You’ve probably been hearing about how you need SEO for your child care business website. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is an expanding field of expertise. SEO refers to a wide range of tactics businesses use to make their websites get listed in search results from places like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Why SEO matters

We search for everything on the internet these days– whether it’s a plumber, an auto repair shop, a party store, or child care. You want the parents in your community to easily find your program on the internet. SEO is how you can ensure parents easily find your business.

SEO goals

The goal of SEO isn’t just to get listed, it’s to get listed higher! You want to be as close to the top of the results page as possible. Ideally you want to be the first search result! The reasoning is that if you’re at least among the first search results, more people are likely to click on your webpage. And more people clicking on your webpage means more business for you.

How to SEO

Ok, so SEO means get listed first. Simple, right? Not exactly. SEO is a little bit like a set of rules that aren’t entirely clear and are always changing. If it helps you to understand, there are entire jobs and businesses dedicated to SEO, which really drives home the point that SEO is not easy to do as one person operating in isolation. Businesses invest a huge amount of money into hiring people or consultants to build their SEO. What this means for you as a small business owner is that unfortunately, the cards are stacked against you. Here are some basic tactics you can do to build SEO:

1. Make sure your website is mobile optimized. SEO favors sites that are optimized for phones.
2. Create accounts with Google My Business and Yelp.
3. Get others to link to your website. Other websites linking to your website tells search engines that your site has valuable information on it. This could mean reaching out to local sites that compile lists of best preschools to get your business included.
4. Ask for reviews. Having reviews on your Yelp and GMB accounts will also bump your SEO. You can start by asking current and former customers to leave positive reviews for your business listings.
5. Join a child care marketplace like Wonderschool. Building your website on the Wonderschool marketplace will allow families searching for care in your area to easily find it.

SEO isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes some time and effort to build it, so don’t despair if you don’t see immediate results.

Join Wonderschool today and let us help with your SEO.