CHILDCARE MARKETING STRATEGY

How to Use Google Ads to Fill Childcare Vacancies in Your Local Area

By ChildCare Marketing | childcaremarketing.com.au | March 2026

Finding and filling childcare vacancies can be one of the toughest challenges for early learning centre owners and directors. With competition fierce and parent awareness of local childcare options growing, you need a marketing strategy that puts your centre in front of families actively searching for care right now. Google Ads offers a proven way to reach these intent-driven parents in your local area — and when set up correctly, it can deliver fast, measurable results for your enrolment efforts.

Why Google Ads Works for Childcare Vacancy Fill

Google Ads places your centre directly in front of parents searching for childcare in your local area. Unlike social media or traditional marketing, Google Ads targets people at the exact moment they’re looking for a solution. When a parent searches ‘childcare near me’ or ‘long day care in [your suburb]’, your ad can appear at the top of the results. This intent-based approach means you’re reaching qualified leads — not broad audiences. Parents who see your Google Ads are already motivated to enrol their child, making them far more likely to book a tour or contact your centre.

Setting Up Your Google Ads Account and Campaign Structure

To use Google Ads effectively for childcare vacancy fill, start by creating a Google Ads account (if you don’t have one already) and linking it to your Google Business Profile. Your structure should include a dedicated campaign for local enrolment enquiries, with ad groups based on the specific childcare services you offer—long day care, OSHC, preschool, or family day care.

Use location-based targeting to focus your budget on parents in your local area. Set your target radius to cover your natural catchment—typically 5–15 km from your centre, depending on whether you serve a suburb or multiple nearby communities. This ensures you’re not wasting budget on searches from far away.

Create multiple ad groups within the campaign, each targeting different parent search intent:

Searches for ‘[Your suburb] childcare’ or ‘[Your suburb] long day care’

Searches for ‘childcare vacancy [your area]’ or ‘childcare spot available’

Searches for specific age groups, e.g., ‘infant care [your suburb]’ or ‘preschool near me’

Branded searches for your centre name (to protect against competitor ads)

Crafting High-Converting Google Ads for Childcare

Your ad copy must be direct, benefit-focused, and clear about what you’re offering. Google Ads allows three headline fields and two description lines—use all of them.

Headlines should emphasize the vacancy or urgency:

‘Childcare Vacancies Available Now in [Suburb]’

‘Enrol Your Child at [Your Centre] Today’

‘Long Day Care with Award-Winning Staff’

Descriptions should address parent pain points and highlight your centre’s unique value:

‘Experienced educators. Safe, nurturing environment. Flexible hours. Book your tour now.’

‘Limited spaces available. Award-accredited care. Flexible part-time and full-time options.’

Include a strong call to action—’Book a Tour’, ‘Enquire Now’, ‘Call Us Today’—to guide parents toward the next step. Add extensions like location extensions (showing your address) and call extensions (your phone number) to make it easy for interested parents to reach you.

Keyword Strategy for Local Childcare Google Ads

Keyword selection is crucial. Focus on high-intent keywords that show parents are actively looking for childcare in your area. Research keywords using the Google Ads Keyword Planner—it’s free and built into your account.

Priority keywords for childcare vacancy fill:

Local + service keywords: ‘childcare [suburb]’, ‘long day care [suburb]’, ‘OSHC [suburb]’, ‘preschool [suburb]’

Vacancy-specific: ‘childcare vacancy [area]’, ‘childcare spots available’, ‘childcare enrolling now’

Urgency-driven: ‘childcare near me’, ‘childcare available immediately’

Age-specific: ‘infant care [suburb]’, ‘toddler care [area]’, ‘preschool enrolment’

Start with a mix of exact match and phrase match keywords. Exact match (‘childcare vacancies [suburb]’) is tightly targeted; phrase match (‘childcare vacancies nearby’) casts a slightly wider net. Monitor performance over 2–4 weeks, then pause low-performing keywords and increase budget to those driving enquiries.

Budgeting and Bid Strategy for Maximum ROI

Start with a modest daily budget—$20–50 per day is reasonable for a local centre—and track results closely. Google Ads can deliver enquiries quickly, but you need a budget that lasts throughout the month.

Choose a bid strategy aligned with your goal:

Maximize clicks: Best for driving enquiries and tour bookings (the most common choice for childcare).

Target cost per action (CPA): If you know how much a tour booking or enrolment enquiry is worth, Google can optimize bids to hit that target cost.

Manual bidding: Gives you full control but requires more monitoring.

For childcare vacancy fill, start with Maximize Clicks and set a daily budget you’re comfortable with. After a month of data, switch to Target CPA if you want more predictable costs. Monitor your average cost per click and cost per enquiry—if you’re paying more than £15–25 per enquiry, adjust your keywords, ad copy, or targeting.

Landing Pages and Conversion Tracking

Your ads must point to a relevant landing page—ideally a dedicated enrolment or ‘book a tour’ page on your website. A generic homepage increases bounce rate and wastes ad spend. Your landing page should:

Have a clear heading: ‘Book a Tour Today’ or ‘Enquire About Our Vacancies’

Show photos of your centre, staff, and outdoor area

List key details: age groups served, hours, pricing (if available)

Feature an easy enquiry form or prominent ‘Call Now’ button

Build trust with credentials (accreditation, reviews, testimonials from parents)

Set up Google Ads conversion tracking so you can measure which keywords and ads drive actual enquiries or bookings. In Google Ads, create a conversion action for ‘enquiry form submission’ or ‘tour booking’, and add the tracking code to your website. This tells you which ads are working and where to focus your budget.

Monitoring Performance and Optimizing Campaigns

Review your Google Ads performance weekly. Key metrics to track:

Impressions: How many times your ads are shown (a sign of visibility).

Click-through rate (CTR): Percentage of people who see your ad and click it. A healthy CTR for childcare ads is 3–5%.

Cost per click (CPC): How much you’re paying per click. Compare this to your budget and goal.

Conversion rate: Percentage of clicks that lead to an enquiry or tour booking. This is critical.

Cost per conversion: Total ad spend divided by enquiries or bookings. Aim to keep this under £25–30 for sustainable ROI.

Optimize by pausing underperforming keywords and scaling up high performers. Refine your ad copy every 2–4 weeks—test different headlines and descriptions to see what resonates. If your conversion rate is low (under 5%), revisit your landing page design and form fields. Sometimes small changes—like removing unnecessary form fields or adding parent testimonials—can significantly improve results.

Pro Tip: Combine Google Ads with a Google Business Profile (GBP) that’s fully optimized with photos, opening hours, and regular updates. Parents often cross-reference your GBP while considering your ads, and a strong profile with good reviews boosts your credibility and click-through rate.

Putting It All Together: Your Action Plan

Filling childcare vacancies with Google Ads doesn’t require guesswork. Start by setting up a campaign with a modest budget, focus on local keywords with high intent, craft benefit-driven ad copy, and track every enquiry. In your first month, expect to learn a lot about your market—which keywords attract parents, what messaging resonates, and how much an enquiry costs your centre. By month two, you’ll have enough data to optimize: pause weak keywords, scale winning ads, and refine your landing page for better conversion.

The beauty of Google Ads is that it rewards centres that are intentional about their targeting and messaging. If you invest time in understanding your local market and testing different approaches, Google Ads can fill your vacancies faster than nearly any other marketing channel. And unlike social media or word-of-mouth, results are measurable: you know exactly how much each enrolment enquiry cost and where it came from.

Want expert childcare marketing support? Visit childcaremarketing.com.au or call us today.

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