School websites and marketing for private schools
Parents shortlisting schools search Google long before they book a tour. They type "private primary schools Durbanville" or "private high school Bryanston", open the top results and read them the way they'd read a prospectus. We build school websites and run the search, Maps and social media campaigns that go after a place on that shortlist before your applications close.
Parents have more schools to choose from. The DBE counted 187 more independent schools in 2024 than in 2022, but only 6,377 more learners in them (School Realities 2022 and 2024). Each school is competing for a share of a pool that has barely grown.
2,469 independent schools taught 741,462 learners in 2024, up from 2,282 schools and 735,085 learners in 2022 (DBE, School Realities 2024 and 2022).
331 of those schools were in the Western Cape in 2024, up from 302 in 2022 (DBE, School Realities 2024 and 2022).
ISASA has more than 870 member schools in South Africa and seven other southern African countries (isasa.org, checked October 2026).
How parents search for a school
The searches that count name a phase and a place: "private primary schools Somerset West", "pre-primary Constantia", "private high schools near me". The schools that show up for those make the shortlist. The rest wait for a referral.
The words parents use
Parents type "private schools". The DBE and ISASA say "independent schools". A website that only uses the official term is missing the words parents search with, so we write your pages in theirs and keep "independent" for your registration and ISASA details.
After the shortlist
Once a parent has a few names, the searches get specific:
- Fees, typed as the school's name plus "fees". A page with this year's fee schedule, or a clear way to ask for it, keeps that parent on your site and off a forum thread.
- Curriculum: CAPS, IEB or Cambridge, and how a child moves across from a government school.
- Aftercare, transport, sport and class sizes.
- Reviews on Google, and what other parents say in the local Facebook groups.
Some parents skip the search page and ask an AI assistant for "good private schools in Pretoria East". The handful of names they get back come from pages and listings those tools can read, so checking what they say about your school is part of our AI search work.
Work aimed at admissions
A school website parents can use
Fees, admissions dates, curriculum and a tour booking form within one tap of the home page, on a website that loads quickly on a mid-range phone. The admissions pages are written for the searches parents make.
A page for each phase and intake
Pre-primary, primary and high school each get their own page, and so do the Grade R, Grade 1 and Grade 8 intakes, with application dates and what happens at the interview.
Google Business Profile for each campus
The right category, term-time hours, photos of the grounds and answers to the questions parents ask. Reviews from current parents, asked for at good moments: after prize-giving, not in the middle of exams.
Meta campaigns for open days
Facebook and Instagram ads aimed at parents within driving distance of the school, sending them to the open-day booking page and judged on the bookings they bring in.
Enquiry tracking for the admissions office
Every form, call and WhatsApp is logged against the page or ad that brought it in, so the admissions office can see which campaigns lead to tour bookings and applications.
The report, in admissions terms
Bookings and applications lead the page. Rankings and reach go in the appendix.
Tour and open-day bookings by source
Google search, Google Maps, Meta ads and AI referrals, each with its own count.
Applications started
Application form submissions, split by phase and intake.
Cost per tour booking
Ad spend plus our fee, divided by the bookings they brought in, so you can compare this term with the last.
What we're changing next month
For example, moving budget from the Grade 8 campaign to Grade R once Grade 8 is full.
Our prices are on the site
Seven of the twelve South African agencies that rank most often on Google don't publish a pricing page. We'd rather you knew before we speak.
12 agencies checked across 19 searches, September 2026.
We're not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added to our prices. Contracts run for three months minimum, then month to month.
Where to start
You can start with one of these and add another once the first is paying its way.
Rankings on Google and Google Maps for the searches your customers type. Technical fixes, service pages that answer the question, and links from sites people in your industry read.
SEO in Cape TownFrom R7,500 a month
SEO pricingGetting your business named when someone asks AI assistants who to use, from ChatGPT and Gemini to Google's AI Overviews, Copilot, Perplexity and Claude. We track what they say about you, then fix the pages and listings they draw on.
Fast sites built to turn a visit into a call or a form. The domain, the site and the logins are in your name.
Web design in Cape TownFrom R14,500
Website pricingPosts and a small ad budget on up to two of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, measured on the leads and sales they bring in.
Working back from your application dates
Step Month 1: Your admissions calendar
We set up call tracking and form and WhatsApp logging, and count last term's enquiries so there's a baseline. Then we map your year: application deadlines, open days and the intakes that still have space.
Step Month 2: Admissions pages and Maps
We write or rewrite the admissions, fees and phase pages, fix what the audit found on the site, and update the Google Business Profile for each campus.
Step Month 3: Campaigns before the next deadline
Facebook and Instagram campaigns go live for the next open day or application window. By the end of the month you can see tour bookings by source and what each one cost.
Admissions and marketing questions
About a term before applications open. New pages and Google Maps changes take weeks to show in search, so they need to be in place before parents start looking. Ads can start closer to the deadline.
Yes. The ads are aimed at adults who live within a set distance of the school, and they send people to the open-day or tour booking page.
Yes, as long as each figure comes with its year and exam, such as your IEB or NSC pass rate for a named year. Parents check, and a results claim without a year reads like a sales pitch.
SEO starts at R7,500 a month and websites at R14,500. Social media, including Meta ads, starts at R6,500 a month, with the ad spend paid to Meta from your own card. We're not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added to our prices. If your site is out of date, start with the website; if the site is fine and the enquiries aren't coming, start with SEO and Meta ads.
Is your school on the shortlist?
Send us your school's website. We'll show you where it appears when parents search for a private school in your area, run a quick AI check of 5 prompts in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Gemini, and tell you what's missing and what we'd fix before your next application window.