2 a.m. and the dog ate something
Your site should say what to do next, even with the clinic closed.
What the home page says
Section by section, in the order a visitor reads it.
Urgent care and after hours
A panicked owner needs the next step in seconds. Say what counts as urgent, when to call you, and name the emergency hospital you send people to after hours, with its address. Keep it high on the page.
Animals we see
It's the first thing anyone with a rabbit, a parrot or a horse checks. List the animals you treat and say plainly which you don't, because that saves a call and a wasted drive.
Services
Owners type wellness exam, puppy shots, spay and neuter and dental cleaning, so use those words. Give surgery and dentistry pages of their own, since people want to know about anesthesia, recovery and cost.
What visits cost
A surprise bill is what owners dread most. Print your exam fee if you're willing, say how estimates work, and name the pet insurance or payment plans you accept. Give Shingle those figures, because it's built not to invent them.
Meet the team
Owners are handing over a member of the family. Give real names and degrees, with photos of your staff and patients taken with the owners' permission. Mention AAHA accreditation or Fear Free certification only if you hold them.
Request a visit
Ask for the owner's name, the pet's name and a good time to call. Shingle's forms and booking aren't a medical record system, so a pet's history, lab results and prescriptions stay in your practice software or on the phone.
How they search
- vet near me
- emergency vet near me
- vet open saturday
- cat vet near me
- low cost spay and neuter
- puppy shots near me
- exotic vet near me
- dog teeth cleaning cost
What earns their trust
- Each veterinarian's name, degree and state license
- Which animals you see, and which you send elsewhere
- The emergency hospital you send people to, by name
- Your exam fee, or how estimates work
- The pet insurance and payment plans you accept
- Real photos of your staff with patients, shared with permission
- Accreditations you actually hold
How it gets found
What moves a veterinarian up in a town's results.
Choose the category that's true
Veterinarian is the usual main category. Use Emergency veterinarian service or Animal hospital only if that's what you are, because people choosing those are in a hurry and will drive over.
Never say 24 hours unless you are
Google shows “open now” to someone with a sick animal. Keep your hours exact on your listing and your site, which don't update each other, and put your overnight plan in words on the page.
A page for each species or service
A cat owner searching for a cat vet wants to know you're good with cats. A page on rabbit care or dentistry can say what one line never will. Only write pages for what you do often.
Mark up the clinic
VeterinaryCare is schema.org's type for a vet's office. Your published site carries your address, phone and hours in the form search engines read, so check those in Details before you publish.
How to sell one
Independent clinics now share search results with corporate groups and big-box vets. Their owners are short of staff and tired of answering the same calls, so a site that says “we don't see birds” and “here's where to go at night” takes real pressure off the front desk.
Show the after-hours section first, because every practice owner knows how those calls feel. Then ask who changes the site when the emergency hospital changes. Build the demo, then fill in their animals and services with them, since it knows only their public details.
- “We're booked out for weeks.”
- Then the site's job is to set expectations: if you're taking new clients, how long the wait is, and who can help sooner. That cuts the calls you can't help with.
- “Our pet portal and app already do this.”
- Keep them and link to them. A portal serves the clients you have. A stranger with a sick cat at 9 p.m. can't log in, and they're deciding if you're the one to call.
- “Can clients request refills through it?”
- A form can ask you to call back, and that's as far as it should go. Prescriptions, records and lab results stay in the practice software. If the clinic wants more online, link to its portal and have it ask its own adviser about the rest.
- “We already pay for a site through our software vendor.”
- Ask who can change the hours today, and how long it takes. Compare their after-hours page with yours on a phone. Check the contract's end date before you promise a switch.
Common questions
Can't find your answer? Read Shingle Help or email [email protected].
Which animals you see, if you're taking new clients, your services, what a visit costs or how estimates work, the veterinarians' names and your hours. Put the after-hours plan near the top, with the emergency hospital you send people to. Add your phone number and a short request form.
Say what you handle during the day, and that people should call ahead. Then name the hospital you send people to after hours, with its address, because a panicked owner won't go looking. Shingle is built not to invent facts, so tell it that hospital's name, and edit the page by hand if it changes.
A form can ask you to call back, but keep records out of it. Shingle's forms and booking aren't a medical record system, so a pet's history, lab results and prescriptions stay in your practice software or portal. Check your state board's rules on records, and ask your own adviser what your clinic needs.
Yes. Owners pick a service, a day and a time on Shingle's booking page, and with staff added each vet takes their own bookings. It suits routine visits such as a wellness exam, so tell owners of sick animals to call. If your clinic's software has online scheduling, link your Book buttons to it instead.
Use your own photos, with each owner's permission, and remember that a stock or generated picture isn't one of your patients. Review quotes only appear if you switch them on, and each one needs the reviewer's permission. Rules on advertising vary, so check your state board's rules too.
Yes. Leave your street address off and list your towns as the area you serve, so the site shows where you go with no map pin. Say how far you travel and what you can't do at a house, such as surgery or X-rays, and send people to your scheduler or a short request form.
Read next
- Online bookingServices, staff, hours and reminders on a booking page.
- Local SEOTitles, business data, a sitemap and Search Console.
- Website formsForms that email you and send each lead where you work.
- Get more Google reviewsHow to ask, when, and what Google's rules forbid.
- Local business schema markupA real example, the properties, and how to test it.
- Local business schema generatorStructured data for your page's head.
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