Facebook posting by Peter Clifton 13th December.
Following the recent post on internet puppy searching, I have written to Tony Allcock OBE Chairman of The Kennel Club illustrating the problems with internet search engines and the ranking of the Kennel Club web site.
Have also made other basic suggestions that with vision would build trust, and help ensure the general public at long last are guided in the right direction when searching for a puppy. The Kennel Club, Breed Clubs and their membership by implementing a one voice approach can transform the internet rankings of every breed, that from a marketing view is of the utmost importance.
We await a reply.
OUR DOGS - ISSUE 08/01/21
AND ANOTHER THING......... RONNIE IRVING
Peter Clifton
 tells me that there has been some discussion on social media about the Kennel Club’s positioning in search engines, and the fact that it is not as high up the lists as other sources of information when the public is looking to buy a puppy.
He was of the view that something ought to be done to improve that. He said: “Example – ‘Boston Terrier puppies for sale UK’ – if you enter that, you will see that Pets4home occupy top spot and this applies on all individual breeds. The Kennel Club ranks badly while never on top spot they do make first page ranking in a few breeds. After which they may be found listed on page 2 or far further down the pages.
“It’s a fact that one’s site must be on the first page and preferably in the top five. Failure to do this means one’s site receives very little site hits. You will also find on searching, that breed clubs and a few known kennels occasionally appear on the first page.
“From my experience in this field, I feel the present situation should be immediately rectified, and once done would solve many of the problems facing the pet buying market by steering buyers in the correct direction.”
I tried to test it and Googled ‘Boston Terrier puppies for sale.’ and up came the KC’s advert top of the list. The same applied when I searched for other breeds and so I thought Peter had got it wrong. However I then tried to do likewise on Kate’s i-Pad and discovered that the KC was well down the list. That is rather alarming and just shows how much Google is monitoring my on-line activity to direct me towards KC oriented material. In my case it was preaching to the converted.
I am not an expert on how the KC can get itself higher up in the various search engines when people are looking for a purebred puppy. There are ways of improving your position in the search engine ranking and I guess that must be a matter for the KC’s Chief Marketing Officer who is also in charge of Communications.
When he was brought into the KC he was announced by the then KC Chairman who went on record saying: “The Kennel Club has in Steve Conway a new Head of Communications, who has already sought to reach out to build professional relationships with media partners. His knowledge of social media and the media world at large, combined with his expertise in Customer Relationship Management will be a great asset to all concerned.”
So that’s all right then - he should be able to sort things out.