Inside PetZu: how we match you with the right vet

When you search for a vet on PetZu, the results aren't sorted by distance alone, or by rating alone — they're ranked by a weighted score that tries to approximate what actually matters to you. Here's a simplified version of how it works.

The scoring inputs

Four signals feed the score: rating, review volume (a 5.0 from 3 reviews shouldn't outrank a 4.8 from 800), distance, and whether the provider is currently accepting new patients. Each gets normalized to a 0–1 range before weighting.

interface ScoringInput {
  rating: number; // 0-5
  reviewCount: number;
  distanceMiles: number;
  acceptingNewPatients: boolean;
}

function scoreProvider(input: ScoringInput): number {
  const ratingScore = input.rating / 5;
  const volumeConfidence = Math.min(input.reviewCount / 200, 1);
  const distanceScore = 1 - Math.min(input.distanceMiles / 25, 1);
  const availabilityBoost = input.acceptingNewPatients ? 1 : 0.4;

  return (
    ratingScore * 0.4 +
    volumeConfidence * 0.2 +
    distanceScore * 0.25 +
    availabilityBoost * 0.15
  );
}

Why review volume gets its own weight

A perfect rating with almost no reviews is a weaker signal than a slightly lower rating with hundreds — the `volumeConfidence` term prevents a brand-new, unreviewed profile from ever accidentally outranking an established, trusted one on rating alone.

What this doesn't do (yet)

This version doesn't personalize based on your own search history or the specialties you've searched for before — that's a reasonable next iteration, but it adds a cold-start problem we haven't solved cleanly yet.