SEO case study · My own business
Pet Getaway
The WordPress website and local SEO for my own home dog boarding business in Hindley, Wigan, built to compete with established local kennels.
Overview
Pet Getaway is my own home dog boarding business, based in Hindley, Wigan and serving Wigan and the surrounding area. I built its WordPress website and have handled its search work: technical and on-page SEO, structured data, Google Business Profile and links.
Because it’s my own business, the figures below come straight from its own accounts: Google Search Console and the site’s form entries.
The aim was simple: be found by people nearby who are actively looking for dog boarding, and make it easy for them to get in touch.
The challenge
Build organic visibility for a local dog boarding business competing against established local providers, then turn that visibility into enquiries.
Search results for the main commercial terms are crowded: kennels with years of reviews and an established web presence sit alongside the map results. A new site had to earn trust as well as visibility.
Keyword research
The targets were commercial-intent local searches, the kind made by someone ready to book:
- dog boarding wigan
- dog boarding near me
- dog kennels wigan
- dog home boarding wigan
- doggy daycare wigan
The Search Console table below shows how those terms went on to perform.
SEO strategy
Work followed five stages: research, build, optimise, authority and measure.
The approach combined WordPress development, technical SEO, on-site optimisation, structured data, backlinks, Google Business Profile work and conversion-led page design, rather than treating any one of them as the whole answer.
On-page SEO
- On-page: keyword targeting, metadata, internal linking, content structure and service-page optimisation.
- Technical: schema markup, XML sitemaps, indexing fixes, mobile optimisation and attention to Core Web Vitals.
- Conversion: enquiry forms placed to turn visits into leads.
Local SEO
Google Business Profile optimisation, building genuine reviews, and work on local-pack visibility, so the website and the map listing reinforce each other for local searches.
Screenshots
Results
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466
Search clicks
27 Feb – 26 May 2026 (3 months, Web search) · Source: Google Search Console
Includes 80 clicks for the brand name “pet getaway”.
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11.1K
Search impressions
27 Feb – 26 May 2026 (3 months, Web search) · Source: Google Search Console
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4.2%
Average click-through rate
27 Feb – 26 May 2026 (3 months, Web search) · Source: Google Search Console
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15
Average position across all queries
27 Feb – 26 May 2026 (3 months, Web search) · Source: Google Search Console
An average across every query, including long-tail terms. Individual commercial terms rank higher.
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77
Enquiry form submissions ("Fast Enquire")
Form created 7 Feb 2026; last entry 24 May 2026 (all time at that date) · Source: WordPress form entries (site admin)
Form submissions, not confirmed bookings.
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38
Pet application form submissions
Form created 6 Feb 2026; last entry 21 May 2026 (all time at that date) · Source: WordPress form entries (site admin)
Form submissions, not confirmed bookings.
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1st
First organic result for “dog boarding wigan”
Late May 2026 (incognito Google search) · Source: Manual Google search
On the same search the business also appeared second in the local map results above the organic listings.
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4.9
Google review rating
Late May 2026 (33 reviews) · Source: Google Business Profile
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29
Ahrefs Domain Rating
Late May 2026 · Source: Ahrefs
A point-in-time reading, not a measure of growth.