Sunday, half past five, the dog’s bowl is empty and so is the bag. The owner types the name of the food and “near me”, and whichever shop’s page says it stocks that brand and is open until six gets the drive over. Websites for pet shops in Dublin are judged on three facts: the brands, the hours and the pin on the map. Everything else on the page is there to earn the second visit.
The brand list is the website
Pet owners are loyal to a food, and switching it upsets the animal, so people search by brand name. List what you stock by animal: dog, cat, small animals, birds, fish, reptiles. Include the raw and frozen ranges, the grain-free and sensitive ranges, the veterinary diets if you carry them, and the treatments for fleas, ticks and worms. Under the list, one line: “if we do not have your bag we can usually order it in”, with a form that goes to your email and WhatsApp.
Each brand on the page is a search you can turn up for, and the same brand names go on your Google listing as products. A shop that says what it sells gets found for what it sells; a shop that says “all your pet needs” gets found for nothing in particular.
Fish, hamsters and the birthday present
If you keep live animals, say what you keep and what you do not: tropical and coldwater fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, budgies, reptiles. Parents search “pet shop with hamsters” the week before a birthday, and a page that lists what a first hamster needs, with a photo of the setup and a rough total, saves you the twenty minute conversation and sends the family in ready to buy. The same for a first fish tank, where the honest advice about setting it up before the fish arrive is what a good shop gives anyway.
The grooming table at the back
Many pet shops have a grooming room, and it runs on a diary. If yours does, the page lists the services by size and coat (full groom, bath and brush, nail clip, puppy introduction), and customers book a slot online with a note about the dog: anxious, matted, first time. A reminder text the day before cuts the empty slots. That booking side is the main reason a pet shop picks Complete, and how online bookings work explains the mechanics. For a shop that is grooming first and retail second, the pet groomers page is the better fit.
The pet shop year
Fireworks around Halloween bring the calming sprays and anxiety wraps forward in early October, and it is worth a line on the page a month ahead. Christmas is advent calendars, stockings, beds and the boxes of treats. Spring is the moult and the deshedding tools. Summer is cooling mats, tick season, and the travel crates for the holiday. Each of those is a sentence on the “this month” strip that you change from your phone, and a reason for a regular to come back in.
Photos that say the staff know their animals
The shelves by brand so people can see their bag. The tanks lit up. The grooming room clean and dry. The staff with their own dogs, because that is the shop people trust with advice. The dog bowl and the “dogs welcome” sign at the door.
Pet shops are often a unit in a retail park, so the directions need to say which unit and where to park, and the pin on Google needs to be on your door rather than on the car park; there is a guide to fixing a Google Maps listing if yours is sitting in the wrong place.
Hand over
Your brands by animal, the live animals you keep, your grooming services and prices if you have them, your hours, whether you deliver bags locally, any loyalty scheme you run, and a dozen photos. Ten minutes at the counter and we have what we need.
Essentials first, Complete for the grooming room
Essentials at €499 to set up and €50 a month covers the brand list, the hours, the map pin and the edit page. Complete at €1,499 and €100 is the one for the grooming room, with bookings, reminders and a review text after each groom. The full comparison is on the pricing page.