Your daycare center or childcare business SEO audit role is to make sure that you get found by the right families. It has caring people on staff ready to nurture your clients’ children, a safe and secure property, plenty of educational toys, and map mats rolled up neatly on racks. But, it may not have a strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy to get attention.
Especially, the attention of local parents who need the services you provide. This is an essential part of marketing in today’s world. Part of the reason that daycare SEO — or SEO in general — can feel so confusing is that the target you’re aiming for is always changing. More so, as you optimize your daycare website and online presence to get noticed by the Google algorithm.
Of course, yes, you can be doing everything perfectly by the book — until Google changes something with its algorithm. With that in mind, you should read on to learn a few ways to optimize your childcare business SEO for better results.
Why A Strategic Childcare Business SEO Plan Matters
If you’re like most daycare business owners or managers, your marketing budget is tight. You likely aren’t able to create expensive advertising campaigns for your business, even though you need to reach more families as little ones age out of your programs. By staying on top of daycare SEO, you can improve the effectiveness of your daycare marketing campaigns by far.
This is why daycare SEO should play an important role in all your marketing plans. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a powerful tool to increase your organic or unpaid reach and engage your target audience. It works by maximizing your online presence so links to your website rank higher in results pages generated by search engines like Google.
Eventually, to understand how a daycare center or childcare business SEO works for any given website, think about how most of your prospective families search for daycare facilities. They will likely type in something like “daycare near me” or “child care in Boise.” The words and phrases that people type in search boxes are called keywords.
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If you don’t have those words and phrases somewhere on your website, Google won’t find your business and list your daycare among the search results returned by those keywords. But, the right business marketing keywords are just one element of SEO. You also need to maximize the backend of your site so that it is user-friendly.
Also, another way to increase your ranking organically is to generate more backlinks. Not forgetting, backlinks are when other similar but leading industry websites link to yours. Whereby, you can get more by offering high-quality content like blog posts that people will want to share on their own websites. So, what does organic reach look like?
If integrated into a long-term strategy, SEO can:
- Increase the traffic to your daycare website
- Improve your brand reputation and position within your community
- Help you enroll more families into your childcare facility
- Be noticeable even when you integrate paid advertising and outreach efforts
While SEO can be extremely effective as a marketing initiative, many entrepreneurs don’t implement the changes necessary to rank better in online searches simply because the process seems overwhelming — but it doesn’t have to be.
How To Improve Your Childcare Business SEO Auditing Strategy
The first step to improving your daycare or childcare business SEO auditing strategy is to conduct an audit of your current website. If you don’t have a quality business website design in place yet, now is the perfect time to invest in one. An online home for your daycare gives you control over your online reputation. In most cases, a hyperlocal SEO plan often works.
Bear in mind, sometimes people will just type in “daycare near me” since location plays a role in their decisions. This is a different facet of optimizing your search engine ranking, and it’s known as Local SEO to be precise. To do this, claim your business on Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, and Bing Places — along with any other listing services that are available.
Try to identify your audience with as many details as possible. Think beyond the fact that they’re all young families. Brainstorm ways that your business stands apart from the competition — so that you can have a better understanding of your brand. Use that uniqueness to inform messaging that reflects your values and services.
Video Guideline: How Google Crawling Bots Source And Use Information In Business Listings
Especially, those that you feel your prospective customers might use. Once you’ve done that, you can update your information completely. Next, confirm that your address and contact information is correct. And also, make sure the spelling of your business name is correct, and list all the services you provide so that parents can connect with you.
So, at all costs, make sure that you claim your business in Google Business Profile and other listing websites and fill out your information with as much detail as possible. Be that as it may, once you have a website to work on, you can now check the following other key and useful elements to help you maximize your organic online exposure.
1. Optimize Your Website For Speed
Does your website take forever to load? It could be that you’ve used pictures that are way too big, or perhaps you’ve added a video to your homepage that’s slowing everything down. Prioritize smooth loading times over the way your website looks. Google frowns upon any design flaw that frustrates users. You won’t rank well if you don’t improve your site load speed.
But, you can’t forget about security too. Have you seen that little lock icon with an SSL certificate on the URL bar in your web browser? The SSL or secure sockets layer certificate shows that the site owner is using encryption tools to keep user information safe. When people fill out your contact forms, they expect you to protect them from hackers. Google expects it, too!
2. Make Your Website Mobile-Responsive
Since so many parents are always on the go, your future customers are likely searching for your business on their mobile devices while waiting in line at the grocery store or during an all-too-brief naptime. If your website isn’t able to function on a smartphone as well as it does on a desktop, it won’t appear on the first page of search results.
And, as you make it mobile-friendly, you can also consider things like navigation as well. Have you navigated through your daycare website lately? If you haven’t tested and clicked on all your links in a while, now is the time to do so. Any error pages or broken links on your website will add to user frustration and inhibit your SEO. Update your links regularly.
3. Your Google My Business and Other Directory Pages
Perse, Google My Business (GMB) is a directory that allows you to claim and manage your business information. By optimizing your daycare’s page, you can improve your local SEO. One way to optimize it is by ensuring that your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is accurate and up to date. You should also include relevant business description keywords.
Forthwith, make sure to write for your target audience above all else. Additionally, you can add photos and videos to showcase your business. In other words, to show up as a business that’s nearby, you’ll have to manage your online listings and reviews. Notably, GMB pages are given preferential treatment in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) like Bing and others.
Video Guideline: The Simple Steps To Optimize Your Google My Business (GMB) Profile
because they provide accurate and up-to-date information about businesses. This is important whether you are an independent company or operate popular childcare franchises. In addition, your listing will appear with a map.
