Playbook · Dog Walking & Pet Sitting · Websites
The complete guide to dog walking website design
How a dog walking or pet sitting business builds a website that turns an owner’s visit into a meet-and-greet, on a site it owns. What goes on the first screen, what goes on each page, and what to track.
The short version
What should a dog walking or pet sitting website have?
A dog walking or pet sitting website should load fast on a phone, show the neighborhoods you cover, list rates for walks, drop-ins and overnights, and let an owner request a meet-and-greet in a minute. It should introduce each walker or sitter by name and photo, show insurance and background checks, display recent reviews, explain how keys and updates work, and track every call and request.
What goes on a page that books
What a pet care page shows before the scroll
If an owner can’t see who will walk their dog and how to meet them, they go back to the app. This is the layout we start from.
- 1Tap-to-call numberAlways one tap away at the top of the screen.
- 2Service + city headlineTells owners and Google what you do and where.
- 3Recent reviewsStar rating, review count and a walker with a client dog.
- 4Book a meet-and-greetA short request form with the dates and services needed.
- 5Why youShort, specific reasons, like the same walker, insurance and photo updates.
Step by step
The playbook
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01
Answer three questions on the first screen
Who will be in my home, what does it cost, and how do we meet. If any of the three takes a scroll or a call, owners go back to the app.
- A service + city headline
- A tap-to-call number at the top
- A meet-your-walker button and a see-rates button
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02
Introduce every walker and sitter
Owners want to know who has their key. A bio and photo for each walker does more than any list of services.
- Name, photo and a short bio
- The neighborhoods each one covers
- Photos with client dogs, with the owners’ permission
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03
Publish your rates
Owners can check app prices in seconds. Hiding yours sends them back to the app.
- Rates for walks, drop-ins and overnights
- What changes them, like extra pets or holiday dates
- Weekly or package rates for regular walks
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04
Spell out the trust details
Answer the questions owners worry about before they have to ask.
- Insurance, bonding and background checks
- How keys and lockboxes are handled
- How owners get updates during walks and stays
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05
Keep the meet-and-greet request short
Most owners want to meet first, so the main button should request a meet-and-greet. Short flows win in pet services: Scoop Soldiers got 24% more clients in 14 days after turning a three-step signup into one instant online sign-up.
- Ask for dates, services and pets
- Save vet details and routines for the meet-and-greet
- Connect the form to your scheduling software where possible
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06
Build service and neighborhood pages
Daily walks, drop-ins, overnights, puppy visits and cat sitting each get a page, and so does each neighborhood you cover.
- Rates and a request button on every service page
- The walkers who cover each neighborhood
- Local reviews on every neighborhood page
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07
Make it fast on a phone
Most owners will find you on a phone. Build pages lean and check them against Google’s Core Web Vitals before launch.
- Compress photos before uploading
- Skip sliders and autoplay video on the first screen
- Test each page with Google PageSpeed Insights
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08
Track every request, test the path, then improve
Start on launch day, so you can see which pages and sources book meet-and-greets and how many owners booked you directly. Then change one thing at a time and keep what books more.
- A key event in Google Analytics (GA4), the actions it counts as results, for tap-to-call, meet-and-greet requests, sitting date requests and portal signups, each with an estimated value attached
- Hidden fields on every form that pass the click ID (gclid) and the link’s source tags (UTMs) into Time To Pet or Precise Petcare with the new client
- A test meet-and-greet from your phone every month to check it reaches GA4, Google Ads, Meta and your scheduling software
- Test one change at a time, like the headline, the walker bios or the request form, and keep what books more
Free PDF
Get the full dog walking and pet sitting playbook as a PDF
All three guides, every checklist and the marketing calendar in one file you can print or hand to your office manager.
- Local SEO, ads and website, step by step
- Printable checklists
- A month-by-month marketing calendar
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Dog walking and pet sitting website checklist
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What not to do
Common mistakes
No faces on the site
Owners won’t hand a key to a logo. A site without walker bios sends them to an app, where they can at least see a profile.
Hiding your rates
“Contact us for pricing” loses owners who can see app prices in seconds.
Linking to your app profile
Sending owners to your app listing hands the booking, the review and the fee to the app.
A long intake form up front
Vet details and feeding notes belong at the meet-and-greet. Up front, they lose people.
Your monthly report
How to measure a dog walking and pet sitting website
If it doesn’t tie back to a booked job, it’s a leading indicator at best. Track these every month.
- Requests per visitShare of visitors who request a meet-and-greet, by page
- Value of direct requestsThe estimated value of requests from your own site, with no app fee taken
- Direct clientsNew clients who booked through your own site
- Requests by sourceMeet-and-greet requests by source, so you see which channels bring owners to your site
Questions
Dog walking and pet sitting website questions
Should a dog walking website show rates?
Yes. Owners can check app prices in seconds, so hiding yours sends them back to the app. List rates for walks, drop-ins and overnights, and note what changes them, like extra pets or holiday dates. Clear rates also filter out owners who only want the cheapest option.
Can clients book a dog walker online?
Yes. Most owners want a meet-and-greet first, so the main button should request one, with a short form for dates and services. Short flows win in pet services: Scoop Soldiers got 24% more clients in 14 days after we turned a three-step signup into one instant online sign-up.
What trust details should a pet sitting website show?
Names and photos of the people coming into the home, insurance and bonding, background checks, how keys and lockboxes are handled, and how owners get updates during walks and stays. Recent reviews that mention dogs by name back it all up.
Do I still need a website if I’m on Rover?
If you want clients of your own, yes. An app profile belongs to the app, and so do the reviews and messages on it. Your website and Google profile are where owners find you directly, and where you keep the full rate on every booking.
Will a new website hurt my Google rankings?
Not if it’s handled right. Redirect every old URL to its new page, keep the content that already ranks, like service and neighborhood pages, and submit the new sitemap to Google Search Console so Google finds the new pages quickly.
Rather not do it yourself?
We run this playbook for dog walking and pet sitting companies
Same plan, run by a senior team and reported in booked jobs. Tell us your service area and the jobs you want more of.