SEO for Pet Groomers: 10 Ways to Grow Your Pet Grooming Business
The pet industry is growing rapidly and many pet businesses turn to digital marketing to promote their business and get client bookings. If you have a pet grooming business, then you may be interested in learning more about SEO for pet groomers.
SEO or search engine optimisation is the process of optimising your website so that it can be found on Google by potential clients. For pet grooming businesses, SEO is a valuable tool for getting more eyes on your services and increasing client bookings.
Whether you’re interested in SEO for dog groomers or SEO for cat groomers, this handy guide below details 10 ways to grow your pet grooming business through SEO.
1 - Use Long-Tail Keywords
The first step to starting SEO for pet groomers is to do keyword research to find which words and phrases you want to target for your business. You can do this by using free or paid SEO tools to find out how many times a keyword has been searched on Google per month.
For small businesses, it is recommended to use long-tail keywords. A long-tail keyword is a longer word or phrase that has low search competition. This means that fewer people are trying to use that phrase to rank on Google.
You should use long-tail keywords because they are easier for pet groomers to rank for on Google. If you use a keyword that is very highly searched and has high competition, you will find it very difficult to rank for that keyword on Google and your efforts could be wasted.
Many large pet businesses spend thousands of pounds per month on SEO just to get to the top spot for short-tail keywords and it is very difficult for businesses with smaller budgets to compete. By using long-tail keywords you can bypass the competition.
2 - Optimise Your Website for Local Search
If you have a fixed premises, then good SEO for pet groomers will target clients in your local area. After all, there is no point in getting enquiries from people all over the UK when you only service one area of the country. You can optimise your website for local searches so that you appear to people in your area who are more likely to purchase your services. To do this you need to search for location-specific keywords to use such as:
Dog groomer (location)
Cat groomer (location)
Pet groomer (location)
You can then use these keywords on specific pages of your website to rank on Google for location-specific keywords.
3 - Start a Blog
Starting a pet blog is one of the best ways to improve your website’s SEO and get more traffic. It signals to Google that your website has fresh content and it allows you to rank for more keywords than you could on your website alone.
Local SEO for pet groomers involves writing blog posts that are relevant to your business and the local area. This allows you to rank for location-specific keywords that will be relevant to your potential clients.
4 - Optimise Your Google Business Profile
As a pet grooming business, your Google Business Profile will make a big difference to your local visibility in the Google search results. Your Google Business Profile ranks in both Google Maps and the main Google search results, giving you extra visibility.
SEO for pet groomers involves optimising your Google Business Profile so you can get the most out of it. Profiles that rank the highest have several things in common:
Listed in the correct category
SEO optimised with relevant keywords (without keyword stuffing)
Contain photos
Display correct business hours
Display the correct location
Have recent reviews
Have recent activity and updates
5 - Leverage Social Media
A thorough marketing strategy in SEO for pet groomers will also leverage the power of social media for local search. You can update your social media profiles and posts with location-specific keywords and hashtags to reach a local audience.
Google regularly indexes social media profiles and posts so you will also get the chance to have your location-specific posts showing in the Google search results.
Local Facebook groups are another way you can reach thousands of people for free and let them know about your services. Regularly showing up in relevant Facebook groups can grow your social media presence and result in more client bookings.
Before and after pictures of the pets you groom are a wonderful way to show off your skills on social media and connect with your audience. Pet lovers also enjoy stories about individual pets and their personal journeys.
6 - Build Backlinks
Building backlinks is a great way to improve SEO for pet groomers. A backlink is simply another website linking to yours. When you build relevant backlinks, Google takes notice of your website and thinks it is more important, resulting in better search engine rankings.
For local SEO, backlinks from other pet-related businesses in the area are really valuable such as dog walkers, catteries, pet sitting services, dog trainers, vets or pet photographers. In doing so you can get relevant local traffic and boost your local SEO at the same time.
7 - Build Local Citations
If you want to attract local people, then building citations for your business is important. If you have a fixed premises, then you can list your address and contact details in business directories such as Yelp, Yell, Thomson Local, Hotfrog and more.
You can also look for local directories such as small business directories that relate to your local area or specific pet business directories.
8 - Use NAP Listings
An important step in improving SEO for pet groomers is to make sure your NAP listings are correct. A NAP listing sounds much more complicated than it actually is! It’s simply your Name, Address and Phone Number.
This should be included in your website contact details and footer, Google Business Profile and local citations. It’s important to make sure this is consistent across all platforms so that Google can accurately determine your location.
9 - Add Structured Data to Your Website
Structured data (also known as schema markup) is a piece of code you can add to the backend of your website. This code changes the way Google views your website and its presentation in the search results.
Structured data makes your content eligible for rich results, formerly known as rich snippets. Rich results display extra information about your website in the Google search results (beyond the standard presentation). This could include things like location and contact details.
Although they are not a direct Google ranking factor, rich results are recommended by SEO experts because they make your website more noticeable in the Google search results and have been shown to improve click-through rates (CTR).
The click-through rate is the number of people clicking on your website versus the number of people seeing it in the Google search results (but not clicking). The number of people seeing your website but not clicking is known as impressions.
For pet grooming businesses, you can use local business structured data to give Google information about your location, contact details and opening hours. This makes it easier for you to rank for location-specific keywords.
10 - Get Social Proof
SEO for pet groomers is not just about technical SEO but about an overall marketing strategy. Social proof is a marketing term that describes people’s tendency to follow others or seek reassurance before making a purchasing decision.
Social proof is essentially a psychological phenomenon in which people are influenced by the actions of others. This applies to marketing because potential clients need to build trust before making decisions.
For pet groomers this means getting regular reviews from customers and displaying them in a way that is accessible to potential clients. Google Business Reviews are really useful because they serve two functions: they can help the ranking of your Google Business Profile and they provide social proof.
You can also display case studies and review quotes on your website itself to show potential clients that you are a trusted service.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is a valuable tool for growing your pet business and getting more client bookings. SEO for pet groomers is achievable when you are armed with the right knowledge and information.
Use the 10 trusted SEO methods mentioned above to make local SEO obtainable for your pet grooming business. Through implementing these strategies you can improve the SEO of your cat grooming or dog grooming business and make it easier for potential clients to find you on Google.
If you need more help with SEO for pet groomers, I offer a range of on-page SEO services for new and existing pet grooming businesses, including:
Google SEO Starter Package for New Pet Businesses
Pet Blog Writing Services
Pet Blog Auditing Services
