Sparrow Self-Employed Carers
Website Audit & SEO Strategy

1 Executive Summary

Sparrow’s new WordPress site has solid foundations — good content depth on key pages, a clear two-sided proposition (clients and carers), and a sensible template approach for scaling location and service pages. The existing Wix site (sparrowcarers.co.uk) already holds a Google featured snippet for “self employed carers near me” and sits on page 2 for “self employed carer” (390 searches/month) — genuine competitive assets that the new site must protect during migration.

What’s working:

• Strong content depth on the Become a Carer page (2,726 words) and FAQs (3,066 words)
• The Find Care page has a practical three-step process with 2,182 words
• Good use of webp image format across most of the site
• Template approach for location, care-type and carer-job pages is the right strategy
• Readability scores are consistently “Fairly Easy” (76–80 Flesch) — appropriate for the audience
• The existing site holds a Google featured snippet for “self employed carers near me” — a high-intent keyword driving the majority of current organic traffic

What needs fixing before launch:

• Page titles are too short and miss target keywords on nearly every page
• Multiple pages have duplicate H1 tags — confusing for Google
• 24 pages returned connection timeouts during the crawl (server config or unfinished pages)
• One 3.9MB uncompressed image; blog thumbnails still in PNG format
• No clear keyword-to-page mapping — pages compete with each other or target nothing specific
• Template pages need restructuring to serve both SEO and user intent effectively

The biggest opportunity: Newcastle is the region’s primary search hub (~2,300 measurable monthly searches for care keywords). No locally-owned provider ranks across more than 2–3 of the top 12 local searches. Sparrow’s local knowledge, real carer profiles, and two-sided model give it a structural advantage over the national franchises (Helping Hands, Home Instead) that dominate with thin, programmatic location pages.

Current Organic Baseline (Existing Wix Site)

Source: Semrush Organic Rankings report for sparrowcarers.co.uk, 23 February 2026.

The existing site provides a small but meaningful organic footprint to build from:

Ahrefs Baseline (February 2026)

Source: Ahrefs Site Explorer for sparrowcarers.co.uk, February 2026.

Ahrefs-specific insights not captured by Semrush:

• Backlink profile is extremely weak. DR 0 means Sparrow has effectively zero domain authority. All 26 backlinks come from domains with UR < 10 — there isn’t a single authority link in the profile. The referring domain count has declined from an all-time high of 59 to 21, losing 5 in the last month alone.
• Crawl health is concerning. Of 19 pages crawled by Ahrefs, only 9 returned 200 OK (47%). One page returns 404, and 7 pages return other 4XX errors (36.8% error rate). This aligns with the 24 timeout pages found in our Screaming Frog crawl.
• Historical decline is clear. Organic keyword positions peaked at approximately 60 around August 2024, then declined sharply to approximately 15 by February 2026. This suggests the Wix site is losing ground, making the WordPress migration more urgent.
• Zero AI citations. Sparrow is not cited by any AI platform — Google AI Overview, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Copilot. This is unsurprising given the low authority but represents a gap to close as AI-powered search grows.
• Keyword intent breakdown: 1 commercial keyword (driving ~7 traffic), 1 local keyword (~7 traffic), and 4 informational keywords (~9 traffic combined).

Cross-source validation: All three tools tell the same story — Sparrow has a minimal but real organic footprint built almost entirely on the “self employed carers” keyword cluster. Semrush reports 10 keywords and ~6 traffic; Ahrefs reports 4 keywords and ~10 traffic; DataForSEO reports 23 keywords and ~29 traffic. The differences reflect different crawl methodologies and databases, but the direction is consistent. DataForSEO’s broader view reveals two additional findings: Sparrow ranks #9 for “independent carer” (320/mo) — a page 1 position that must be protected during migration — and has improved to #2 for “self employed carers near me” in live SERP data. Both confirm this is a site with genuine rankings but almost no authority behind them.

Current keyword rankings:

What this tells us:

1. The featured snippet is a real asset. “Self employed carers near me” at position 3 with a featured snippet is driving virtually all of Sparrow’s current organic traffic. This must be preserved during the site migration — the new site’s homepage and Find Care page need to maintain or improve on this ranking.
2. Two keywords are in striking distance of page 1. “Self employed carer” (390/mo) and “self employed carers” (170/mo) both sit at position 12. Moving these onto page 1 would roughly triple Sparrow’s organic traffic without any new content — just on-page optimisation of existing pages.
3. Zero branded traffic confirms the brand-building need. Nobody is searching for “Sparrow Carers” yet. The About page, case studies, Google Business Profile, and directory listings all serve a brand-awareness function alongside their SEO role.
4. Only 4 of 32+ pages have any organic visibility. This reinforces the finding that most pages either timed out, aren’t indexed, or aren’t targeting any keywords. The content build in Phase 2 addresses this directly.
5. 34 competitors but minimal keyword overlap. No competitor shares more than 2 keywords with Sparrow. This reflects how narrow the current site’s keyword footprint is — and how much room there is to expand.
6. The backlink profile is a critical weakness. Ahrefs confirms DR 0 with all 26 backlinks from UR < 10 domains. Referring domains have declined from 59 to 21 — the site is losing links faster than gaining them. The Phase 3 link building strategy (directory listings, local outreach, care sector partnerships) addresses this directly.

