What is Church SEO?

What are your top questions about SEO (search engine optimization)?

When we asked this question in one of our monthly Listening Post surveys, we received lots of great questions including:

• What is SEO?
• How does SEO work?
• Why does SEO matter? (What kind of return could I possibly get that would make it worth the time it takes me to invest in this?)
• How can I get to the top of the [city] church listings on searches?
• What can I do MYSELF to get higher search rankings?

This article marks the start of a blog series in which we will answer all of these questions and more. Let’s start with this…

What happens when you search online for a church?

Go to Google, Bing or any other search engine, and search for “church in [your city]”

For many people looking for a church today, Google is one of the first places they turn.

Look at the results the search engine is showing you.

Do you see elements on the page marked “Ad?” Do you see a map with some churches listed on it? Other churches listed below the map?

How did the search engine determine which church is listed first? Second? 100th? Why aren’t some churches shown in the results at all?

Google uses more than 200 factors to calculate its search results!

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  And…

Church SEO includes everything we can do to help the people searching for Jesus and His church to find your church.

Church SEO includes:

• Fixing technical problems that prevent search engines from reading the church website
• Optimizing (improving) the text and heading on the church website.
• Optimizing (improving) parts of web pages that are not visible to human visitors but are important to search engines.
• Creating, verifying, and optimizing local listings on sites like Google Business Profile, Bing Maps, Yelp
• Measuring search results and making improvements over time
• Much more.

And Now Church AI Optimization is a Thing

If that wasn’t enough, we now have AI Overviews displayed at the top of many search results.

Plus many people are using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to do searches and analysis for them.

If someone goes to ChatGPT and enters the prompt, “I am looking for a church in [your city, your state]. What do you recommend?” Will it mention or recommend your church?

We’re Here to Help You Understand Church SEO

There are literally 100s of things a person could do to try to improve their church’s search rankings and bring more people to their website. Because of this, church SEO can seem confusing and overwhelming, and as a result, most churches do nothing.

The purpose of this series is to help you understand which elements of church SEO matter most, what you can do yourself, and where to focus your limited time for the greatest kingdom impact.

Partner with Church SEO Experts

Alternatively, if you want your church to have great search rankings and reach the people in your community without having learn the specifics and put in the work, hire OurChurch.com’s experienced church SEO team.

We’ve helped dozens of Christian churches, schools, ministries and businesses with SEO since 2005.

Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call.

Share your thoughts and perspective on church SEO in this month’s Listening Post survey.

More Articles in this Series

1. 4 Reasons Your Church Should Do SEO
2. 3 Ways to Improve Church Search Engine Results
3. 6 Critical Things to Check Before They Kill Your Church SEO
4. Case Study: Knott Avenue Christian Church – Church Growth through Church SEO
5. Church SEO: What to Optimize for Better Organic Search Results
6. More coming soon!

Post a comment and discuss…

• What’s your #1 question about church SEO?