When people search online for a church, Google has to figure out which churches are real, relevant, active, and connected to the community.
Your church website is an important part of that picture, but it is not the only part.
Google also finds information about your church on other websites, directories, maps, community organizations, news sites, and other places around the web. This is why links and local listings matter for church SEO.
The strategy, however, has changed in recent years.
Years ago, SEO advice often focused on getting your website listed in as many directories as possible and building as many backlinks as you could. Today, churches are better served by focusing on accuracy, relevance, relationships, and trust.
Start With the Local Listings That Matter
One of the first things every church should do is make sure it has accurate listings on the major platforms people use to find local organizations.
Start with:
You don’t need to find 100 directories and submit your church to all of them. Instead, focus first on the places people actually use.
Make sure each listing has accurate information, including your church’s name, address, phone number, website address, worship times, and other important details.
Your Google Business Profile is particularly important because it can help your church appear in Google Search and Google Maps when someone searches for a church nearby. For step-by-step instructions see How to Create, Claim and Verify Your Google Business Profile.
* Note that Apple Maps may require verification by adding a TXT record to the DNS zone for your website. If your website is hosted by OurChurch.com, our support team would be happy to add this for you.
Keep Your Church Information Consistent
Once you’ve established your primary listings, check that the information about your church is consistent from one website to another.
This sounds simple, but churches frequently discover old information scattered around the Internet.
- Maybe your church changed its phone number five years ago.
- Perhaps you moved to a new building.
- Maybe the church changed its name, merged with another congregation, or closed a second campus.
Search for your church by name and city (e.g. “First Christian Church in Springfield, MO”).
Click on each link in the search results and look for outdated addresses, incorrect phone numbers, old website addresses, incorrect worship times, and any other inaccurate information.
If you find anything that’s not right, take the necessary steps to correct it.
This can be tricky because every website is different.
- You may need to create a new account.
- You may need to do a password reset.
- You may need to contact customer service.
My advice: if you’re not sure how to get info updated, ask ChatGPT for help. And always good notes so you know where to find passwords, what steps you’ve taken, who you communicated with and what they told you.
Build Links Through Real Relationships
Links from other websites to your church website are still valuable. But that doesn’t mean your church should go looking for websites that sell backlinks, participate in schemes or try to get links on random, unrelated websits.
Instead, start with relationships your church already has.
- Does your church partner with a local food bank?
- Support a missionary organization?
- Belong to a denomination or district?
- Work with a Christian school?
- Participate in local service projects?
These relationships may create natural opportunities for your church to be listed or linked to online.
These are valuable because they reflect real relationships and can help real people discover your church.
If your church hosts a weekly food distribution for a local nonprofit, for example, it would be useful for that nonprofit’s website to link visitors to the page on your website with the food distribution schedule.
That link isn’t just good for SEO. It helps people. And that’s a pretty good test for whether a link is worth pursuing.
Share Your Classes, Events, and Groups
No church or community organization can do everything.
Therefore, it’s helpful for other organizations to recommend (and link to) the things you do well which they don’t offer.
- Vacation Bible School
- Grief support
- Addiction recovery
- Food assistance
- Parenting classes
- Activities for seniors, youth, moms
- Classes / training on specific spiritual topics
Now most churches and community organizations aren’t good at finding and recommending other organizations, so you’ll probably have to reach out via email or text and ask leaders at other orgs if their people would benefit from participating in your classes, events and groups.
Give People Digital Resources Worth Linking To
Another way churches can earn links is by providing useful resources.
Just about every church publishes a weekly sermon, newsletter, blog article or thought from the pastor. Try to take things to the next level by offering an “evergreen” resource that will stand the test of time.
- Localized resources like Hurricane Recovery Resources for Families in Tampa Bay.
- An online spiritual gifts analysis
- An online course that helps people learn to hear the Holy Spirit
- A marriage health assessment
If your church doesn’t have any resources like this, perhaps you could think and pray about what tools and resources you could create to bless the people in your community.
The bottom line is…
Don’t build links for Google. Build resources and connections that help people and they will find your church.
We’ve Been Helping Churches Get Found Online for Years
At OurChurch.com, we’ve been helping churches improve their websites and search visibility for years. We understand that church SEO isn’t simply about rankings. It’s about helping people who are looking for a church, ministry, event, or spiritual resource connect with your congregation.
Our church SEO services can help identify opportunities to improve your website, local search presence, Google Business Profile, content, links, and other factors that may be affecting your visibility in search results.
If you’d like to talk about your church’s search visibility and what could be improved, we’d love to have that conversation with you.
Complete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a complimentary discovery call!
Comment and Discuss:
- What organizations, ministries, schools, or community groups is your church connected with that could create natural opportunities for links and greater online visibility?
This is just one part of The Ultimate Guide to Church SEO & GEO
Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com
Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.
An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.
Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.
2 Comments
You might give instructions about how to get a business website verified on Apple Business, Google Business, and Yelp. Apple Business required a DNS TXT record to be added to the domain which cpanel is not enabled to do.
Hi Richard, great suggestions! We edited the article to include a link to How to Create, Claim and Verify Your Google Business Profile and a note that “Apple Maps may require verification by adding a TXT record to the DNS zone for your website. If your website is hosted by OurChurch.com, our support team would be happy to add this for you.” Thanks for helping us make the the article better!