SERP feature landscape: AI Overviews are appearing for 10 of Sparrow’s tracked keywords but none currently link to the domain. FAQ rich results appear for 1 keyword. Local Pack visibility exists for 1 keyword. Implementing FAQ Schema (Section 6, Phase 1) and building location pages with LocalBusiness Schema will directly address these gaps.

Competitive positioning: Sparrow sits in the bottom-left of Semrush’s competitive positioning map — fewest keywords and lowest traffic among its identified competitors. The closest organic competitors are athomecaregroup.co.uk, nacas.org.uk, friendshelpingathome.co.uk, gladys.care, and carematch.com. Notably, the national franchises (Helping Hands, Home Instead, Bluebird Care) don’t appear as direct organic competitors at this scale — they operate in a different keyword universe. This will change as Sparrow builds location and care-type pages.

2 Current Site Structure

Pages That Loaded Successfully (8 pages)

Pages That Timed Out (24 pages — unreachable during crawl)

Content pages:

• /how-much-does-home-care-cost-in-northumberland/
• /working-with-your-carer/
• /what-is-an-introductory-agency/
• /partnerships/
• /how-sparrows-network-of-carers-can-support-you/
• /is-self-employed-care-right-for-me/
• /thinking-about-becoming-a-self-employed-carer/
• /why-we-started-sparrow/

Case studies (3 client, 3 carer):

• /case-study-jacky-brown-and-family/
• /case-study-jim-and-ann-darlington/
• /case-study-anonymous-client/
• /wendy-b-carer-case-study/
• /sam-s-carer-case-study/
• /alice-s-carer-case-study/

Utility pages:

• /contact-us/
• /terms-and-conditions/
• /privacy-policy/

Blog infrastructure:

• /blog/page/2/
• 5 category pages (/category/finding-care/, /category/becoming-a-carer/, etc.)
• /?p=620 (draft/unpublished post)

Template Pages (not in crawl — likely not linked from navigation)

Tom shared three template types: - /care-job-hexham/ — Title: “Carer Job Opportunities in Hexham” - /type-of-care-dementia/ — Title: “Dementia Care in Northumberland, Tyneside & Cumbria” - /self-employed-carers-wylam/ — Title: “Self Employed Carers in Wylam”

Observation on Site Architecture

The site currently has two distinct audience paths but they’re not clearly separated:

1. Client path: Homepage → Find Care → Choosing Your Carer → (contact/enquiry)
2. Carer path: Homepage → Become a Carer → (case studies, blog posts about being self-employed)

This is good instinct but the execution needs tightening. Several pages serve both audiences without being clear about which one they’re primarily for.

Recommended URL Structure

The developer’s current template URLs (/self-employed-carers-wylam/, /care-job-hexham/, /type-of-care-dementia/) are flat and keyword-prefixed. Before the site goes live, we recommend restructuring to a parent-directory model with selective county nesting, based on how Sparrow’s geography actually works.

What the top-ranking competitors use:

There is no single winning structure — all five rank. The decision should be based on Sparrow’s specific geography and scalability needs.

The geographic problem: Newcastle is a separate local authority — it isn’t in Northumberland. Durham is both a city and a county. Carlisle sits within Cumberland (formerly Cumbria). A pure county/town hierarchy forces Newcastle into an awkward parent that doesn’t match how anyone thinks about it.

Our recommended structure — county nesting where it fits, standalone where it doesn’t:

CLIENT-FACING LOCATION PAGES
/areas/                                    → "Areas We Cover" hub page
/areas/northumberland/                     → Northumberland county page
/areas/northumberland/hexham/              → Town page (under county)
/areas/northumberland/morpeth/             → Town page (under county)
/areas/northumberland/ponteland/           → Town page (under county)
/areas/northumberland/blyth-ashington/     → Combined page (under county)
/areas/northumberland/tyne-valley/         → Catchment page: Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Wylam
/areas/newcastle/                          → Standalone (separate local authority)
/areas/newcastle/north-shields-whitley-bay/ → Combined coastal Tyneside
/areas/durham/                             → Standalone (city + county)
/areas/carlisle/                           → Standalone (hub for Cumbria)

CARE TYPE PAGES
/types-of-care/dementia/                   → Dementia care
/types-of-care/live-in/                    → Live-in care
/types-of-care/elderly-personal-care/      → Personal care
/types-of-care/respite/                    → Respite care
/types-of-care/companionship/              → Companionship
/types-of-care/night-care/                 → Night care

CARER RECRUITMENT PAGES
/carer-jobs/                               → Main recruitment hub
/carer-jobs/newcastle/                     → Newcastle carer jobs
/carer-jobs/northumberland/                → Northumberland carer jobs

Why this works for Sparrow:

1. Reflects the business reality. Sparrow is a Hexham-based business operating across Northumberland, with expansion into Newcastle, Durham and Cumbria. The hierarchy mirrors that — Northumberland towns nest under their county; the expansion markets stand alone.
2. Newcastle gets the prominence it deserves. At ~2,300 searches/month, it’s the biggest market. It sits at /areas/newcastle/ — clean, short, high authority.
3. Scalable. Adding Alnwick is /areas/northumberland/alnwick/. Adding Penrith is /areas/carlisle/penrith/ or /areas/penrith/. No restructuring needed.
4. Three content silos are clearly separated. /areas/ for clients finding care by location, /types-of-care/ for clients finding care by need, /carer-jobs/ for carers seeking work. Google can see the topical clusters.
5. Breadcrumbs work naturally. Home > Areas > Northumberland > Hexham. Home > Types of Care > Dementia. Home > Carer Jobs > Newcastle.
6. No keyword locked into the URL. /areas/hexham/ can target “home care Hexham”, “carers Hexham”, or “independent carers Hexham” — whatever data shows works best.

