The short answer
Insurance, DBS or equivalent checks, pet first aid, references, and visit reports with photos. All stated on the site, with the report example shown.
An owner is about to give a stranger a key to their house and a dog they would not lend to their brother. Nothing else on the site matters until that is settled.
Put it on a page of its own
Not a paragraph on the about page. A page, linked from the header, that an owner can read in ninety seconds and then send to their partner.
Five sections, in this order.
Insurance. Who you are insured with and what the policy covers: public liability, care custody and control, and key cover. Give the amount. "Fully insured" means nothing; a stated figure and a named insurer mean something.
Vetting. In the UK, an enhanced DBS check with the date it was issued. Elsewhere, the equivalent background check for your country. Say who holds it and that you will show it at the meet-and-greet.
First aid. Canine first aid training, who trained you, and when you last renewed it. Owners of elderly and medicated dogs screen on this.
References. Two or three, from clients who have agreed, with a first name and an area. Better still, offer to put a prospective owner in touch with an existing one.
The visit report. Show one. This is the part almost every walker leaves out.
Why the sample report does the heavy lifting
Everything above is a claim. The report is evidence of what the service actually looks like on a Tuesday.
Publish one, with the dog's name changed and the owner's permission. The photo from the walk, the route, the time in and out, a line on how the dog was, and whether it was fed or given water. An owner reading that knows exactly what will land on their phone at lunchtime.
It converts because it moves the decision from trusting a person to seeing a routine.
Show your face
A photograph of you, outdoors, with dogs. Not a stock image, not a logo, not a photograph of a golden retriever from a photo library. Owners are hiring a person.
Same for anyone else who walks. If a second walker might turn up, they are on the page with a photo and their own vetting stated, because "one of the team" is exactly what a nervous owner is worried about.
Answer the key question directly
How keys are held, how they are labelled, where they are stored, and what happens if one is lost. Say whether you prefer a lockbox. This is the thing owners think about at three in the morning and almost no website addresses it.
Add the practical ones alongside: what happens if the dog is ill, if you are ill, if the weather is dangerous, and what your emergency vet arrangement is.
Group size, stated as a number
For anyone using group walks, the maximum number of dogs walked together is a trust statement as much as a pricing one. Give the number, say how dogs are matched, and say what happens to a dog that turns out not to suit a group.
Vagueness here reads as a large group. If your cap is genuinely low, it is one of your best selling points and it should be on the home page.
Reviews, from Google
Google reviews carry weight that words on your own site cannot, because owners know you did not write them. Ask after the first month, when the relationship is new and the owner is relieved. Show recent ones on the trust page and keep them flowing rather than collecting twenty once.
What not to do
Do not use badge images without substance behind them. Do not claim "police checked" if you mean nothing formal. Do not publish a client's full name or their address in a testimonial. Do not stage the photographs; owners can tell.
Where this sits
The trust page, the sample visit report, the key handling section and the Google reviews block are all part of a dog walker website as we build it, and the same proof pattern runs through our other pet business websites. What is included is on pricing. Prices and areas decide whether an owner enquires. Proof decides whether they hand over the key.