15 Questions Parents Ask AI Before Choosing a Preschool, and What Answers Them
I took the questions parents actually ask an AI before choosing a preschool and checked whether 14 real preschool homepages answer them.
Choosing a preschool is one of the most question-heavy decisions a parent makes, right after choosing a paediatrician. Increasingly that research starts on ChatGPT, Perplexity, or a Google AI overview rather than with a school visit. Parents ask an AI to shortlist first, then visit the two or three names it surfaces. The questions are predictable: fees, age cutoffs, timings, safety and CCTV, teacher-to-child ratio, meals, curriculum, transport, and how admissions actually work.
I ran the same 14 preschool homepages from my study against 15 of these questions, checking one thing: does the answer exist on the page as plain text an AI can actually lift, not a PDF or a phone number. The sites did well on the basics, a median score of 87, so this is not about broken code or missing structured data. It is about the last gap: whether the specific answer to 'what are your fees' or 'what is your teacher ratio' is actually written down anywhere. Only 3 of the 14 sites use FAQ schema, the format built exactly for this.
The 15 questions, and the fix for each
State the actual fee range in rupees on the page, not just 'contact us for fees.'
A number an AI can quote beats a form nobody fills.
List the exact age range, for example 1.5 to 6 years, in plain text near the top of the page.
Vague age bands make an AI guess instead of answer.
Print the opening and closing hours for each program instead of leaving it to a phone call.
Timings buried in a brochure PDF might as well not exist.
Say clearly whether daycare exists and its exact closing time, separate from the regular preschool hours.
Working parents need one clear line, not a maybe.
Spell out the specific safety measures, CCTV, entry logs, staff verification, instead of a generic 'we prioritise safety.'
Generic safety talk answers nothing an anxious parent asked.
State the actual ratio, for example 1 teacher to 8 children, rather than 'low ratios, personal attention.'
A real ratio number is what parents actually compare.
Describe what is served, when, and whether it is included in fees, in plain text.
Meal details on a menu photo are invisible to an AI.
Name the actual curriculum, Montessori, play-based, Reggio Emilia, instead of the word 'holistic.'
Name the method, not just the word holistic.
State which areas the school bus covers and the approximate cost, if any.
Transport coverage is a yes or no parents need upfront.
Publish the admission process and the actual opening dates as text, not inside a downloadable form.
Admission dates hidden in a PDF miss every AI search.
Say plainly whether a trial day or settling-in week exists and how long it lasts.
A one-line answer here removes a parent's biggest hesitation.
State teacher qualifications and training in a sentence, not just a staff photo gallery.
Smiling photos do not tell an AI who is trained.
Give the actual class size, not just the ratio, since parents ask both separately.
Class size is a different question from ratio, answer both.
Describe the outdoor space in words, size, equipment, alongside any photos.
A gallery of photos is not text an AI can read.
Name the specific localities and pin code range the school serves on the homepage.
Locality names in text beat a map an AI cannot read.
What I found scanning 14 preschool sites
The 14 sites scored a median of 87 out of 100, mean 84.6, range 58 to 100. Nine of the 14 scored an A, four a B, and one a C. That puts preschools 16th of the 28 verticals I have scanned, solidly mid-table. Structured data, the JSON-LD code that tells an AI what a page actually contains, is close to universal here: 13 of the 14 homepages have it.
The gap is FAQ schema, the specific markup that lets a page answer a direct question like 'what are your fees' instead of just describing itself in general terms. Only 3 of the 14 sites use it. In most cases the answer is not missing, it is just not marked up: a fee range sits in a paragraph three screens down, or a safety policy is written for a human scrolling, not an AI system extracting a fact.
The pattern under all 15
The preschools that score well do one simple thing: they state the answer in plain homepage text. A fee range in rupees, an age band in years, opening and closing hours, the teacher-to-child ratio, the safety measures, all written as sentences an AI can lift and quote.
The ones that miss it have not hidden the information on purpose, they have just buried it somewhere an AI cannot read: a downloadable brochure PDF, an admission form, a photo of a fee chart, an Instagram post, or the phrase 'call us for details.' A parent can still find these answers. An AI assistant, right now, mostly cannot.
Frequently asked questions
What is the AI readability score for preschool websites?
I scanned 14 real Indian preschool and daycare chain homepages on 10 August 2026. The median AI readability score was 87 out of 100, mean 84.6, ranging from 58 to 100, with 9 of the 14 sites scoring an A.
Do preschool websites have structured data?
Yes, almost all of them. 13 of the 14 homepages I scanned use JSON-LD structured data, the code that tells an AI what a business is, where it is, and what it offers. This part of AI readability is close to solved in this category.
What is the biggest AI readability gap for preschools?
FAQ schema. Only 3 of the 14 sites use it, even though it is exactly the markup that lets an AI answer a parent's specific question, fees, age, timings, safety, directly instead of just describing the school in general terms.
What should a preschool homepage state in plain text?
The fee range in rupees, the age range accepted, opening and closing hours, the teacher-to-child ratio, safety measures, and the localities served, all as sentences on the page itself, not inside a PDF, a form, or a photo.