Action required: Discuss with the developer before handover. Restructuring from /self-employed-carers-wylam/ to /areas/northumberland/wylam/ is straightforward on a staging site. After launch with the production domain, any URL change requires 301 redirects.

3 Page-by-Page Audit & Keyword Mapping

Homepage /

Primary keyword: independent carers (1,300/mo national, comp 0.26) Secondary keywords: self employed carers (590/mo), private carers near me (1,600/mo — served via Google Business Profile)

Recommended title: “Independent Carers in Northumberland, Tyneside & Cumbria | Sparrow Self-Employed Carers” Recommended meta: “Find outstanding independent carers across Northumberland, Tyneside and Cumbria. Sparrow connects families with vetted, self-employed carers for personalised home care. Browse carers or call us today.”

Content notes:

• 923 words is adequate for a homepage
• The H1 is strong — keep it
• Ensure the page clearly communicates Sparrow’s unique model (introductory agency, not an employer) within the first paragraph

Find Care /find-care/

Primary keyword: home care newcastle (720/mo, comp 0.56) OR private carers near me (1,600/mo national) Secondary keywords: carers newcastle (720/mo), care agencies in newcastle (390/mo)

The problem: This page is trying to be a functional “search/browse carers” tool AND an SEO landing page. It can’t do both well. The functional page should exist, but it shouldn’t be the primary SEO landing page for “home care Newcastle” or location keywords.

Recommendation: Keep this as the functional “find a carer” tool page. Create separate location landing pages (see Section 5) that target geographic keywords and link TO this page as the conversion step.

Recommended title: “Find a Self-Employed Carer Near You | Sparrow Carers” Recommended meta: “Browse Sparrow’s network of outstanding self-employed carers across Northumberland, Tyneside and Cumbria. Submit a care enquiry, search by location, or call us to find your ideal carer.”

Become a Carer /become-a-carer/

Primary keyword: self employed carer jobs (320/mo, comp 0.35) Secondary keywords: private carer jobs near me (5,400/mo national — Sparrow’s strongest recruitment keyword), how to become a private carer (210/mo)

Recommended title: “Self-Employed Carer Jobs in Northumberland & Tyneside | Sparrow Carers” Recommended meta: “Join Sparrow’s network of self-employed carers across Northumberland, Tyneside and Cumbria. Set your own rates, choose your clients, and get the support you need. Apply today.”

Content notes:

• 2,726 words is excellent depth — this is the strongest content page on the site
• The H2 “Is Being a Self-Employed Carer Right for Me?” is a smart angle that matches real search intent
• Ensure the page includes practical details: typical rates, areas covered, what support Sparrow provides, DBS/insurance requirements — these match the “how to become a private carer” search intent

About Us /about-us/

Primary keyword: This page shouldn’t target a commercial keyword. Its job is to build trust and E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust).

Issues to fix:

• Remove the second H1. Change “Looking for an outstanding independent carer…” to an H2.
• Strengthen the first H1. Something like “About Sparrow — Independent Home Care in Northumberland” keeps the keyword signal while being natural.
• 682 words is light for an About page that needs to build trust. Consider adding: how many carers in the network, how many families served, founding story detail, your CQC status or regulatory position.

FAQs /faqs/

Primary keyword: This page can target long-tail FAQ queries across both audiences. It’s a natural FAQ Schema candidate.

Recommended title: “FAQs — Independent Home Care & Self-Employed Carers | Sparrow” Recommended meta: “Answers to common questions about finding independent home care in Northumberland, Tyneside and Cumbria. Also covers FAQs for self-employed carers about joining Sparrow’s network.”

Issues to fix:

• Remove the second H1. Keep “FAQs for Clients” as H1, change “FAQs for Carers” to H2.
• Implement FAQ Schema (JSON-LD) — this page has 3,066 words of Q&A content. FAQ Schema gives you rich results in Google (expandable answers directly in search results). This is a quick win with high impact.
• Consider splitting into two pages if the content grows: /faqs/clients/ and /faqs/carers/.

Choosing Your Carer /choosing-your-carer/

Primary keyword: how to find a private carer (260/mo, comp 0.77)

Issues to fix:

• Remove the duplicate H1.

• Only 6 inlinks (3 unique) — this page is nearly orphaned. It needs to be linked from the Find Care page and from relevant blog posts.

• 916 words is adequate.

How Do Sparrow Choose Their Carers? /how-do-sparrow-choose-their-carers/

Primary keyword: Not a natural keyword target. This is a trust/authority page.

Issues to fix:

• Remove the duplicate H1.

• Only 1 inlink — this page is effectively orphaned. It needs internal links from the About page and the Become a Carer page.

• Meta description should not repeat the title. Rewrite: “Sparrow only works with outstanding carers. Here’s exactly how we vet, interview and select every carer in our network across Northumberland, Tyneside and Cumbria.”

Blog /blog/

Recommended title: “Home Care & Self-Employed Carer Insights | Sparrow Carers Blog” Recommended H1: “Insights for Families and Carers” or similar.

4 Template Page Assessment

Tom has created three template types. These are the foundation for scaling the site. Each needs to be evaluated as a repeatable structure.

