Pet owners rely heavily on Internet searches to find a qualified veterinarian. But how do you insure your practice gets listed near the top in a Google search? By understanding how Google organizes its data, and then organizing your own practice data similarly. Some free, online tools can help.

Partners for Healthy Pets (PHP), an alliance of 100+ veterinary associations, veterinary colleges, and animal health companies focused on preventive care led by AAHA and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), is offering free, downloadable tools that demystify search engine marketing and show you how to increase your practice’s online visibility.

The Jumpstart Your Practice Online series includes three modules, complete with videos and video transcripts, slides, and worksheets that show you some simple ways to boost your online presence and direct clients to your practice site.

Module 3a, Search Engines: Get on the Map, walks you through the three Cs that insure high Google placement: completeness of information, consistency in presenting that information, and citations in other online directories that Google notices (and rewards you for with additional visibility).

Module 3b, Search Engines: Content is King explains the rationale for creating a blog and offers some practical how-to’s, such as blog length, frequency, and type of content to include. You’ll also learn how to create a blog schedule, what the role of the editor is, and how to create a topic list.

Module 3c, Search Engine Visibility, steps you through how to write a blog that not only shares your practice’s expertise but also embed searchable words that Google will identify and which your clients will use to search with online. The result, of course, is that they will find you.

Search engine marketing is a required competence in today’s climate and these free, online tools offer practical, step-by-step processes you can implement immediately to create a website that is a client-attracting machine.

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