Child care website: what parents check before they call

A parent choosing child care usually has a deadline and the same questions on every site: do you take my child's age, are you open when I work, what does it cost, do you have room, and can I see the place? Then come the safety questions.

In October 2026 we opened 33 independent child care and preschool websites in 11 states. Only 11 had a phone number a parent could tap on the first phone screen. Fifteen showed tuition. None said anything about photos of children, though some states require written permission for them.

This isn't legal advice. Child care is licensed state by state, and advertising and privacy rules differ. We read parts of California's, Florida's and New York's rules, and summaries of a few others. Check yours with your state's licensing office.

Put your phone number and a tour button at the top

1. Click Business info in the left menu and fill in Phone. Visitors can tap it.
2. Click Menu. Under Header button, turn on Call bar on phones, type Button text like "Book a tour", and under Goes to choose your tour page or booking link.

Parents call to ask whether there is room. See Business info and hours.

Say your ages, hours and whether you have room

Only 2 of the 33 sites showed hours on the first screen, and 9 said whether they had openings.

1. In Business info, set Regular hours, including early drop-off and late pick-up. If your hours are long, say so: "Open 6:30 to 6".
2. Add an Open today section near the top of your home page.
3. In the first lines of your home page or a Highlights section, name the youngest age you take ("Infants from 6 weeks") and your rooms.
4. Say whether you have openings, for which ages, and how the waitlist works. "Full for infants, openings for 3s" ends a phone call.

For holidays, snow days and in-service days, use Holiday hours and closures and the Announcement bar.

Show your tuition

Fifteen of the 33 sites showed a figure, and 16 said "call" or nothing. "How much is daycare" is one of the biggest searches, and a parent comparing three centers drops the one that hides its price.

1. Click Pages, then New page, and make a page called "Tuition" from the Pricing or menu template.
2. In its Price list / menu section, make a group for each age: Infants, Toddlers, Preschool. Add an item for each schedule, like Name "Five days a week", Price "$289 a week".
3. Say what is included (meals, diapers, supplies) and list the fees: registration, late pick-up, days you're closed. Date the rates ("Rates from September 2026").

If you have a sliding scale or a sibling discount, say how it works. Put autopay and yearly fees in plain words: how they renew and how to stop them. Several states have automatic-renewal laws.

Show your license and your rating, and link your state's page

Only 14 sites said they were licensed, 2 showed a license number, and 3 linked their state's page. California and Florida require the license number in ads, and every state posts inspection reports for parents to read.

1. In Business info, fill in License number. It shows in your footer.
2. On your Tuition or About page, say which agency licenses you and link your state's page for your inspection reports.
3. If you have a state quality rating or national accreditation (Keystone STARS, Parent Aware, Texas Rising Star, NAEYC and others), say the level and the year, and link the state's page. Ratings change when they renew, so recheck each year.

Say "licensed" only if you are. A license-exempt program should say what it is, in your state's words.

Say which child care assistance you take

Seventeen of the 33 sites mentioned it. Parents search by their state's name for it, like "accepts CCAP", "accepts CAPS" or "accepts vouchers", and some confuse it with Medicaid.

1. Add a Text section to your Tuition page. Name each program, say whether you have openings for those families, and what a family still pays.
2. Link your state's page for the program. Don't promise an approval.

Make touring and the waitlist easy

Seventeen of the 33 sites invited a tour, only one let people book it online, and six had a video.

1. Booking a tour online. Turn on the Bookings & RSVPs add-on ($5 a month). Click Lists, Appointments, Add appointment, call it "Center tour", set How long it takes, and add a booking section to your Tour page (Bookings). Or use your own calendar: Connect a booking calendar.
2. A waitlist or an inquiry. On your contact page, find the Form section. Under Start from, open Choose a ready-made form… and pick Appointment request. Use Label for the message box for "Which ages and days do you need, and when would you like to start?" Ask only for a parent's name, phone and email, the child's age and a start date. If your child care software has a waitlist page, link it instead.
3. Add a Video section for a walk-through of the building, with nobody's child in it.

Keep children's information off your site

Your site's forms send each message to your email inbox and your Inbox. They aren't a child's file. The federal children's privacy law, COPPA, doesn't cover a form a parent fills in, but one site's enrollment form asked for the child's birth date, "special needs" and potty experience, which is far more than a first inquiry needs.

