At Beyond Indigo Pets, we want you to feel confident with your marketing efforts, which is why we’re back again with more questions we see frequently from veterinarians and practice managers. Keep reading to check out the answers to some of the top veterinary marketing questions from August 2023:

How Do I Respond to a Star-Only Review without Comments?

Your online reputation affects every aspect of your marketing efforts, and it is very important to be active in responding to your reviews—yes even those with only stars. Here’s a breakdown of how to respond to different levels of star-only reviews:

1-3 Stars

Responding to a lower-star review with no description can be challenging because you lack specific details about the customer’s concerns. Doing the following will help you make the best impression.

• Acknowledge the feedback, say thank you for taking the time to leave a review
• Invite further communication—ask them to call you to share more specific details about why their experience was not 5-star
• Highlight your commitment to customer satisfaction: reiterate your dedication to providing excellent customer service
• Stay positive and professional: avoid getting defensive or confrontational

4 Stars

4 stars can be tricky because some people mean them as a very positive review, while others use it to show there is something left to be desired with your service. 

• Start your reply by thanking the customer for their review
• Leave your contact information and let them know you are happy to help with anything more they need
• Mention you are eager to see them and their pet again soon

5 Stars

It’s important to even respond to positive reviews to show clients and potential customers that you are easy to reach and quick to respond. 

• Express your gratitude for taking the time to leave a review
• Let them know that you appreciate their business and are excited to see them again in the future

Why Isn’t My Practice Showing Up in the Top Spot Every Time I Search?

Google considers many factors when determining the order of search results, including the location of the searcher. Your website may not rank consistently well for a keyword in every search location or device. Don’t worry—this is a perfectly normal phenomenon. Your website may rank #1 more often if a prospective customer searches for your practice at 5 miles away vs 10 miles away.

SEO tools that track rankings typically show average website rankings for a certain keyword  within a given time period. It’s more important that your website averages #1 than for you to consistently see it there every time you search. 

If you are not averaging in the top spot, it might be time for some SEO help from Beyond Indigo Pets.

Why Do I Show Up for “Emergency Vet Near Me” When I Don’t Do Emergency Services?

Since Google provides results to queries in order of most to least relevant, and more specific terms may only have a few truly correct answers, certain results may rank quite high on search results that aren’t very relevant.

“Emergency vet near me” searches may be correctly met with google returning a 24/7 emergency hospitals website as the top result. Sometimes the second and third results happen to be general veterinary practices that don’t offer emergency services. This happens because they are the next most relevant results (as veterinary practices) within a reasonable distance to the searcher.

How Can I Remove Reviews from My Google Profile?

While it is notoriously difficult to remove Google reviews, there are a few actions you can take. Please note, even when a review obviously falls into one of these categories, there is no guarantee that the review will be removed. [insert photo]

Sometimes practice owners confuse bad reviews with irrelevant or spammy reviews. Flagging a real review describing a client’s experience at a hospital is nearly impossible to remove unless it contains profanity or hate speech. Spammy reviews that may be from fake Gmail accounts are easier to remove, although still rely on the discretionary review of Google’s employees/review system. Beyond Indigo Pets is here to help with your online review management.

Have a question that wasn’t included here? Feel free to contact us so we can find you an answer! Fill out our form or call (877) 244-9322 today!