Template A: Location Pages (Client-Facing)

Current URL: /self-employed-carers-wylam/ → Change to: /areas/northumberland/wylam/ (see Section 2 URL structure) Title observed: “Self Employed Carers in Wylam”

What this template should do:

• Target [service] + [location] keywords (e.g., “home care Hexham”, “home care Morpeth”). Important: Our SERP analysis (Section 10) shows “carers [location]” queries return results for carer support charities, not care providers — use “home care [location]” or “care agencies [location]” as primary targets.
• Speak to the adult child audience (53% of search demand per our research)
• Include: areas covered, types of care available, how to get started, local context
• Link to the Find Care page as the primary CTA
• Include or link to relevant carer profiles for that area

Recommendations for the template: 1. Title format: “[Care Type] in [Location] — Sparrow Self-Employed Carers” (e.g., “Independent Home Care in Hexham — Sparrow Self-Employed Carers”) 2. H1 format: “Independent Home Care in [Location]” (preferred — aligns with the keyword intent that Google associates with care providers. Avoid “Carers in [Location]” as H1 — Google interprets this as carer support/charity intent, not care provider intent. See Section 10, SERP finding #2.) 3. Must include genuine local content. Our competitor analysis (Section 10) shows most national brands rely on templated location pages — Trinity and Elder swap place names with minimal genuine local detail, while Helping Hands uses deeper service sub-pages but still lacks local specificity. Only Home Instead approaches genuine local content. Sparrow’s advantage is real local knowledge. Each page should mention: specific areas/villages covered from that base, travel times, local context (“Hexham and the surrounding Tyne Valley”), any carers actually based nearby. 4. Add LocalBusiness Schema with the service area for that location. 5. Word count target: 500-800 words minimum per location page. Thin pages (<300 words) will not rank.

Priority locations to build (from keyword research):

Note: Newcastle, Durham and Northumberland will drive real organic traffic. The smaller town pages drive Google Maps/Local Pack visibility and build topical authority. They’re worth creating but don’t obsess over their organic traffic individually.

Template B: Care Type Pages

Current URL: /type-of-care-dementia/ → Change to: /types-of-care/dementia/ Title observed: “Dementia Care in Northumberland, Tyneside & Cumbria”

What this template should do:

• Target [care type] + [region] keywords
• Establish expertise in specific care needs
• Link to relevant location pages and the Find Care page

Recommended care type pages to build:

Template recommendations: 1. Title format: “[Care Type] at Home in Northumberland, Tyneside & Cumbria | Sparrow” 2. Include: What this type of care involves, who it’s for, how Sparrow’s carers are trained/experienced in it, typical costs/hours, how to arrange it. 3. Cross-link to location pages (“Dementia care in Hexham”, “Dementia care in Newcastle”) if you build location+care-type combinations later. 4. Word count target: 800-1,200 words. These are informational/commercial pages — they need depth to rank.

Template C: Carer Job Pages

Current URL: /care-job-hexham/ → Change to: /carer-jobs/hexham/ Title observed: “Carer Job Opportunities in Hexham”

What this template should do:

• Target carer recruitment keywords for specific locations
• Speak to working-age people considering self-employed care work
• Include: what the role involves, rates, flexibility, how to apply

Recommended carer job pages:

Recommendations: 1. Title format: “Self-Employed Carer Jobs in [Location] | Sparrow Carers” 2. Include: Typical hourly rates for the area, travel expectations, types of care work available, what Sparrow provides (training, insurance guidance, client matching). 3. Cross-link to the Become a Carer page and to the client-facing location page for the same area. 4. Consider whether you need per-town job pages. Our research shows “private carer jobs near me” (5,400/mo nationally) is the dominant carer search — people use “near me”, not town names. A single “Self-Employed Carer Jobs in Northumberland & Tyneside” page may outperform 10 thin town-level pages. Build job pages only for locations where you actively recruit (Newcastle, the main towns).

5 Missing Pages — Content Gap Analysis

Based on our keyword research, these pages should exist on the site but currently don’t (or timed out during the crawl and may be in progress).

Critical Missing Pages

High-Value Content Pages

6 Six-Month SEO Strategy

Phase 1: Pre-Launch Fixes (Before Developer Handover)

These should be communicated to the web developer before the site goes live.

Technical fixes:

• Remove sitewide noindex/nofollow when moving to production domain (sparrowcarers.co.uk)
• Restructure URLs before launch — move template pages to the new /areas/, /types-of-care/, /carer-jobs/ structure (see Section 2). Far easier to do now on staging than after launch with redirects.
• Fix all connection timeout pages — ensure every linked page actually loads
• Compress the 3.9MB PNG image (Choosing-your-carer-scaled.png)
• Convert remaining blog thumbnail PNGs to webp format
• Ensure trailing-slash consistency (currently 7 non-trailing-slash URLs redirect to trailing-slash versions — WordPress should handle this but verify)
• Set up XML sitemap (likely via Yoast or similar)
• Set up Google Search Console and submit sitemap
• Set up Google Analytics 4
• Set up 301 redirects from all current Wix URLs to their new WordPress equivalents. Install a redirect plugin (Redirection, Yoast Premium, or Rank Math) and map every indexed page from the current site to its nearest corresponding page on the new site. This is critical for preserving Sparrow’s existing rankings (#2 for “self employed carers near me”, #9 for “independent carer”) and ensuring any indexed pages or inbound links don’t land on 404 errors. See the redirect mapping table below.

