So your church has a website, but it doesn’t seem to be appearing in the Google search results. This is a very common problem that we hear from our clients. If this is the case with your church website, then it could be time to implement a church website SEO campaign.
Getting a website built, and getting it to appear in the Google search results are two very different processes. After a website is built, it is important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to be conducted on the site so that it performs well in the search results. SEO consists of tweaking various elements of the website so that Google can better understand what the site is about.
What is Church Website SEO?
Church website SEO is the process of setting up your church’s website in a way that will make it easier for people to find your church is search engines. In order to do this, you have to understand how search engines operate. Let’s use Google for example, as Google is by far the world’s most popular search engine. When people type in a term in the search bar on Google, it goes through a huge database of information to find the website that you are looking for. Google tries to show the searcher the most relevant websites in relation to their search, so the goal of SEO is to optimize a website so it is relevant for popular search terms.
When is comes to church website SEO, there are two general categories: On page SEO and Off Page SEO.
On page SEO is where you make improvements to your website to make it more accessible for search engines to crawl and index. Off page SEO is the process of building up your website’s online reputation. The more websites that link to your site, the more authority it will have in the eyes of Google. Therefore, off page SEO is essentially getting other websites to link to your website.
How does Church Website SEO Work?
Now that you have an idea about what SEO is, we will explain how it works. We will start with On Page SEO:
On Page SEO
As the phrase goes, “Content is King” when it comes to ranking in Google. If your website is only a couple of pages, with not much content, it is going to be harder to rank well in Google. A blog is a great way of adding content to your website, and also allows you to provide great content to help your visitors. If you would like help setting up a blog, or adding regular content, you can check out our Church Writing Services. Once you have the content on your site, each page must be optimized as per this checklist:
- Page Titles: Your page titles are one of the most important SEO factors on your site, so write a title that matches the Focus Keyword for the page.
- Meta Descriptions: Give your page a Meta Description that is relevant to the Keyword you are optimizing for, and also make sure the description contains your focus keyword.
- Keyword Placement: Write the Focus Keyword into the first paragraph of the page.
- Meta Tags: Tag the pages with keywords so that they match the keywords in the Felt Needs Ad Groups.
- Image Tags: Tag images that appear on the page with alternative text so they match the focus Keyword.
- URL Structure: Include the Focus Keyword in the page’s URL.
- Word-count: Ensure your page has at least 300 words, because Google loves pages with lots of content.
- Body Tags: Use headers that contain your focus keyword (H1, H2, etc.).
- Keyword Density: Insert your Focus Keyword into your webpage at least once for every 100 words.
- Internal Linking: Link to other pages within your site using keywords as anchor text.
Try our new Free Church Website SEO Audit tool to analyze your website, and also to get improvement suggestions.
Off Page SEO
When it comes to Off Page SEO, the name of the game is to get other relevant sites to link to your site. There are a number of ways you can achieve this, such as guest posting on other church blogs, submitting to high quality relevant directories and producing infographs that other websites might want to publish.
What Will Church Website SEO do for my Site?
There are a few things that a church website SEO campaign will do for your site. Firstly, you will rank higher in search engines which will increase traffic to your website. You may find yourself having more online engagement, and increased conversions if you have calls-to-action such as a newsletter or an option to receive donations online. Also, you are boosting your credibility on search engines such as Google.
Church website SEO will also make your site more user-friendly. Also, using optimized keywords and phrases throughout your website will make your website relevant. Find out what keywords your church website is currently optimized for with our Keyword Analyzer tool.
Performing the necessary modifications to improve SEO can be a daunting task, but we are here to help. Once your site has been optimized, you can use Google analytics to track the improvements on your website. SEO is a marathon rather than a sprint, and it can take months before results are seen in the search engines. However, the sooner you start a church website SEO campaign, the sooner you will see results! Find out more about our SEO Subscription Service that will take care of all SEO on an ongoing basis.
Get Started
Missional Marketing is a dedicated Christian communications firm working with Christian Churches and Organizations across the country, and we are also a Top 5% Certified Google Partner. So get in touch today, and we can get started on a bespoke SEO campaign for your church website.
Contact Jason Hamrock or Kevin Peck, or use the Contact Us button.
Jason Hamrock – Phone: 480-773-9115 | Email: jhamrock@missionalmarketing.com
Kevin Peck – Phone: 602-481-2991 | Email: kpeck@missionalmarketing.com