A 10 Step Local SEO Checklist for Your Daycare

As a local business, you want your center to stand out when nearby parents search for child care options. Optimizing for location-based search results is called local search engine optimization, or local SEO. Although it may sound complicated, there are 10 easy steps you can follow to help your daycare outrank your local competitors.

1. Claim your Google My Business account and fill in all the details you can about your location, hours, contact information and services. If you have more than one location, create individual locations through Google My Business.
2. Make sure your website works well on smartphones. This is because lots of local searches happen on-the-go, especially when you’re trying to reach busy parents.
3. Use your city and neighborhood’s name throughout your website. You can also talk about local school districts, city resources parents may be looking for and other details that are directly related to your region. You don’t need to overdo it – just make sure the location you serve is in all the places parents and Google will be looking.
4. Organize your website so your contact page is easy to find and use. You can also include a Google map so parents can visually see where your center is located.
5. Add your address and phone number to the footer of your website. This way, it will be visible on every page.
6. Add your center to online directories like Care.com, CareLuLu and Yelp. Your daycare’s contact information needs to be exactly the same in every directory. Otherwise, you risk confusing parents and search engines.
7. Check your social media profiles to make sure your name, address and phone number are correct.
8. Encourage your families to leave reviews on your Google and Facebook profiles. Real, honest reviews signal to Google that you’re engaging with customers. Parents also get to know your child care center through other moms’ and dads’ reviews.
9. Respond to the questions, suggested changes and reviews you receive on all platforms.
10. Build connections with businesses, organizations and news outlets that are part of your community. Real-world partnerships often turn in to digital connections (links back to your website) that indicate to Google that you’re active in your neighborhood.