Redirect mapping (current Wix → new WordPress):

Important: After launching the new site, test every redirect by visiting each old URL and confirming it lands on the correct new page with a 301 (not 302) status code. Use Screaming Frog or a redirect checker to verify in bulk. Also check Google Search Console for 404 errors in the first 2 weeks after launch and add redirects for any missed URLs.

On-page fixes (apply to every page):

• Fix all duplicate H1 tags (About, FAQs, Choosing Your Carer, How Do Sparrow Choose)
• Rewrite page titles per recommendations in Section 3
• Rewrite meta descriptions per recommendations in Section 3
• Ensure every page has a single, clear H1 followed by a logical H2/H3 hierarchy

Schema markup:

• Add Organization Schema (JSON-LD) to the homepage
• Add LocalBusiness Schema with service areas
• Add FAQ Schema to the FAQs page
• Add BreadcrumbList Schema sitewide

Google Business Profile:

• Create or optimise Google Business Profile for Sparrow’s Hexham address
• Consider whether a second GBP for a Newcastle-area service point is appropriate (only if there’s a genuine physical presence)
• Add service areas covering all towns Sparrow operates in
• Begin collecting Google reviews from existing clients and carers

Phase 2: Content Build (Months 1-2)

Month 1 — foundational pages:

Month 2 — care type pages + carer content:

Phase 3: Growth & Authority (Months 3-6)

Month 3:

• Build remaining location pages:
  • /areas/newcastle/north-shields-whitley-bay/
  • /areas/northumberland/blyth-ashington/
  • /areas/northumberland/ponteland/
  • /areas/northumberland/tyne-valley/ (Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Wylam)
• Publish the insurance guide for carers
• Publish the HMRC/tax guide for carers
• Build carer job sub-pages: /carer-jobs/newcastle/, /carer-jobs/northumberland/

Month 4:

• Publish private carer rates guide (transparent pricing)
• Begin blog content cadence: 2 posts per month targeting long-tail keywords
• Apply for homecare.co.uk listing (the dominant care directory — mandatory)
• Register with Care Sourcer, Lottie, and other comparison directories

Month 5:

• Refresh the costs page with updated 2026 pricing
• Build internal linking between all location pages, care type pages, and the Find Care page
• Review Search Console data — identify which pages are gaining impressions and optimise those first
• Begin outreach to local health/social care blogs, Northumberland community sites for backlinks

Month 6:

• Full audit of what’s ranking, what’s not
• Prioritise “striking distance” keywords (positions 5-15) for optimisation
• Plan next 6 months based on data
• Consider content for “caring for elderly parents at home” (top-of-funnel, earlier-stage searchers)

Content Calendar Summary

7 Technical Issues Summary

8 What You Can Do vs What I’ll Handle

Tom and the team can do:

• Write location page content using the template — you know the areas better than anyone. I’ll provide content briefs with target keywords, word count, and structure for each page.
• Write case studies and blog posts — your real stories are your competitive advantage. No agency can fake this.
• Manage Google Business Profile — regular posts, responding to reviews, uploading photos of carers (with permission).
• Update the costs page when rates change.
• Collect Google reviews — ask satisfied clients and carers to leave reviews. Review velocity (getting reviews regularly) matters more than having 50 on day one.
• Submit to directories — homecare.co.uk, Care Sourcer, Lottie, local directories. I’ll provide a list.

I’ll handle:

• Technical SEO fixes — title tags, meta descriptions, schema markup, sitemap, redirects.
• Keyword research and content briefs — telling you exactly what each page should target and why.
• Monthly Search Console review — what’s ranking, what’s gaining, what needs attention.
• Competitor monitoring — tracking what national brands and local providers are doing.
• On-page optimisation — reviewing and refining content Tom writes before publication.
• Internal linking strategy — ensuring every page connects correctly to the rest of the site.
• Performance tracking — monthly report showing progress against baseline.

9 Key Findings from Keyword Research (Summary)

Full research documents are available separately. The headlines:

National opportunity:

• The “independent carers” keyword space has ~6,090 searches/month nationally across buyer and carer audiences
• Sparrow holds a featured snippet for “self employed carers near me” (140/mo) and sits at position 12 for “self employed carer” (390/mo) — both are genuine competitive assets. Earlier research indicated a #5 ranking for “independent carers” (1,300/mo); Semrush’s February 2026 data no longer shows this keyword in Sparrow’s top 10, suggesting it may have slipped or fluctuated. This makes the new site’s on-page optimisation for “independent carers” on the homepage even more important — it’s a position to reclaim, not just defend.
• “Direct payments carer” (1,300/mo, competition 0.12) is the single most underexploited keyword in the sector
• Seasonal peak in October-November — content should be live by September to capture it

Local opportunity:

• Newcastle is the regional search hub (~2,300 measurable monthly searches)
• No locally-owned provider ranks across more than 2-3 of the top 12 local search terms
• “Carers [location]” queries consistently return carer support charity results, not care providers (Section 10 confirms this across Newcastle, Northumberland, and Durham). Location pages should target “home care [location]” instead.
• Helping Hands dominates locally (ranks in 6/12 searches — see Section 10 SERP map) but with thin, auto-generated pages

The three-persona insight: Our research identified three distinct search audiences: 1. Elderly people searching for their own care (~30% of buyer searches) 2. Adult children searching for parents (~70% of buyer searches) — the dominant audience 3. Carers looking for work — driven by working-age population, not elderly population

This means: Newcastle is the strongest market (largest absolute elderly population AND largest working-age population). Content should primarily speak to the worried adult child, not to the elderly person directly. Carer recruitment content should target different keywords and demographics than client-facing content.

