Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Churches
Demonstrated SEO Success by a Professional Church Worker
ChurchSEO.io was founded by Rev. Chris Jackson, aka SEO Priest, a Christian pastor with demonstrated expertise in search engine optimization. Chris has gotten websites to the top of Google in competitive, national markets and has employed those skills to help churches get found online.
What We Do
The Church SEO Shapeup Newsletter sends you 52 weekly emails with a quick, easy workout to help you improve your church’s SEO.
Just like getting into shape physically, getting your church’s SEO in shape is a process of incremental improvements over time.
Follow this 52-week plan to get to the top of Google’s listings for your entire region.
Get your church’s SEO in the air.
This baseline SEO package helps to establish Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) consistency, build domain authority, ad boost your Google Business Profile listing.
Get your church’s SEO into orbit.
This advanced SEO package boosts your website in search through homepage optimizations and by building your website’s authority.
Church SEO Shapeup Newsletter
The Church SEO Shapeup Newsletter sends you 52 weekly emails with a quick, easy workout to help you improve your church’s SEO.
Just like getting into shape physically, getting your church’s SEO in shape is a process of incremental improvements over time.
Follow this 52-week plan to get to the top of Google’s listings for your entire region.
Why Should your church work on its SEO?
SEO Is Non-Interruptive
SEO captures inbound interest. In other words, SEO puts your church in front of people who are actively looking for churches.
Unlike interruptive marketing like billboards or social media, your church is not fighting for attention when it is taking advantage of SEO. And, people looking for your church through search engines already are convinced that they want to find a church.
People looking for churches through search engines are some of the most likely to visit and become members.
SEO Is Powerful
Up to tens of thousands of people search for churches in major metro areas. SEO puts your church in front of those huge audiences.
When people look for a new church, they do not open up their social media feeds or drive around to find billboards. Instead, they enter queries like “church near me” or “churches in Atlanta.”
Search engine optimization can help your church rise to the top of queries like that. The result? When people come through your doors, they will be blessed by your church, and your church will be blessed by them.
SEO is a powerful tool to connect your church with people, and to connect people to God through your church.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Churches?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves a church’s visibility on search engines like Google. By enhancing its online footprint on maps and search results, SEO makes it easier to find a church.
Churches optimize for search engine discoverability by enhancing accounts like Google Business Profiles, adjusting branding, gaining relevance through links from other websites, and improving the content, structure, accessibility, and technology of their websites.
By aligning content with search engine algorithms, SEO helps churches attract visitors who otherwise might not have discovered them. Through SEO, churches carry out Christ’s command to “make disciples of all nations.”
Local SEO
SEO for churches is a form of Local SEO. Local SEO helps churches improve their visibility in online search results within their community. By optimizing for local keywords, creating accurate Google Business profiles, and gathering reviews, churches can attract nearby residents, making it easier for people to find worship services, events, and ministries online.
How should your church work on its SEO?
Learning
The first step to SEO success for your church is learning. The Church SEO Shapeup will facilitate this by introducing you to foundational vocabulary and concepts, including:
- What are SERPs?
- What are backlinks?
- What is content?
- What are SEO ranking factors?
- What is Schema Markup?
Assessments
After learning the basics of SEO, your church should assess itself and other churches. This assessment will help your church determine what it needs to do to make progress in its SEO, and it will help it track its progress. Items to assess include:
- Current appearance in the SERPs
- Personal and institutional resources that can be employed to improve SEO
- Current tech
- Current backlink profile
- Current content profile
Target Locales
Church SEO is local SEO, meaning that is targets specific locales. Your church needs to identify locales to target. Theset include:
- Regional local (i.e. Saint Louis)
- Suburbs (i.e. Clayton, outside of Saint Louis)
- Neighborhoods (i.e. Dogtown in Saint Louis)
- Nearby communities (i.e. Alton, IL, near Saint Louis)
Adjust Branding
Small adjustments in branding can make a big difference in how your church appears in search engines. In all likelihood, your church will appear best in search if you include the word “church” and the name of your primary locale in it.
Claim, Verify, and Optimize Google Business Profile
Your church’s Googe Business Profile is its key to showing up well in Google’s map products. Your church needs to claim, verify, and optimize it.
Optimizations to a Google Business Profile include:
- Adjusting the name
- Listing areas it serves
- Adjusting the description
- Adjusting the category
- Obtaining reviews
- Posting updates
Fix Technical Issues on the Website
Technical issues can prevent search engines from being able to index your website or surface it prominently in search results. Items that might need attention include:
- Sitemaps
- Robots.txt
- 404 errors
- Broken links
- Poor speed
- Content layout shift
- Poorly formatted images
Produce and Optimize Content
A solid content profile, both on the website and on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Tik Tok, or Podcast distributors is necessary to appear well in search.
Content considerations include:
- Service area pages (website)
- Blog posts (website)
- Interlinking web content
- Short form video
- Sermon podcasts
- Google Busines Profile updates
- YouTube content
Gain Relevant Links and Citations
Mentions of your church and its website on other websites increases its trust with Google. Every SEO campaign should build a solid profile of links and citations (mention of name, address, and phone number) from other websites.
Links and citations can be obtained through:
- Directories
- Web 2.0s
- Outreach to other churches and businesses
- Press releases