Registration comes first, and the regulator depends on the nation
In England, CQC says that a domiciliary care agency (home care) service is highly likely to need registration for the regulated activity of personal care, and the NHS tells families that all homecare agencies must register with CQC. CQC regulates services in England only. Care Inspectorate Wales, RQIA in Northern Ireland and the Care Inspectorate in Scotland cover the rest.
Registration is the first trust fact on the website. Describe only the service you are registered to provide, and name the right regulator: CQC wording on a Welsh or Scottish service is an error a family can spot.
Show your CQC rating on your website within 21 calendar days
CQC's display rule is that ratings go on posters at premises and on websites no later than 21 calendar days after CQC publishes them, and CQC says an overall rating must be displayed by law (Regulation 20A). There are four ratings: Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement and Inadequate. A registered provider without a rating may use CQC's 'Regulated by' graphic. Families may see a rating when they visit a care home or search online.
That makes the website update a dated task. When CQC publishes a result, the panel on the home page, service pages and enquiry page changes inside the window, and a new agency shows the registration graphic in its place. A Requires improvement rating changes the page's job, because the plan to improve belongs beside it.
A provider running a care home and homecare gets no overall rating, so each service shows its own rating on its own page.
Care homes for over-65s: the CMA wants key information up front
The CMA's consumer law advice from December 2021 tells care homes to prominently highlight key information on their website and in the first written material they send to people who get in touch. It applies specifically to care homes for people over 65 and covers the whole of the UK, so a domiciliary agency is not its audience. In July 2021 the High Court dismissed the CMA's action against Care UK over upfront administration charges, so do not tell families such charges are banned.
Check the website against the advice's own list, then make fees and funding position what a family finds first, not what the first phone call reveals.
Council-funded or self-funded: the payer decides the page
In England, a person with savings worth more than £23,250 is not entitled to council help with the cost of care, the upper capital limit (the NHS figure as of October 2026). A self-funder can arrange care directly or ask the council to arrange it, though not all councils offer this, and the NHS tells families to ask their local council for information on local agencies.
Lead with the route most of your hours come through. If most of your care is council-arranged, keep your details current with the council. If you sell private care, write for the person arranging their own care and for relatives arranging it with or for them, and say plainly that care can be arranged with you directly. The Social Target builds that as a lead generation landing page asking what a coordinator needs (type of care, who is paying, where) before anyone rings back.
Testimonials and follow-up emails: two UK paper trails
The CAP Code says marketers must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial is genuine, unless it is obviously fictitious, and must also hold contact details for the person who gave it (rule 3.47). For a care provider, that is a file per family quote, with their permission, made before the quote goes live.
The ICO's PECR guidance says you must not send electronic mail marketing to individuals unless they have specifically consented, or are existing customers who bought or negotiated to buy a similar service and were given a simple way to opt out when their details were collected and in every message. The same guidance adds that you must not disguise or conceal your identity, and must provide a valid contact address so people can opt out or unsubscribe. Do not assume an enquiry made a family a customer: put a consent tick-box on the enquiry form and keep the record.
Medicare certification: the line between home health and home care
In the US, the trade splits in two. A home care agency (the usual name for non-medical help with washing, dressing, meals and the house) is one business; a home health agency, delivering skilled nursing and therapy at home, is another. Medicare covers home health only when, among other conditions, the patient needs part-time or intermittent skilled services and is homebound, ordered by a provider and delivered by a Medicare-certified home health agency. Medicare and most health insurance do not pay for long-term care, most of which is non-medical; other payers are Medicaid, if the patient meets state eligibility rules, or private long-term care insurance.
The site has to say which of the two the agency is. A non-medical agency never uses Medicare language to suggest coverage, and its first screen answers who pays. Care Compare star ratings attach to Medicare-certified agencies, so a non-medical agency builds proof from client outcomes and state licence status, and the SEO work is a plain 'who pays' page.
The hospital discharge list and the patient's right to choose
Under the federal discharge-planning rule, home health agencies must request to be listed by the hospital as available, and hospitals must inform the patient or their representative of their freedom to choose among participating providers. Medicare adds that a patient's provider should give a list of agencies and must disclose any financial interest in any agency listed. The rule covers Medicare-participating hospitals and agencies, so it is not the route for a private-pay non-medical agency.
In practice, ask each hospital's discharge team to list you. A listing does not make the family's choice, so keep a page that holds up when they compare three names.
State licence or registration: describe the status your state gives you
State rules differ. California defines a licensed home care organisation that arranges non-medical care, and an affiliated home care aide must be on the state registry before serving a client. In Florida, a provider of companion or homemaker services that does not also provide a home health service is exempt from licensure, but must still register.
In marketing, use the words your state's licence or registration uses, and never advertise a service you are not licensed or registered to provide.