Eventually, which makes it easy for users to find the business location. If you optimize well enough you’ll get high ratings from clients. What’s more, if you optimize your overall website content well enough and get those high ratings from your target customers, your childcare center will appear in the topmost best listing positions (#1 to #10) on a SERP like Google.
4. Optimize On-Site for Relevant Local Keywords
Equally important, you’ll want to integrate those keywords into your website to get the most out of your daycare SEO initiatives. Along with weaving the best keywords into your childcare content marketing strategy, you’ll also want to make sure they appear in your page titles, meta descriptions, image descriptions, and headings.
Optimizing for competitive geo-specific keywords when ranking in local search results is essential. They usually include the city, state, or region of the searcher. For example, someone searching for a daycare center convenient to their home or workplace is more likely to search for things like ‘daycare center near me’ or ‘childcare near Trenton’ than generic terms.
Include the neighborhoods and communities you serve in the content itself, not just in a list on a dedicated page with a map. Also, take the time to find semantically linked keyword phrases. An experienced PPC & SEO agency has the tools to tackle this task easily. Brainstorm all the possible options parents would use when looking for the type of services you provide.
In most cases, try to also avoid using any unnecessary marketing buzzwords that may make your company sound impersonal. As well as other false advertising campaigns that may hurt your childcare business SEO plan in any unforeseen way.
5. Focus on Your Human Marketing Story
It is no secret that SEO is important for website success. However, content is often written solely for the benefit of search engines instead of people. To succeed in today’s online environment, write for people, not search engines. Content should be written to provide relevant, optimized, and authoritative information that is also friendly and easy to read.
Engaging your audience emotionally will make them more likely to remember your content and return for more. This is especially true when promoting a business like a daycare center or babysitting service. These focus quite a bit on emotion. Thus, you need to build a brand identity that reflects that fully. Usually, the parents need all the information.
But, they also need to feel like they have their child’s best interests at heart and that yours is a safe, fun, caring environment for their children. Use keywords naturally and keep everything friendly, upbeat, and informative. On that note, according to Digital Authority Partners, local SEO provides an essential solution for childcare centers and similar businesses.
As well as other entities that need to attract clients from the immediate area. To emphasize, both On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO strategies are an essential part of this process. Therefore, you should include them in your plan. Maintain consistency with keywords in your email marketing strategy, blogs, and other marketing initiatives.
6. Keep People Engaged With Internal Links
Linking to other articles on your website is a great way to keep people engaged. By making it easy for them to find related content, you can keep them on your site longer and increase their chances of contacting you. Of course, you need to use effective calls to action to point parents to your sign-up forms, appointment scheduler, or phone number.
The end goal is to get them in contact with you directly so you can show them the value of your daycare services. If you have a blog, link to other articles on your site in each post. This will allow readers to find more of your content and encourage them to explore your site further. In the same fashion, business blogging is also a great way to fulfill this.
You’ll effectively demonstrate your knowledge, dedication, and interest in early childhood education, care styles, nurturing, and fun. An article linked to other examples can go a long way to convince potential clients to choose you for their child’s care. Articles with links are also powerful when it comes to SEO and impressing Google with the quality of your site.
7. Get Authority Backlinks to Build Visibility
If you want to improve your website’s SEO, one of the best things you can do is build high-value backlinks from other authority sites. This not only helps improve your site’s ranking in search results but also drives traffic from these other sites directly to yours. Markedly, there are several ways and a few link-building tactics for your unique website business.
One is to create great content that others will want to link to. Organic marketing of any kind is often the most effective. Another is actively promoting your site and its content on social media and other online platforms. And finally, you can reach out to other webmasters and ask them to link to your site.
Whichever approach you take, remember that the quality of the links is more important than the quantity. Focus on building relationships with authority sites in your industry or niche and on creating truly valuable content that others will want to link to. Use an online tool to confirm which keywords your target audience is using to search for your business
Final Thoughts:
Childcare is a competitive business in many locations. You need a powerful SEO strategy to rise above the other options and attract the best clients. Local keywords, rich content, internal and external links, and the all-important Google My Business page will help you on your way to long-term success. Remember, the right digital marketing agency can help you.
What’s more, in your childcare business SEO auditing strategy, don’t forget to include keywords in your business listings, as well as all your replies to reviews left by customers. For example, your local SEO keywords might include “daycare in” plus the name of whatever town you’re in. Suffice it to say, you may try some keyword research tools to beat the competition.
Always remember, that SEO is a long-term marketing process that doesn’t provide an instant boost. It can take some time to rise organically in searches. The more effort you put into integrating this strategy, the more successful you’ll be. It’s both an art and a science to determine which keywords will work best for growing your daycare business.
Other More Related Resource References:
- Content SEO Audit | How To Improve Your Web Presence
- Why Link Building Is Important For SEO | 7 Webmaster Skills
- How To Earn Links Organically | #15 Link-building Tactics For SEOs
- How Website Links Management Is Done | 10 Topmost Key Methods
- WP Content Copy Protection Tools To Fight Website Plagiarism
That’s it! If you think that there’s something else that we missed or it’s worth mentioning in this guide, kindly feel free to reach out and let us know. So that we can include it and help out other readers just like yourself that might find it resourceful.
About The Author:
Miruna Pascu (get in touch here) works at Digital Authority Partners to be specific. Remarkably, Digital Authority Partners (aka DAP) has the experienced, award-winning custom software development team to take your business to the next level. Not to mention, DAP (learn more about them) is also the marketing agency of record for 20+ fortune 500 companies.
