There are a lot of factors that go into Google’s search engine rankings. These are things like what your website looks like on a mobile device and how well your website’s content matches the phrase a searcher typed into Google.
One of the factors Google uses to rank websites is commonly referred to as EAT. It stands for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Google doesn’t want to send searchers to a website that isn’t a good resource. This is especially true when the topic might impact a person’s health or finances.
Child care is an industry that has the potential to affect families’ health AND finances. Google wants to make sure parents searching for child care are only seeing high-quality search results with expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
To show up in Google’s search results, your website needs to show off your center’s expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
Building Google’s (and parents’) trust in your website takes time. There are three steps you can take to help make your website, and center, the most authoritative in your neighborhood.
1. Technical Upgrades
A professional-looking, secure and up-to-date website that follows technical best practices is a great place to start building trust.
Add Security
Adding an SSL certificate to your website adds a layer of security to your website. This is essential in an industry based on trust like child care. When you add an SSL certificate, your website URL has HTTPS at the beginning instead of HTTP.
Even more important than that “S” is what displays next to the website’s URL. Parents visiting an unsecure website will see a warning that says Not Secure red letters. After adding an SSL certificate to your website, moms and dads visiting your website will see a little lock. This lets them know it’s safe to fill out contact or payment forms on your website.
Be Mobile Friendly
Parents should be able to access your website on devices of any size. This includes small phone screens. A mobile-friendly website makes it easy for on-the-go moms and dads to get to know your center.
2. Staff Expertise
Your center’s experience and authority come from your team members. Build an about page on your website that lets your staff shine. Highlight the education and experience of yourself, your director and your lead teachers. Outline pieces of your hiring policies that add to your trustworthiness. Include a description of any ongoing training that your staff completes.
You can also add a page to your website about your center’s facility. Talk about the security and safety features you use. Explain how you incorporate your team’s early childhood expertise into your teaching philosophy and daily activities.
3. A Great Blog
Keeping your blog up-to-date gives you lots of opportunities to share your authority on child care and early childhood education. There are three things to keep in mind when blogging to build your authority with parents and Google.
- Blog about topics relevant to your center. This might be activities for your families to do at home, community events you’re involved in or updates about your center. Never write a blog post “just because.” Keeping everything relevant helps Google understand what your website is all about.
- Use your staff’s knowledge of child care to your advantage. Include quotes from your lead teachers. Invite local experts, such as a pediatrician, to guest post on your blog. Add a short bio to the bottom of each blog post that lets readers know they can trust the information in this article.
- Revisit your old blog posts. If an article doesn’t live up to your new standards, either update it or delete it. It’s better to have a few great blog posts than a bunch of subpar ones!