HIPAA: find out whether it covers you, then protect every client story
HIPAA's marketing rules bind covered entities, a term that includes a health care provider who transmits any health information in electronic form in connection with a covered transaction. Whether a non-medical agency is covered depends on whether it does that. HIPAA defines health care as care, services, or supplies related to the health of an individual, which does not settle whether non-medical personal care counts. Ask a healthcare lawyer before assuming you are exempt.
If you are covered, you may not use or disclose protected health information without a valid authorisation unless a rule permits it, and marketing use needs authorisation, except face-to-face communication or a promotional gift of nominal value. Marketing starts from a communication about a service that encourages people to purchase or use it, and the definition has exceptions. For your ads, that means a client's name, photo, condition or story will generally need the client's written authorisation before it goes on the website or social media.
Recommending providers or settings of care as part of treatment is carved out of marketing, but not where the covered entity receives financial remuneration for the communication, so any arrangement where someone pays you to tell families about their service needs a second look.
Google's sensitive-category limits on who you can target
Google treats long-term health conditions as a sensitive interest category, including disabilities, even when content is oriented toward the user's primary caretaker, and advertisers in sensitive categories cannot use advertiser-curated audiences. Google's page does not name home care, but an ad aimed at someone arranging care for a parent with dementia is likely to sit close to the line. Its targeting table lists customer match and your data segments, so remarketing and customer lists may stop serving. Test whether yours still serve.
If they have stopped, paid media leans on what the family types and reads: Google Search and content that answers questions before the call.
Carers are a second audience
In England, the vacancy rate in CQC non-residential services fell from a peak of 12.9% in 2021/22 to 9.9% in 2024/25, and care workers in those services had a turnover rate of 29.0% in 2024/25 (Skills for Care).
An agency that cannot staff its rota cannot start the clients its marketing wins. So plan carer recruitment beside client campaigns, and read each month as hours staffed against hours sold. When enquiries outrun the rota, the next spend goes on carers, and new clients started shows whether the two are keeping pace. The website carries a careers page with the same rating, registration and licence status as the care pages.
Founded in London in 2017, The Social Target has 600+ clients behind it. We take on home care providers in the UK and the US, work across both countries' time zones, and quote in GBP or USD.
↳ Frequently asked
01Our CQC inspection has not happened yet. What goes on the website until we have a rating?
A registered provider without a rating may use CQC's 'Regulated by' graphic, which shows the service is registered and inspected under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Put it where a rating would sit. Once CQC publishes a rating, put the rating there. The 21 calendar day display window starts from that publication, so someone should own that date.
02Should the website talk to council-funded clients or to self-funders?
Lead with the route most of your hours come through. If that is private care, open with it, say plainly that care can be arranged with you, and write for the person arranging their own care as well as relatives arranging it with them or for them. The NHS notes that self-funders in England can also ask the council to arrange care, though not all councils offer this, so give the council route its own section.
03Can we say we are Medicare approved on our home care agency website?
Only a Medicare-certified home health agency should describe itself in Medicare terms, and Medicare pays for home health only when a patient qualifies, which includes needing part-time or intermittent skilled care. Medicare says it does not pay for most long-term, non-medical care, so a non-medical agency should not use Medicare language that suggests coverage. Say who pays for your service instead, such as private payment, Medicaid under state rules or long-term care insurance.
04Does HIPAA apply to a non-medical home care agency?
It depends on whether you are a covered entity, and the definition includes a health care provider that transmits health information electronically in a covered transaction. The definition of health care does not say whether non-medical personal care counts, so ask a healthcare lawyer before assuming you are exempt. If you are covered, authorisation rules reach client stories and photos.
05A client's family sent us a thank-you card. Can we share it on Facebook?
Ask in writing first, and ask the person whose care the card describes as well as the relative who wrote it. In the UK, keep the evidence and contact details the CAP Code asks for with any testimonial. In the US, an agency covered by HIPAA needs a valid authorisation before using protected health information for marketing, and a card naming a client and their condition can fall under that.
06How do we get on the hospital discharge list for home health referrals?
Medicare-certified home health agencies must request to be listed by the hospital as available, so the step is a request to each hospital's discharge team. Hospitals must also tell patients they are free to choose among participating providers, so a listing puts you in front of the family without choosing you. The rule is not aimed at private-pay non-medical agencies.
07Can we retarget people who looked at our dementia care pages?
Possibly not on Google. Its policy treats long-term health conditions, and disabilities even when content is aimed at a caretaker, as sensitive interest content, and advertisers in sensitive categories cannot use advertiser-curated audiences. Google's page does not name home care, so test whether your remarketing audiences still serve, and plan around search intent and content, leaning less on your own visitor lists.