As a pet spa provider, you know how important it is for your clients to make a fantastic first impression every time their owner comes to pick them up. That is what helps to bring those pet owners back to you time and time again so you can continue providing great service. The same applies to the first time your potential customers visit your website. You need to impress them enough to want to come back and book services with you.
Website optimization for local businesses goes one step further. It allows you to create a website that attracts the clients most likely to need your services. That means when someone heads online to find a pet groomer or seek out a pet spa to help them with their animal’s specific needs, your website will show up and solve their problem.
However, it is not always easy for a pet spa to create a website that is robust enough to compete against the big companies or one that stands out within the local area. With a few methods and strategies, you can localize your online presence, meaning more people local to your pet spa will find you and contact you for service.
In a pet spa, pet grooming, or similar industry, you absolutely need to have a local presence. People want to find a service provider close to them that is knowledgeable and offers examples of the work they do. If your website is hard to find, you may be missing out on key customers who could become loyal clients.
Understanding Local SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of providing content on your website that helps search engines find it. The use of keywords, for example, that relate to your business helps people type those words into the search engines to find you. However, local SEO is far more important for a pet service business because your customers are likely within a few miles of your location. Your goal, then, is to attract people within your community who need the services you have.
There are various factors that impact local search engines. In short, you want to be known by search engines as the go-to provider for those who need services like those you offer within your community.
Some of the factors that influence local SEO rankings include:
- On-page website optimization using local keywords
- Online reviews of your business
- Your Google Business Profile
- Personalization of your content
- Citations on your site
These are just a handful of the many factors that work together to provide signals to search engines to place your website in front of people who can use it. To attract local customers to your pet spa business, you need to master local SEO website strategies for pet spas.
Keyword Research
A good starting point for this process is to use keywords that people within your community use to obtain the services you offer. You need to identify relevant local keywords.
One component of that is to outline all terms that consumers use to look for services you offer. You may be a pet spa, but you may also be a pet groomer, a dog groomer, or a pet trainer. Then, add the geo-location to these terms. That means utilizing your local community service area. That is likely your city but potentially cities around you.
You don’t have to do all of this work on your own. Numerous keyword tools can help you find local keywords to use. Tools like Google Trends can give you some insight into where to get started. It’s also a good idea to look at some of your direct competition’s keywords on their website.
Once you know what words to use, you need to incorporate those keywords into your website strategically. Remember, your website still needs to sound good to the human reading it. Overusing keywords or using the wrong words does not help your effort.
On-Page SEO Optimization
On-page SEO optimization is the process of adding your keywords to the website pages you place on your site. Start with the back end of the process. Use your keywords in meta tags, including the title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags on your site. That helps to show the search engines what the goal is. Be sure to include the locally relevant keywords here.
Next, integrate local keywords into your website’s content. To do this, you will want to add geo modifiers to keywords or incorporate some information about the local community you service. Make it valuable, which means ensuring the content you provide is actually meaningful to the reader.
Finally, be sure to incorporate mobile optimization of your site with fast-loading pages. This will help keep people coming to your site and ensure that search engines are satisfied.
Localized Content Creation
Developing location-specific content for your website is an important component of local SEO. Local content means incorporating signals that help search engines understand your site’s value.
- Create location-specific content for your website. Consider a separate web page for each of the cities you service or hope to service with your pet spa.
- Provide clear and easily accessible contact information on each page so that it helps to give you a local boost
- Consider implementing a Google Map of the location of your pet spa so that prospective clients see where you are located
- Create blog posts with local relevance. For example, you may want to discuss local events at the dog park around the corner or other types of activities for pet owners in your area.
- Use your current customer testimonials to help you to build your local content, too. Showcase those photos of the pets you’ve transformed.
- Use local imagery within your content as well. Choose photos of the local community to make your location relevant to visitors.
Each of these local SEO website strategies helps build strong content that resonates with the people reading it while also giving your content a local feel for search engines.
Building Local Citations
Local citations are very helpful as well. These are online mentions of your business’s location, name, and phone number on other websites. The more local citations you have, the more relevant your business is to that community.
Start with creating consistency in your Name, Address, and Phone (NAP). This should be exactly the same from one page of your site to the other and on all platforms you use for your website. That consistency helps to keep Google clear on what should be linked.
Then, list your business in online directories and review sites that fit the profile. Yelp! is a great choice. If your city has a community business page, get listed on it. You also want to be sure your social media profiles are linked to your website and incorporate the same NAP.
Implement Structured Data Markups
Here’s where it can get a bit confusing for those without a lot of experience with website design, but it really does not have to be challenging. Structured data markups are the type of information you provide to the website platform to offer insight and direction. Specifically, look at local business schema, a type of structured data markup code that will be used to provide search engines with specific information about your business.
When you use local business markup for specific industries related to your pet spa (including groomers, trainers, and related services), you help search engines direct the right type of searchers to your website.
Monitor and Analyze Website Performance
Once you have each of these components in place, you’re ready to go, but don’t stop there. It is critical to monitor how well your local SEO strategies are working and adjust them over time to help you stay ahead of the competition.
First, set up Google Analytics. This allows you to start gathering information about the keywords your website is ranking for and who is visiting it. You can then start monitoring user behavior on your site and where people are coming from when they visit.
As you notice changes in this data, make adjustments to improve local SEO performance. You may want to target specific keywords related to a specific geographic location, for example, if you seem to attract more visitors from that area. If you’re not getting results from keywords you should be, it may be time to address the content you’re using.
Selecting the Right Local SEO Website Strategies Makes a Difference
Local SEO is critical for every local business owner, including pet spas. Localizing your content allows you to build a local presence on the web so that the people within your community who need your services can easily find you.
To achieve increased local visibility, be sure to be specific about the zip codes you service and work to improve customer engagement. You also will find that the more effective your local SEO strategies are, the easier it is for you to attract the type of customer you want.
Surefire Local can help you with your localized online marketing efforts. We help small businesses establish their online presence by creating local signs across platforms and profiles, making it easier for new customers to find them. Surefire Local is an all-in-one marketing platform for local businesses that makes this process easy.
Attend a Surefire Local demo now to see how easy it can be to dominate the local pet service industry.