As an enrollment marketer, you’ve no doubt come across school review and comparison websites like Niche, Great Schools, The Best Schools, Private School Review, and Boarding School Review. These sites provide reviews, ratings, and information on schools, often based on academic performance, student outcomes, parent and student feedback, and various school-related data. Families use these platforms to compare schools, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and help make informed decisions about education options.
Just search your school’s name in Google, and you’ll almost certainly see a listing for your school on one of these websites.
School marketers and enrollment management professionals also often encounter sales representatives from these organizations at professional conferences or through direct outreach. You might have even heard a trustee member press you by asking “Why aren’t we advertising on Niche?”
Given the reach of these sites and their persuasive sales pitches, it’s fair and reasonable to wonder if your school should invest in an expanded presence on them. Some point to “50 million students and families” with “high intent” and a 15-25x higher likelihood to enroll than “traditional search names,” i.e. list buys. That sounds pretty compelling!
But before you jump into a new contract, it might be worth considering exactly how these sites amass such a large, high intent audience. Doing so might help you to realize that your school can likey replicate the same outcomes directly, with the same reach, high intent, and high conversion rates these sites offer, but at a much lower cost and greater level of precision and control.
I’m not arguing that you shouldn’t partner with these publications to expand your school’s reach. In many cases, you should! It’s undeniable that these platforms at least play some role in the journey and decision making of prospective students and their families.
What I am arguing is that a marketing or advertising initiative shouldn’t be the first place you turn to strengthen your online reach and reputation, or your primary digital marketing plan for acquiring high-intent, mission aligned inquiries and applications. It should only be a secondary, supplemental method to digital marketing tactics that reach prospective families directly.
The Appeal of School Review and Comparison Sites
To evaluate the value of a potential marketing initiative with a review site, it’s helpful to understand why they have gained the reach and influence that they boast. How exactly did these sites become so notable in the private and independent school space? The answer lies in their strong investment in SEO and content marketing, targeting search terms that are critical to the prospective family journey. Primarily, they target searches for school reviews and rankings.
School Reviews
When a prospective parent wants to know what other families think about their first-choice school, they’ll often start their research with a Google search. This almost always leads to review sites.
These websites earned this placement and their right to influence the prospective family journey by investing heavily in SEO and content marketing. How did they do it? By answering the questions of prospective families and giving them the information they needed to continue their journey. It’s that simple!
When a parent searches for “[your school name] reviews”, sites like Boarding School Review, Niche, and Great Schools rank by actually giving the parent what they were looking for: reviews! There’s nothing stopping your school from doing the same thing and outranking these sites. This is a common tactic software companies like HubSpot take. Borrow this idea, and you’ll be rewarded with high-quality, high-intent website traffic.
School Rankings
Because most schools lack a dedicated place to gather and display reviews and testimonials on their own website, they outsource the function to review sites instead. This gives review sites the content they need to fuel pages like “Top Private Schools In [Location Name],” which frequently rank high in search results for popular terms like “best private schools” or “top independent schools near me”. It’s this visibility that becomes a review site’s most valuable asset, and where they will display most of their “sponsored listings” in an effort to capture inquiries from your school.
The Pros and Cons of Advertising on Review Sites
With decent traffic numbers, great placement in search results, and nearly all of your school’s competitors present, advertising on a review and comparison site might seem like a very wise idea. There are some clear benefits:
- Immediate visibility for your school
- Access to a highly targeted audience of parents and students
- Integration of positive reviews to enhance school reputation
It likely feels pretty easy too. If you’ve already devoted a significant amount of time and effort to solicit enough positive reviews, and enriched your profile with a lot of the same information already found on your school’s website - you’re pretty much ready to go! Just sign the contract, and the ad impressions will begin to accrue. If your school comes across as being amongst the best, the inquiries, visits, and applications will begin to come in as well.
There are some cons to consider, however, namely:
- You’ll be competing for attention directly alongside many other reputable schools.
- You’ll have a lack of control over the user reviews shown to prospects.
- You’ll be advertising to parents who might not be fully sold on private or independent schools, and haven’t narrowed down the exact type of private/independent school they should be seeking.
High Competition: You’re Just One Among Many
One of the biggest downsides of advertising on ranking and review sites is that you’re stepping into a highly competitive arena where other schools are vying for the same attention. These sites aggregate schools into lists based on reviews, data, and advertising spend. Even if your school invests in advertising, you’re often still competing against larger, more established institutions that have more resources and deeper marketing budgets. These schools can afford premium placements and higher visibility, pushing smaller schools lower on the page, even if your profile is optimized.
It’s almost like entering a cage match—your school is pitted against others in a direct head-to-head comparison, where the institutions with the biggest budgets and best reviews tend to win. This hyper-competitive environment makes it hard to stand out, especially if you’re not at the top of the list. For schools with limited marketing dollars, this can feel like an uphill battle: no matter how good your school is, you might not have the financial resources to outspend your competitors or move up in the rankings.
And the reality is, this competitive environment might not even be the best fit for how private schools traditionally market themselves. Schools, unlike many businesses, are deeply personal choices for families. Many parents and students make decisions based on school culture, personal experiences, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Advertising in a “cage match” setting where schools are reduced to a few bullet points and ratings might actually strip away some of that nuance. Instead of focusing on what truly makes your school unique, you’re being forced to play a numbers game. In this environment, the conversation shifts away from your school’s strengths and values, and into a purely comparative exercise based on rankings, where bigger institutions with larger budgets often have the edge.
Cutting Out the Middlemen
While review sites like Niche.com can provide some immediate visibility, it's important to understand the trade-offs involved. At their core, these platforms serve as intermediaries—middlemen that profit from controlling the search traffic that could otherwise go directly to your school's website. By investing in advertising on these sites, you're essentially paying for exposure that could be achieved through more direct means.
