Why your nursery website matters more than you think
When a parent starts looking for childcare, the search almost always begins on a phone. They are often researching in a spare five minutes, comparing two or three local settings, and deciding within seconds whether each one feels trustworthy. Your website is the first impression a parent forms of the people who will care for their child, and that impression is emotional as much as practical.
Parents arrive with a clear checklist in mind. They want to understand the setting and its ethos, learn about the staff, find your Ofsted information, see fees and how funded hours work, check availability, and know how to arrange a visit. If any of that is buried, slow to load, or hard to read on a small screen, a parent will quietly move on to the next nursery. A single missed enquiry can be a place left unfilled for months.
What matters most for a nursery website
A strong nursery site earns trust and makes the next step obvious. The pieces that matter most are:
- Clear information for parents: your approach to care, daily routine, age ranges, meals, and settling-in support, written plainly.
- Honest trust signals: your Ofsted registration and rating, presented accurately and never overstated or invented.
- An easy way to enquire or book a visit: a visible enquiry form or booking option on every page, because a visit is what turns interest into a place.
- Fees and funded-hours clarity: straightforward pricing and a plain explanation of government-funded hours, so parents are not left guessing.
- Accessibility: readable text, good colour contrast, and a layout that works for every parent, including those using assistive technology.
- Mobile experience: a site that is comfortable to read and tap on a phone, where most parents will find you.
- Security: a properly secured site, which matters enormously because your enquiry forms handle families' contact details and information about their children.
What each of PageScore's five checks means for your nursery
PageScore runs an instant scan across five areas. Here is what each one tells a nursery.
Security
This is the check to take most seriously. When parents send you a name, a phone number, and details about their child through an enquiry form, that information must travel securely. The scan confirms your site uses a valid certificate and a secure connection so those details are protected. A site flagged as not secure erodes trust instantly and can put you on the wrong side of a parent's expectations around handling children's data.
Accessibility
Accessibility is the second area to prioritise. It measures whether every parent can actually read and use your site, including those with visual impairments or who rely on assistive technology. Good contrast, sensible text size, clear labels on your enquiry form, and descriptive links all count here. An accessible nursery site is both fairer and easier for everyone to use.
Speed
Parents browsing on a phone will not wait for a slow page. This check measures how quickly your site loads, so a parent researching in a short window can find your fees and visit details before their attention moves elsewhere.
SEO
This looks at whether your pages are set up to be found when a parent searches for nurseries in your town. Clear page titles, honest descriptions, and sensible structure help local families discover you in the first place.
Mobile
Because nearly every parent visits on a phone, this check confirms your site adapts to small screens, with buttons that are easy to tap and text that does not need pinching to read.
How to read your result and what to fix first
Your instant scan gives each of the five areas a clear score, so you can see at a glance where your site is strong and where it needs work. For a nursery, we suggest tackling issues in this order: fix any security warning first, because it directly affects the families trusting you with their details. Next, address accessibility so every parent can use your site. Then work through mobile and speed, since that is how most parents experience you, and finish with SEO so more local families can find you.
The instant scan is the quickest way to see where you stand. When you are ready to fix things properly, the £29 professional audit report gives you a detailed 20-page breakdown, explaining each issue in plain language and setting out the practical steps to put it right, so your website works as hard for your nursery as your team does every day.