10 Competitor Analysis

How We Identified Competitors

Competitors were identified from three independent sources, then grouped into tiers based on their relationship to Sparrow’s market:

1. Semrush Organic Competitors (February 2026) — identified 34 domains with keyword overlap. The closest five: athomecaregroup.co.uk, nacas.org.uk, friendshelpingathome.co.uk, gladys.care, and carematch.com.
2. Ahrefs Keyword Competitors (February 2026) — identified overlapping domains including curamcare.com, primecarers.co.uk, and myhometouch.com.
3. Manual SERP analysis — the national franchises that dominate local care searches in Northumberland, Tyneside, and Durham: Helping Hands, Home Instead, Bluebird Care, Trinity Homecare, and Elder.

The Semrush and Ahrefs competitors overlap with Sparrow on self-employed carer keywords — they’re competing for the same informational and commercial searches. The national franchises operate in a different keyword universe entirely (location-based searches like “home care Newcastle”) but will become direct competitors as Sparrow builds location pages.

Tiering approach:

Competitor Landscape Overview

Sparrow operates in a two-front competitive landscape. On one front, national franchises dominate local care searches with programmatic location pages — they have the domain authority and page count, but their content is templated and their local presence is often superficial. On the other front, smaller independents and directories compete for the same “self-employed carer” keyword cluster where Sparrow currently ranks.

The critical finding: no competitor combines genuine local knowledge with the self-employed carer model. The national franchises employ carers directly (except Elder, which uses a platform model similar to Sparrow’s). The smaller independents have the model but not the local SEO infrastructure. This is Sparrow’s strategic gap to fill.

Organic Scale Comparison

Source: DataForSEO Labs, 24 February 2026. UK Google data.

The scale of the gap is stark: Sparrow has 23 organic keywords; the smallest Tier 1 competitor (Trinity) has 4,902. This is not a competitive deficit that can be closed with on-page optimisation alone — it requires the systematic content build outlined in Phase 2 and Phase 3 of this strategy. But it also confirms the opportunity: every one of these competitors built their keyword portfolios through location and service pages, the exact strategy Sparrow is about to execute.

Competitor Profile Comparison

Keyword Overlap Competitors (DataForSEO, top 30 by shared keywords with Sparrow):

Local SERP Dominance Map

Source: DataForSEO SERP live data, 24 February 2026. UK Google desktop results. Keyword volumes from Keywords Everywhere. Spot-checked against live Google results for 4 keywords — positions vary ±2-4 spots due to location and personalisation, but competitive landscape and key findings are consistent.

This table shows where each Tier 1 competitor actually ranks (organic position) for each of the 12 local keywords Sparrow needs to target. SERP features (Local Pack, Featured Snippet, AI Overview) are noted where present.

FS = Featured Snippet. Home Instead holds the Featured Snippet for “dementia care at home newcastle”.

Tier 1 SERP appearances: Helping Hands 6/12, Bluebird Care 5/12, Home Instead 2/12, Trinity 2/12, Elder 2/12, Sparrow 1/12.

Key findings from live SERP data:

1. Helping Hands is the most visible locally — appearing in 6 of 12 SERPs and holding position #1 for “dementia care at home newcastle”. But they never rank above #4, confirming their pages don’t dominate any single keyword.
2. “Carers [location]” returns charity results, not care providers. “Carers newcastle”, “carers northumberland”, and “carers durham” are all dominated by carer support charities (Newcastle Carers, Carers UK, carers.org). This is a critical keyword targeting insight: Sparrow should prioritise “home care [location]” and “care agencies [location]” for location pages, not “carers [location]” — the latter keyword speaks to a different audience entirely (unpaid family carers seeking support).
3. “Home care northumberland” is the most competitive local keyword — all four local-office competitors rank in the top 6. But the #1 and #2 positions are held by directories (homecare.co.uk, ageuk.org.uk), not providers. A strong provider page can break through.
4. Sparrow ranks #2 for “self employed carers near me” — ahead of all national franchises. This validates the existing keyword strategy and the importance of protecting this ranking during the migration. Only athomecaregroup.co.uk (#1) and Elder (#8) also appear.
5. Home Instead holds a valuable Featured Snippet for “dementia care at home newcastle” — this is a position Sparrow could target with a strong dementia care page (Section 4, Template B).
6. “Private carers near me” (1,600/mo) is the highest-volume keyword but dominated by NHS, directories, and Gumtree. Helping Hands (#8) and Elder (#10) barely make the top 10. This is a hard keyword to crack but worth targeting long-term.
7. Carlisle is the least contested market — only Bluebird Care (#2) appears from the Tier 1 competitors. This confirms Carlisle as a quick win for Sparrow’s location page expansion.
8. Local Pack appears in 8 of 12 SERPs — reinforcing the importance of Google Business Profile optimisation (Phase 1) alongside organic content.