Instead of relying on review sites, why not focus on ranking for the same search results that bring families to these sites in the first place? Doing so allows your school to capture prospective parents at the top of the search funnel, offering far more control over the messaging, greater real estate on the page, and the ability to highlight what truly sets your school apart from others.
By advertising directly on search engines like Google, you can get ahead of the competition—providing tailored content that leans into your school's unique differentiators, rather than being just one of many on a comparison list.
Smarter Alternatives for Your First Marketing Investments
When considering how to make the most of your school's marketing budget, focusing on cost-effective, foundational tactics is a smart way to ensure a strong return on investment before venturing into review sites.
Here are some key marketing strategies that deliver control, cost efficiency, and long-term benefits:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
One of the best places to start is optimizing your school's website to rank for important location-specific and category-specific search terms. Prospective parents are already searching for terms like "best private school near [city]" or "top independent school in [state]." If your school ranks well for these queries, you can capture potential families right when they are interested and researching.
Consider what searches prospective families might be conducting on Google much earlier and later in their journey as well. A parent will turn to search engines throughout each stage of their research and decision making process, conducting dozens, if not hundreds, of searches over the span of many months. Consider how you might answer their questions in the form of blog posts, positioning yourself and your school as their helpful guide and earning their trust long before any other school enters the conversation.
By focusing on SEO, you not only attract highly relevant traffic but also establish authority. Unlike advertising on review sites, where you’re one of many schools listed, optimizing your own website gives you full control over the messaging and the journey parents take through your content.
2. Google Ads and Social Media Ads
Platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram provide powerful tools to reach exactly the audience you want. By targeting families in specific geographic areas with tailored ads, you can capture the attention of prospective parents who are actively exploring schooling options for their children.
Unlike niche review sites, these platforms offer precise targeting controls and customization, allowing your message to directly align with what makes your school unique. Ads on these platforms can also be iterated and improved over time based on which messages are resonating best with your audience.
Placing your ads directly on Google for relevant keywords enables your school to reach the exact same audience making their way to review sites, influencing prospects before they begin comparing and contrasting you against your competitors. This gives your school a real edge in the process.
3. Claiming and Optimizing Your Google Business Listing
One often-overlooked yet critical step is to claim and optimize your school's Google Business Listing. Given its prominent placement in search results, particularly for local searches, this is a powerful way to capture attention right when parents are looking for schools like yours.
Your Google Business Listing will appear directly on the search results page when parents search for your school name, providing a direct and credible source of information. This is valuable real estate that you fully control, unlike listings on review sites. You’ll want to make sure your Google Business Listing is complete with up-to-date contact information, photos, and a compelling description of your school. This helps ensure that potential families have all the key details they need, right at their fingertips.
Google allows parents to leave reviews directly on your listing, which means you can build social proof without relying on third-party platforms. These reviews will often be seen before the reviews found on ranking sites, giving them extra influence. Encourage your current families to leave honest, positive reviews that showcase their experiences.
4. Community Engagement and Word-of-Mouth Campaigns
Parent word-of-mouth remains one of the most effective marketing strategies for schools. Encouraging and nurturing a positive school community—both online and offline—can amplify your reach organically.
Strategies might include hosting events open to the local community, encouraging current parents to share their experiences on social media, and empowering your most passionate families to act as ambassadors for the school. Engaging your local community fosters trust and authenticity, two things that paid advertising can’t always deliver.
Review Sites as a Supplemental Tactic
Once your foundational strategies are driving steady interest and inquiries, review sites like Niche.com can be a valuable way to boost your visibility. At this point, rather than depending on them for primary exposure, you can leverage these platforms to create a positive feedback loop—providing visibility to parents who may hear about you through other channels and want to verify your reputation.
For instance, if your Google Ads campaign brings a family to your site, they may naturally search for additional validation through third-party reviews. Having a well-maintained presence on sites like Niche.com helps provide this reassurance. But importantly, it works best when other strategies are already producing consistent results.
Take Control of Your School's Marketing Success
When marketing your school, it's crucial to make investments that offer long-term control, visibility, and measurable results. Ranking and review platforms can be tempting, especially given their reach and visibility. However, they often act as intermediaries, taking control out of your hands and putting your school side by side with all your competitors.
Instead of immediately turning to these middleman platforms, focus on smarter foundational investments that allow your school to stand out on its own terms:
- Optimize Your Website for SEO to rank for location-specific search queries.
- Run Targeted Google and Social Media Ads to reach parents directly when they are ready to explore schooling options.
- Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Listing for immediate credibility and control over how your school appears on the search results page.
- Invest in Community Engagement and amplify word-of-mouth to organically build trust and strengthen your reputation.
Once these direct efforts are working to bring in a steady flow of inquiries, review sites can be used as a supplemental boost—acting as an extra layer of visibility and validation for those families already interested in what you offer.
Ultimately, marketing is about reaching the right families at the right time with a compelling message that clearly sets you apart. By focusing on direct strategies first, you can create a stronger foundation, lower your cost per acquisition, and build a sustainable flow of mission-aligned inquiries. And when it’s time to leverage review platforms, you’ll be doing so from a position of strength, with more inquiries already coming your way.
Before signing any contracts, make sure you're investing in long-term strategies that you control. Start with foundational efforts that bring high-intent families directly to your door.
Take the Next Step: Audit Your Current Strategy
Are you unsure if your current marketing tactics are getting the best possible results? Consider meeting with one of our strategists for an honest assessment of your current strategy to identify opportunities for improvement. Focusing on foundational, high-value tactics first can make all the difference in reaching and converting more families.
