website with local SEO techniques, local businesses like veterinary hospitals can skyrocket their visibility in local searches to gain more clients from the vicinity. Local SEO involves amending a website to appear higher on SERPs (search engine result pages) whenever someone searches for a product or service related to your business within an identified geographic area. This way, Google and other search engines can accurately provide users with the most pertinent and helpful information based on where they are searching!

Benefits of local SEO for veterinary hospitals:

• Targeted traffic: Local SEO helps veterinary hospitals attract clients looking for veterinary services in their local area. This means the traffic you receive is more targeted and likely to convert into clients.
• Improved visibility: Veterinary hospitals using local SEO will rank higher in local search results, meaning more people will see your website when they search for veterinary services in your area.
• Better user experience: Local SEO helps improve the user experience by providing relevant information about your veterinary hospital, such as your address, phone number, and business hours.

A local SEO strategy for veterinary hospitals should include the following:

• Create & optimize your Google Business profile
• Build online presence through directories & local business listings (like Google Business)
• Generate content of all kinds (social media, blog, customer photos)
• Tracking visitor & customer data
• Maintaining reputation management
• Having a mobile-friendly, veterinary-specific website
• Including a dedicated, location-specific about us page

What is organic SEO?

Organic SEO refers to optimizing a website to rank higher in search results for specific keywords or phrases. This type of SEO focuses on improving the quality and relevance of a website’s content to make it more appealing to search engines like Google. Organic SEO aims to attract more traffic to a website by improving its visibility in search results.

Benefits of organic SEO for veterinary hospitals:

• Long-term results: Organic SEO is a long-term strategy that can help veterinary hospitals attract more traffic to their website over time. This is because organic optimization focuses on creating high-quality content that will continue to rank well in search results.
• Increased authority: Veterinary hospitals use organic SEO to establish themselves as an authority in their field by creating informative and engaging content that people want to read and share.
• Improved user experience: Organic SEO helps improve the user experience by providing high-quality content that answers the user’s query and provides them with the necessary information.

How do local SEO and organic SEO differ for veterinary hospitals?

While local SEO and organic SEO are essential for veterinary hospitals, they differ in several ways.

• Target audience: Local SEO targets people searching for veterinary services in a specific geographic area, while organic SEO targets people searching for particular keywords or phrases related to veterinary care.
• Focus: Local SEO focuses on optimizing a website for local search results, while organic SEO focuses on optimizing a website for specific keywords or phrases.
• Timeframe: Local SEO can produce faster results than organic SEO because it targets a smaller, more specific audience. Organic SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time to deliver results.
• Content: Local SEO focuses on providing information about a veterinary hospital’s location, hours, and services, while organic SEO focuses on providing high-quality content that answers the user’s query and provides value.

Local SEO and organic SEO are essential strategies for veterinary hospitals looking to improve their online presence and attract more clients. While local SEO targets people searching for veterinary services in a specific geographic area, organic SEO targets people searching for particular keywords or phrases related to veterinary care. By combining both strategies, veterinary hospitals can maximize their online visibility and attract more clients.

How does PetDesk do local and organic SEO for veterinary businesses?

It’s mind-boggling to think that 93% of online encounters start with a search engine.¹ Yes, it’s true; someone will take out their device or fire up the computer and go straight to Google for whatever they are searching. Suppose your potential customer is looking for any veterinarian nearby—would you appear on the top page? If not, you’re missing out on immense business possibilities by disregarding local SEO tactics!

Here’s something even more astonishing: 75% of users don’t bother scrolling further than the first page of their Google search results.² To ensure your website succeeds, you must partner with an organization dedicated to SEO. With PetDesk, pet owners searching for businesses like yours can quickly locate and access your website due to its successful integration into major search engines.

Remember: all the SEO tactics in the world are rendered useless if you have a low overall review score for your business, or a low number of reviews. Be sure to ask each happy customer to leave a five-star review on Google, and reach out to the PetDesk team to do it all for you! From a custom-built website to detailed agency services, PetDesk Marketing can grow your clinic’s customer base by giving you the powerful online presence you deserve.

References

¹ BusinessDasher: 42+ Search Engine Statistics: Usage, Users & More (in 2024)

² Search Engine Land: How Google Ending Continuous Scroll Could Impact ORM