Tier 1: National Franchise Profiles

Helping Hands Home Care

Newcastle URL: helpinghandshomecare.co.uk/our-locations/newcastle/ CQC: Good (May 2023) | Local office: 274 Chillingham Road, NE6 5LQ | Phone: 0191 500 8915 Organic scale: 22,369 keywords | 288,683 est. monthly traffic | £1.7M traffic value | Appears in 6/12 local SERPs

What they do well:

• Deepest service sub-page architecture of any competitor — 8+ pages under Newcastle covering live-in care, community care, domiciliary care, elderly care, personal care, supported living, housekeeping, and emergency care
• Physical local office with a 0191 number and 24-hour on-call team
• Clean breadcrumb navigation (Home > Our Locations > Newcastle)
• Nearby location pages for Wallsend and Whitley Bay create a local cluster

Where they’re vulnerable:

• CQC rating is only “Good” — three other Tier 1 competitors have “Outstanding”
• Content is templated with minimal genuine Newcastle detail — no named neighbourhoods, no local landmarks, no community references
• No visible carer profiles or named team members on the main page
• Testimonials appear generic with no local context
• Postcode coverage not prominently listed

What Sparrow can learn: Helping Hands proves the value of deep service sub-pages under each location. But their templated approach is beatable with genuine local content.

Home Instead Newcastle

Newcastle URL: homeinstead.co.uk/newcastle/ CQC: Outstanding | Local office: 14 Lansdowne Terrace, NE3 1HN | Phone: 0191 213 5505 Organic scale: 30,170 keywords | 161,229 est. monthly traffic | £507K traffic value | Appears in 2/12 local SERPs + holds Featured Snippet for dementia care

What they do well:

• The benchmark for local authenticity. Named local owners (Cath and Andrew Fullerton, since 2012), 6+ named staff with roles (Sharon — Operations Manager/Nurse, Vicky and Pam — Field Supervisors, Emma — Trainer)
• CQC Outstanding — the strongest quality signal available
• 34+ postcodes explicitly listed (NE1-NE7, NE12, NE13)
• 10+ named areas (Gosforth, Fenham, Walker/Byker, Kingston Park, Jesmond, Forest Hall, Kenton/Coxlodge)
• Sub-location pages for specific areas like Kingston Park
• Specialist service depth — dedicated pages for dementia care, companionship, palliative care, Parkinson’s, neurological conditions

Where they’re vulnerable:

• Still relies partly on franchise templates despite the local ownership
• No pricing transparency
• No blog posts about Newcastle events or local partnerships
• Sub-location pages may be thin
• No visible Trustpilot or Google review count on the page

What Sparrow can learn: Home Instead’s naming of real people is their biggest asset. Sparrow should feature Tom, Anna, and real carer profiles with photos even more prominently. But Home Instead can’t match Sparrow’s self-employed model story — that’s a genuine differentiator they can’t replicate.

Bluebird Care Newcastle

Newcastle URL: bluebirdcare.co.uk/newcastle CQC: Outstanding | Local office: Address not prominent | Phone: 0191 341 0190 Organic scale: 6,897 keywords | 100,278 est. monthly traffic | £507K traffic value | Appears in 5/12 local SERPs

What they do well:

• CQC Outstanding with “Premium Home Care” positioning
• Dedicated neighbourhood pages (Gosforth & Jesmond, Kingston Park) under “Care in Our Community”
• 13+ named areas covered
• “Local Insights” content hub — the only competitor with a local content marketing strategy
• “Finding Home Care in Newcastle” guide page captures informational search intent
• Good balance of depth (service pages) and breadth (neighbourhood pages)

Where they’re vulnerable:

• Physical office address not prominently featured
• Staff profiles thin — no named team members visible on the main page
• “Premium Home Care” branding is consistent nationally (franchise template feel)
• No pricing information
• Specific postcodes not listed
• Specialist services vaguely described

What Sparrow can learn: Bluebird’s “Local Insights” content hub is the right idea — local content marketing builds topical authority. Sparrow’s blog should follow this approach with genuinely local care content.

Trinity Homecare

Northumberland URL: trinityhomecare.co.uk/areas-we-cover/home-care-northumberland/ CQC: Outstanding (“top 4% of providers”) | Local office: None | Phone: 0207 183 4884 (London) Organic scale: 4,902 keywords | 16,006 est. monthly traffic | £90K traffic value | Appears in 2/12 local SERPs

What they do well:

• Best programmatic local SEO — 10+ dedicated town pages (Hexham, Alnwick, Ponteland, Morpeth, Blyth, Cramlington, Ashington, Bedlington, Prudhoe, Berwick)
• Street-level detail on sub-pages — Hexham page references Hencotes, Beaumont Street, Battle Hill, Hexham Abbey, Hexham Old Gaol
• Named carer profiles with career histories (Lisa with NVQ 5 in Health & Social Care, Victoria Sharp from 2018)
• CQC Outstanding, framed as “top 4%” which is compelling
• Multi-award-winning positioning

Where they’re vulnerable:

• London phone number (0207) is a fatal trust signal for a Northumberland service — feels remote and national
• No local office address in Northumberland
• Town pages follow a clear template with swapped place names despite the local detail
• Narrow service focus — almost exclusively live-in care
• No Newcastle city page at all
• Limited opening hours (Mon-Fri 9-6, weekends 9-5)

What Sparrow can learn: Trinity proves that street-level local detail works for SEO — referencing specific streets and landmarks is smart. But their London phone number undermines everything. Sparrow’s genuine Hexham base is a structural advantage Trinity can never match.