• On your site's forms ask for: a parent's name, phone and email, the child's age (or a due date), the days wanted and a start date.
• Keep for your enrollment packet or your child care software: birth dates, allergies, immunization records, special-needs details, subsidy case numbers and custody details. Say so by the form: "Please don't send health details here. We'll give you the enrollment forms."
• Turn off Let people attach photos on your forms.

See Don't collect health information.

Photos of children need a signed release

About 10 of the 33 sites showed a child's face on the first screen, and none mentioned a photo policy. Minnesota, Colorado and Oregon, from summaries we read, require written parent permission before a child's picture or name goes on a website or social media, and several states have cited centers for posting without it.

1. Get a release from every family, with yes or no for the website, social media and print. Keep the signed forms.
2. Online release. With the Signed forms and waivers add-on ($2 a month), click Pages, New page, Photo release. The template is written for an adult signing for themselves ("I am 18 or older"). In its Form section, rewrite What they agree to for a parent signing for a child, and add under More questions the child's first name. Have a lawyer check it. See Signed forms and waivers.
3. Use no name with a face, and take a photo down when a family asks.
4. Until you have releases, show rooms, hands and backs: tidy classrooms, the play yard, the book corner, art on the walls. Stock pictures of children are fine for general sections, but never call them "our students". See Free photos.

Don't use stock photos of infants in cribs with blankets and toys for your infant room: your state's safe-sleep rules call for bare cribs.

Introduce your teachers and say how you keep children safe

Three of the 33 sites gave ratios as numbers. Fourteen mentioned background checks, CPR or first aid. "Low ratios" and "caring staff" don't answer a parent's question.

1. Click Lists, then Edit team, then Add person, fill in Name, Role, Photo, Short bio and Credentials, and add a Team section to your About page (Your team). Get each teacher's permission for a photo.
2. In a Text section, give your ratios by room ("1 teacher to 4 infants"), how the door is secured, who may pick up a child and how you check, how staff are background-checked and trained in CPR and first aid, and your sick-child policy.

Skip "the best" and "the safest". Say what you do.

Show reviews

Only 3 of the 33 sites showed a Google rating on the first screen. Add your best Google reviews to your Reviews list, word for word (Reviews), and put your Leave-a-review link in Business info.

• Ask every family, not only the happy ones. The FTC's reviews rule bars paying for positive reviews, so don't give a discount for one.
• If you reply, don't mention a child or a family's details. "Please call the office so we can talk" is safe.
• The Review requests add-on ($3 a month) emails families you choose. Use it only for families who enrolled. See Ask for reviews.

Post your openings for teachers

Twenty-one of the 33 sites mentioned jobs, and teachers are scarce. Click Lists, then Edit job openings, then Add job, and give the pay, the hours and what you offer. Your openings show in Google's job search. See Job openings.

What we can't do for a child care center

• A parent portal, check-in, daily reports, attendance or billing. Use child care software (Brightwheel, Procare and others) and link its login from your header and footer.
• Tuition and autopay. The Payment requests add-on ($2 a month, with Stripe) is for one-off fees like registration or a deposit. See Request a payment.
• Child files or health records. Keep those in your software or on paper.
• Live cameras.
• Chat about a child. The Ask us chat add-on can answer hours and prices, but a parent's message can hold a child's name, so we don't suggest it unless you tell parents not to share details.

Show your site in Spanish

Only one of the 33 sites offered its pages in other languages. Turn on Show in Spanish under Languages if parents in your area speak it (Show your site in Spanish).

Make your site work for everyone

The ADA lists a day care center as a public accommodation (a church-run center should ask about an exemption), and three of the 33 sites ran an accessibility overlay. Overlays can't make a site meet the guidelines, and the FTC fined one maker $1 million over claims that it could. Instead, describe your photos, make a page from the Accessibility statement template, and say who a parent can talk to about accommodations.

Answer the questions parents ask

Add an FAQ section: ages, hours and closed days, tuition, openings and waitlist, tours, enrolling, assistance, license and rating, ratios, safety and pick-up, sick days, meals and allergies, a day's schedule and photos. See Use suggested questions.

Tips

• Directory pages like Care.com show up above most centers' own sites, so keep your Google Business Profile hours, phone and categories ("Day care center" or "Preschool") the same as your site.
• Keep your domain renewed. See Connect your domain.