This isn’t a prediction.
It’s already happening.
Standalone school websites are slowly becoming what hotel websites became after Booking.com — necessary, but irrelevant for discovery.
Let’s talk about why.
1. Parents Don’t Want 30 Websites — They Want One Answer
A parent looking for a school is not emotionally attached to your website.
They want to know:
Which schools are near me?
Which ones offer this course?
Which are affordable?
Which are boarding?
Which accept applications now?
Now ask yourself honestly:
Can a single school website answer those questions in context?
No. By design, it can’t.
Education platforms aggregate answers.
Standalone websites isolate them.
And humans — like water — always take the path of least resistance.
2. Discovery Has Moved From “Brand Search” to “Intent Search”
Here’s the killer shift most schools haven’t clocked yet:
People don’t search:
“St. XYZ Academy official website”
They search:
“Best CBC school in Kiambu”
“Technical college offering plumbing in Kenya”
“Private boarding school with good KCSE results”
If you’re not already known, your name doesn’t matter.
Platforms are built around intent.
Standalone websites are built around identity.
Google rewards intent. Identity comes later.
3. Google Doesn’t Care That You’re a School — It Cares That You’re Useful
Harsh truth:
Google is not in the “support institutions” business.
It’s in the “answer questions” business.
A platform:
Standardizes information
Structures data cleanly
Covers thousands of related queries
Builds topical authority at scale
A standalone website:
Talks about itself
Repeats generic phrases
Has shallow coverage
Dies outside branded searches
Guess which one Google trusts more?
Exactly.
4. Comparison Is the Real Product (And Schools Hate That)
Schools don’t like comparison.
Parents love it.
That tension is why platforms win.
Parents want to compare:
Fees
Location
Courses
Boarding vs day
Application modes
Facilities
Standalone websites actively avoid comparison.
Platforms are literally built for it.
And once comparison exists, choice shifts away from marketing and toward clarity.
That’s uncomfortable — but inevitable.
5. This Is the Same Pattern Everywhere (Education Isn’t Special)
Let’s be real — education isn’t immune to the internet.
Same pattern, different industry:
Hotels → Booking.com
Jobs → LinkedIn / Indeed
Cars → Auto marketplaces
Houses → Property portals
Flights → Aggregators
Every industry said:
“But we’re different.”
They weren’t.
Education is just late to the party — mostly because of regulation, culture, and institutional inertia.
But the direction is locked.
6. Platforms Don’t Kill School Websites — They Demote Them
Important distinction (before someone panics):
Platforms don’t eliminate school websites.
They reposition them.
Your website becomes:
The official source
The brand home
The verification layer
The depth layer
Platforms become:
Discovery
Comparison
Filtering
Lead routing
Same way hotels still have websites — but nobody starts there.
7. Schools That Resist Platforms Will Shrink Quietly
This is the part nobody wants to hear.
Schools that say:
“We prefer people to come physically”
“We rely on word of mouth”
“Our website is enough”
Will not collapse dramatically.
They’ll do something worse:
They’ll slowly disappear from relevance.
Fewer inquiries.
Lower-quality applicants.
Geographically limited reach.
Stagnation disguised as stability.
8. Why Platforms Like Elimys Exist (And Why They’ll Win)
Education platforms exist because the internet demands order.
Elimys isn’t about replacing schools.
It’s about replacing chaos.
One place where:
Information is structured
Search intent is respected
Parents can decide faster
Schools are found before they’re known
That’s not marketing.
That’s infrastructure.
Final Hard Take
Standalone school websites are like business cards.
Nice to have.
Necessary.
But not how deals happen anymore.
The future of education discovery belongs to platforms.
The only real question is:
Will your school be inside that future — or quietly watching it happen?