Elder

Northumberland URL: elder.org/our-locations/north-east/northumberland/ CQC: Not applicable (platform) | Local office: None | Phone: Not local Organic scale: 32,738 keywords | 138,561 est. monthly traffic | £539K traffic value | Appears in 2/12 local SERPs

What they do well:

• Broadest programmatic coverage — 15+ Northumberland town pages plus thousands nationally
• Only competitor with pricing transparency — “from £1,150 per week” clearly stated
• “Care in place within 24-48 hours” speed positioning
• 700+ Trustpilot reviews — strongest social proof of any competitor
• Local authority funding guidance helps families understand costs
• 4-level breadcrumb hierarchy (Our Locations > North East > Northumberland > Town)

Where they’re vulnerable:

• No CQC registration — major trust gap vs regulated competitors
• No local office, no local team, no local phone number
• Town pages are generic templates with swapped place names
• Platform model may confuse families who expect a care provider, not a marketplace
• Live-in care only — no visiting care, hourly care, or companionship options

What Sparrow can learn: Elder’s pricing transparency is a significant differentiator that no other competitor offers. Sparrow should consider publishing indicative pricing on its costs page. But Elder’s complete lack of local presence is its weakness — Sparrow can position as “the local alternative to Elder” with the same self-employed carer model but genuine community roots.

Tier 2/3: Keyword Overlap Competitors

These competitors were identified by Semrush and Ahrefs as sharing keywords with Sparrow — primarily around the “self employed carer” cluster. They represent a different competitive front from the national franchises.

Key insights:

1. MyHomeTouch and Prime Carers are bigger than they look. Both have larger keyword portfolios than Trinity Homecare (4,902), making them mid-tier competitors by organic scale. MyHomeTouch in particular drives 37,418 estimated monthly visits — more than double Trinity’s. These are national platforms competing for the same “self-employed carer” and “home care” keyword clusters that Sparrow will target.
2. None are locally focused in Northumberland or Tyneside. They compete with Sparrow for national informational keywords (“self employed carer”, “how to become a private carer”) but not for the local commercial keywords (“home care Newcastle”) that will drive Sparrow’s growth. As Sparrow builds location pages, these competitors become less relevant to its core market.
3. The self-employed carer keyword cluster is crowded nationally. Sparrow’s current #2 ranking for “self employed carers near me” is valuable precisely because it’s hard-won territory against these national platforms.

Strategic Implications

1. Sparrow’s structural advantage is real. No competitor combines genuine local knowledge, named team members, a physical Hexham base, AND the self-employed carer model. The national franchises employ carers directly (except Elder, which uses a platform model similar to Sparrow’s). The smaller independents have the model but not the local SEO infrastructure. Sparrow is uniquely positioned to be the authentic local provider with a distinctive carer model.

2. Content quality beats content volume. Trinity Homecare and Elder prove you can build 10-15 location pages and still feel templated. Home Instead proves that fewer pages with genuine local detail outperform many thin pages. Sparrow’s location pages should prioritise depth over breadth — 10 genuinely local pages will outrank 50 templated ones.

3. CQC Outstanding is table stakes. Three of five Tier 1 competitors hold CQC Outstanding ratings. If Sparrow achieves this (or when it does), the rating should be featured prominently. Until then, transparency about being newly established, combined with the strength of the founder story, is the right positioning.

4. Named people build trust. Home Instead’s biggest competitive advantage isn’t their franchise brand — it’s Cath and Andrew Fullerton. Real names, real faces, real stories. Sparrow already has Tom and Anna’s founding story. Every location page and care type page should feature real carer profiles with photos and first-person quotes.

5. Pricing transparency is a competitive weapon. Only Elder publishes pricing. The “how much does home care cost” keyword cluster is the highest-volume in the entire sector (~7,600/mo nationally). Publishing transparent pricing guidance — even indicative ranges — would capture high-intent searches and differentiate Sparrow from every local competitor.

6. The 0191 number matters. Trinity Homecare’s London 0207 number is a cautionary tale. A local phone number is a trust signal that the national brands either have (Helping Hands, Home Instead, Bluebird) or fatally lack (Trinity, Elder). Sparrow should ensure a local number is prominent on every page.

7. Specific content gaps Sparrow can exploit:

• Street-level local detail — name specific streets, GP surgeries, hospitals, community centres in each location page (Trinity does this at surface level; nobody does it authentically)
• FAQ content on location pages — only Elder has FAQ content; FAQ schema markup on every location page is a quick win
• Postcode coverage — only Home Instead lists postcodes; a comprehensive postcode-coverage page or map is a low-effort, high-impact SEO opportunity
• Neighbourhood sub-pages — Bluebird’s Gosforth & Jesmond page and Trinity’s town pages show this works; Sparrow should build pages for key Newcastle areas as it expands
• Local blog content — only Bluebird has a “Local Insights” hub; Sparrow’s blog should feature genuinely local care content about Northumberland communities

8. Link building opportunities:

• CQC and homecare.co.uk listings — every Tier 1 competitor is listed on these directories. Sparrow should be too (Phase 3, Month 4).
• Local directories — Information Now (Newcastle’s local services directory) lists Home Instead and Bluebird Care but not Sparrow. This is a priority listing.
• NHS and local authority sites — some competitors appear in local authority care provider lists. Sparrow should register with Northumberland County Council and Newcastle City Council provider directories.
• Care sector partnerships — the industry body NACAS (already identified as a Tier 2 keyword competitor) could be a backlink source through membership or partnership.

A Appendix: Existing Page Titles & Meta Descriptions — Current vs Recommended