Non-Branded Search Optimization Increased VEG’s In-Person Clinic Visits

The Challenge

Veterinary Emergency Group, or VEG, is a growing network of animal emergency clinics with locations in more than a dozen states. While the company operates on a national scale, its business model relies on bringing individuals (and their pets) to in-person clinics. Our solution was to transition from using a broader, more generic keyword strategy to a more focused, intent-based keyword set that more closely aligned with the client’s goals.

Our Solution

To reach users searching for emergency veterinary clinics, VEG’s Google Ads account contains more than 60 location-based non-branded search campaigns. After developing a new keyword structure with an eye toward more location-based keywords, the ADM team tested the new structure in 12 campaigns with mid-level performance.

In addition to transitioning from broader terms like “veterinarian” toward more specific themes like “emergency vet near me”, ADM also began segmenting ad groups by match type. This helped to not only ensure ads were serving for more relevant, high intent queries, but also eliminated a significant amount of competitor traffic and searches for non-emergency veterinary services.

With the restructure, each of these 12 campaigns now contained eight ad groups each. There were both Exact and Phrase match ad groups for four main themes. As a short-term result, the team anticipated a drop in clicks because of removing the more general terms, as well as Broad match variations, but the belief was that the narrowed focus would enable the campaigns to perform more efficiently.