Schema markup for pet sitters

Pet sitter schema markup, with code to copy

Mark up a sitting business as LocalBusiness, with areaServed listing the suburbs you visit and an offer catalog that keeps drop-ins, cat visits and overnight stays apart, each priced per visit or per night. Add the animals you look after with knowsAbout, so a rabbit owner can see you take rabbits.

Generate yours See the example

The type to use

LocalBusiness

A pet sitter is a LocalBusiness that goes to its customers, so the type pairs with areaServed rather than a street address. schema.org has no sitting or house-sitting type; your catalog is what says drop-in, overnight or house sit.

LocalBusiness on schema.org

What to include

The properties that matter for pet sitters

Most important first. Fill in what's true for you and leave out the rest; every value must also be on the page.

hasOfferCatalog: Each kind of visit as its own offer: a 30-minute drop-in, a cat visit, an overnight stay. UnitPriceSpecification with “per night” or “per visit” stops a nightly rate being read as the cost of a fortnight.
areaServed: The suburbs you'll travel to for daily visits, spelled the way locals spell them. Owners going away search by suburb.
address: Suburb, state and postcode, no street. Clients' homes, and the dates they're empty, stay private; so does yours.
knowsAbout: The animals you look after, such as cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and older dogs, matching the list on your services page.
telephone: The number for booking a meet-and-greet. People planning a holiday want to talk before they hand over a key.
email: Holiday bookings often start with an email weeks ahead; give the address you check every day.
priceRange: A span such as “$30–$95”, from a short drop-in to a night in the client's home.
sameAs: Your Mad Paws or Facebook profile, the places your reviews already sit.

Example

Copy, then make it yours

This is the markup for a made-up business. Replace every value with your own before you use it.

Change every name, address, number and link to your own, and delete lines that don't apply.
Paste it into your site's header code (website builders call it “code injection” or “custom code”), or let ServiceCited add it for you.
Check it with Google's Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator.

LocalBusiness JSON-LD

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Whisker & Wag Sitting",
  "description": "Drop-in visits, cat visits and overnight stays in Marrickville, Newtown, Dulwich Hill and Petersham.",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/",
  "image": "https://www.example.com/images/cat-visit.jpg",
  "telephone": "+61 2 5550 2731",
  "email": "hello@example.com",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "addressLocality": "Marrickville",
    "addressRegion": "NSW",
    "postalCode": "2204",
    "addressCountry": "AU"
  },
  "areaServed": [
    {
      "@type": "Place",
      "name": "Marrickville NSW"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Place",
      "name": "Newtown NSW"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Place",
      "name": "Dulwich Hill NSW"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Place",
      "name": "Petersham NSW"
    }
  ],
  "knowsAbout": [
    "Cats",
    "Dogs",
    "Rabbits",
    "Guinea pigs",
    "Older dogs"
  ],
  "priceRange": "$30–$95",
  "hasOfferCatalog": {
    "@type": "OfferCatalog",
    "name": "Pet sitting",
    "itemListElement": [
      {
        "@type": "Offer",
        "itemOffered": {
          "@type": "Service",
          "name": "Drop-in visit, 30 minutes"
        },
        "priceSpecification": {
          "@type": "UnitPriceSpecification",
          "price": 32,
          "priceCurrency": "AUD",
          "unitText": "per visit"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Offer",
        "itemOffered": {
          "@type": "Service",
          "name": "Cat visit: food, litter and play, 30 minutes"
        },
        "priceSpecification": {
          "@type": "UnitPriceSpecification",
          "price": 30,
          "priceCurrency": "AUD",
          "unitText": "per visit"
        }
      },
      {
        "@type": "Offer",
        "itemOffered": {
          "@type": "Service",
          "name": "Overnight stay in your home, 7pm to 7am"
        },
        "priceSpecification": {
          "@type": "UnitPriceSpecification",
          "price": 95,
          "priceCurrency": "AUD",
          "unitText": "per night"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "sameAs": [
    "https://www.example.com/your-mad-paws-profile",
    "https://www.facebook.com/example"
  ]
}
</script>

Watch out

Mistakes pet sitters make with markup

“Pet sitting” as a single service
Drop-ins, cat visits and overnight stays are booked, priced and timed differently. Under one name, an assistant can't tell an owner whether you'll stay the night.
Your marketplace profile as your url
url is your own website. If it points to your Mad Paws or Rover page, the block describes their listing rather than your business; those profiles go in sameAs.
Monday-to-Friday hours for a holiday business
Website templates often fill in nine to five on weekdays. For a sitter who works weekends and school holidays, that says you're closed exactly when owners need you; give real hours or leave them out.

Also worth adding

Service: If overnight stays have their own page, a Service block there can carry the nightly price, the suburbs it's offered in and what the evening and morning include.

FAQ

Pet sitters: markup questions

Type to search these questions, or ask anything about getting found on Google and AI.

Should the markup say I stay overnight in the client's home?

Yes, in the service name or its description, for example “overnight stay in your home, 7pm to 7am”. Owners, and the assistants they ask, need to know that's different from a late drop-in.

I only sit cats. Is there a type for that?

No, cat sitting has no type of its own either. Keep LocalBusiness, then let the name, the description and a catalog of cat visits say it; knowsAbout can list cats alone.

Can I mark up the dates I'm already booked?

No. Markup describes the business, and bookings change daily. Say on the page how far ahead school holidays and Christmas fill up, and link to where owners can check dates.

More for pet sitters

Be the first name owners find.

Run the free check, then press Optimize. Then back to the dogs.

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