Methodology

This study employed a mixed-methods approach combining automated web analysis, manual assessment, and search engine performance testing. The research was conducted between October and December 2025.

Primary Data Sources

• •Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) registry data
• •Publicly accessible childcare centre websites
• •Google Business Profile listings
• •Search engine results pages (SERPs) for location-specific queries

Sample Selection

The study population consisted of all licensed childcare centres in Victoria registered with ACECQA as of October 2025. The final sample included 847 childcare centres representing metropolitan, regional, and rural locations across Victoria.

Inclusion criteria: Licensed childcare centres operating in Victoria with active registration status during the research period, offering long day care, occasional care, or preschool services.

Exclusion criteria: Family day care providers (home-based services), outside school hours care programs, and centres with suspended or provisional licenses.

Key terms used throughout this report are defined as follows:

Digital Visibility

The degree to which a childcare centre can be discovered and evaluated by parents through online channels, including search engines, websites, and digital directories.

Website Presence

A functional, publicly accessible website that provides information about the childcare centre. This excludes password-protected sites, under-construction pages, or social media profiles without dedicated web properties.

Search Visibility

The appearance of a childcare centre in the first page (top 10 organic results) of search engine results for relevant location-specific queries.

Information Completeness

The presence of essential information on a centre's website, including contact details, operating hours, age groups served, fee structure, curriculum descriptions, and enrollment procedures.

Technical Accessibility

Compliance with web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 Level AA), mobile responsiveness, page load performance, and secure connections (HTTPS).

Data collection occurred in three phases:

Phase 1: Website Identification

We attempted to identify official websites for each centre through ACECQA registry data, Google search using centre name and location, Google Business Profile listings, and social media profiles with website links.

Phase 2: Automated Analysis

For centres with identified websites, we conducted automated assessments using web scraping tools to extract content and metadata, accessibility testing tools (WAVE, axe DevTools), mobile responsiveness testing (Google Mobile-Friendly Test), and page load performance metrics (Lighthouse).

Phase 3: Manual Review

A subset of 200 randomly selected websites underwent manual review to assess information completeness and accuracy, user experience and navigation clarity, and content quality and relevance.

This research has several limitations that should be considered when interpreting findings:

• •Temporal snapshot: Data reflect website status during the research period (October–December 2025). Centres may have updated their digital presence since data collection.
• •Search algorithm changes: Search engine rankings fluctuate based on algorithm updates and may differ from our recorded results.
• •Automated tool limitations: Accessibility testing tools may produce false positives or miss certain issues requiring human judgment.
• •Website identification: Some centres may have websites we were unable to locate through standard search methods.
• •Causality: This study documents associations but cannot establish causal relationships between digital visibility and enrollment outcomes.

This research analyzed publicly available information only. No personal data were collected, and individual centres are not identified in the published report.

Non-ranking commitment: This study was designed to contribute to sector improvement rather than to rank or criticize individual providers. Findings are presented in aggregate form to protect centre privacy while informing policy and practice.

We do not publish league tables, centre-specific scores, or comparative rankings. Our objective is to identify systemic patterns and opportunities for sector-wide improvement, not to evaluate individual centres.

The research was conducted with respect for the resource constraints and competing priorities faced by childcare providers. Digital visibility gaps reflect broader structural challenges rather than individual shortcomings.

This report represents a point-in-time assessment of digital visibility in Victoria's childcare sector. We plan to conduct follow-up research to track changes over time and assess the effectiveness of interventions.

Future updates: We intend to publish updated reports on an annual or biennial basis, subject to funding and resource availability. Future editions will maintain consistent methodology to enable longitudinal comparisons.

Corrections: If errors or inaccuracies are identified in this report, we will publish corrections and update the PDF versions accordingly. A changelog will be maintained to document any substantive revisions.

Data requests: Aggregated data from this study may be made available to researchers and policymakers upon request, subject to privacy and confidentiality protections. Contact data@victoriachildcarereport.org for inquiries.

To ensure data quality and reliability:

• •Two researchers independently verified website identification for a random 10% sample
• •Automated tool results were cross-validated using multiple testing platforms
• •Manual reviews were conducted by trained assessors using standardized protocols
• •Data were cleaned and checked for inconsistencies before analysis
• •Findings were reviewed by external subject matter experts prior to publication