Pet owners are increasingly turning to AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI to find a vet. Misha Petrov, Founder of Seenmetric, analyzed what these tools recommend about 3,371 Australian clinics. The practices that get named share a few common traits.
Consider a family that recently moved to Ballarat with a new puppy. Instead of scrolling through a map, they ask Google’s AI for a recommendation. The answer lists five clinics and describes each. One is “great for people who have just moved to the area” and opens on Saturdays. Another has a “dedicated after-hours switch line.” A third offers a preventative health membership with “significant discounts.”
What the AI answer leaves out is a Ballarat clinic with a perfect 5.0 rating from 204 Google reviews. The five named clinics had between 245 and 431 reviews each. The highest-rated clinic in town, as far as the AI was concerned, had not built up enough of a reputation to mention.
AI Recommendations
This pattern was seen across the country. In early October, Seenmetric checked 3,371 Google listings for vet clinics. The firm then asked ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode the questions pet owners ask in 60 suburbs and towns, analyzing 360 answers. The AI does not have an opinion on veterinary medicine. “It repeats what it can find about you: your reviews, your hours, what clients say about your team,” says Dima Smetanin, co-founder of Seenmetric.
The research focused on 256 active clinics. For a clinic to be recommended, it needed to be named in at least one of the six AI answers for its area. The number of Google reviews was the strongest predictor. Among clinics with fewer than 50 reviews, only 37 per cent were named. With 50 to 199 reviews, 88 per cent were named. With 200 or more, 99 per cent were named.
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The star rating mattered far less. Clinics with a 4.8 or higher rating were named no more often than clinics with a 4.5 to 4.7 rating. “A 4.6 with 400 reviews looks like a safer recommendation than a 5.0 with 40,” Smetanin says. Nationally, three in ten active clinics still have fewer than 50 Google reviews.
When AI recommends a vet, the reasons are rarely clinical. Reviews or ratings were mentioned in 98 per cent of the 180 answers analyzed. Three in four answers described how the team treats people and their animals, using words from reviews like “compassionate” or “friendly.” Seven in ten mentioned after-hours or emergency cover. Nearly half noted weekend hours. Surgical capability and qualifications were rarely featured.
What AI Leaves Out
The AI also passes on less flattering comments. In a response about Parramatta, Google’s AI noted that “a few clients have noted that advanced surgical quotes can run high.” Gemini, advising a puppy owner on the Central Coast, warned that a clinic was “closed on Sundays, so be sure to book ahead during the week.” Both comments are factual, but not what the clinic would lead with.
One practical implication is clear: client reviews now define a clinic’s public reputation, whether written by the practice or not. When clients mention a nurse by name or say costs were explained clearly, that detail can appear in an AI’s response for a new client.
The AIs Don’t Always Agree
A clinic mentioned by ChatGPT might be absent from Gemini or Google’s AI Mode. When asked about the same suburb, the three systems agreed on only about half the clinics they named. The reason is simple: they read different sources. Gemini relied on Google Maps listings in 97 per cent of answers. ChatGPT linked to clinic websites in 89 per cent. Google’s AI Mode cited Google listings, websites, and booking pages more evenly.
This means a clinic’s Google profile, website, and booking information must all be consistent. If the hours on the Google profile disagree with the website, the AI might tell a potential client the wrong thing with great confidence.
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Named clinics also have the basics in place. Clinics that had claimed their Google profile were named 79 per cent of the time. Unclaimed profiles were named only 17 per cent of the time. Clinics open on Saturday were named 88 per cent of the time, compared to 48 per cent for those closed. Profiles with at least 10 photos were named 90 per cent of the time; with fewer, just 32 per cent.
Clinic Basics
These details matter because busy clinics tend to have these things already. Claiming a profile alone won’t guarantee a recommendation, but it gives the AI another fact to work with. A surprising number of practices give the AI very little to find. Of 2,785 active clinic listings, a quarter have fewer than 10 photos, and a quarter have no business description at all.
Websites also have significant gaps. Of 1,732 independent clinic websites checked, fewer than a third had a recognizable online booking system. Only four per cent of the pages checked stated that the clinic was taking new clients.
Research Methodology
Seenmetric gathered Google Business listings for 3,371 veterinary clinics in eight capital cities and 40 regional centres. After filtering, 2,785 active clinics remained.
The review-count analysis covered 256 active clinics in those 60 places. Each clinic was compared against the six AI answers for its location. An automated crawler checked 1,993 clinic websites, finding 1,732 independent clinics. Results represent patterns, not guarantees, as AI answers vary by user and over time.
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Practical Steps for Vet Clinics
Ask every client for a review. A card at the counter works, or a text after the consult with a direct link. Ask everyone, including the clients you suspect were unhappy, and don’t offer anything in return.
Actionable Steps
Claim your Google profile and fill it in. Check the hours, including public holidays, then add after-hours instructions, a short description, and some recent photos of the team and the building.
Put the practical details on your website in plain words: weekend hours, what to do after hours, where to park, whether you are taking new clients, and how long you have been in the area.
Make it easy to act on a recommendation. Put a phone number that can be tapped on a mobile and a booking button near the top of the page.
Check yourself in more than one AI. Every few months, ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google’s AI Mode “Who is a good vet in [your suburb]?” and write down who gets named and what gets said.
