How to Optimise Your Church's Digital Presence with SEO
Did you know there are more than one million Google searches for “churches near me” each month? People are looking for churches in their local area, which is why it's important to optimise your online presence with search engine optimisation (SEO).
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a process of improving your website visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Church SEO is a specialised process, tailored to the needs and goals of churches, making your church website visible on search engines, including Google.
This involves optimising your website structure, content, and loading speeds, along with adding content that focuses on specific keywords. The keywords are words and phrases used by your target audience when searching for churches in your location.
Local SEO is very important for churches, focusing on your visibility in local search results. Most people will look for a church in their local area. They don't want to travel long distances to go to church each week, so they use terms such as “churches near me,” or “churches in (specific location).”
When the local results appear on the target audiences device, it shows nearby results, along with:
The good news is there are a few steps you can take right now to improve your church's digital presence with SEO.
The very first step is to create or claim your Google My Business listing. This is an easy step that involves visiting Google Business website and signing into your account. If you don't have one, you will need to create one. Search for your church and see if it exists, if it does, you can claim it. If not, you will need to create a new listing.
Next you will need to verify your church, verifying you are the rightful representative. This can be done through video, email, phone, or text.
When it comes to Google My Business, you need to ensure you provide accurate and consistent information, filling out as much information as possible, including the church's name, address, phone number, website, and service times. Accuracy and completeness is essential in this step.
Select the correct category and provide your opening hours.
Optimising your Google My Business listing is also very important to your digital presence as a church. This means adding clear and engaging images of your church, along with community event picture. Photographs are excellent at attracting and engaging visitors to your profile and encouraging them to click on your website to find out more.
Add posts to share updates. information, holiday messages, and more. Regular posts can help keep your profile active and engage potential visitors.
Encourage your congregation to leave reviews on your Google profile. Respond to all the reviews, showing you engage with your community and your church is active.
Google provides insights on how people find your profile, along with actions they take and other valuable analytics that you can use to your advantage. This means monitoring and updating your profile as needed, once you know what is working and what is not.
If you make an adjustments to events, service times, or contact information, ensure you update your Google Business profile immediately, to keep it updated.
In addition to the above, you will need to conduct comprehensive keyword research and analysis to identify what keywords people use when searching for churches. Ensure all the content on your website is optimised, using your chosen keywords and phrases, including your text, headings, and meta tags. If you need assistance with Church SEO, get in touch with the professional and talented Genie Crawl team today.
Complete the form and a member of our team will be in touch shortly to discuss your enquiry.