Childhood universally taught us that being picked last was something to be avoided—the same is true with your church website. Improving your SEO and ranking high on Google helps you reach more people, making it easier for visitors to find and connect with your church. Avoid being last in the search results and increase your visibility with these 10 SEO tips.
1. Meta Titles & Descriptions
This is the title and description that is displayed in Google search results. Craft concise titles (60 characters or less) that strategically incorporate location-specific keywords like “[Church Name] in [City]” and attractive descriptions (160 characters or less) that make you want to click on it. Doing this well will improve search engine rankings, increase click-through rates, and help search engines understand the relevance of your content.
2. Content Quality
Ensure your content is original, detailed, and directly addresses user intent. Include location-specific keywords like “church in [City]” or “youth group in [City]” naturally in headings and body text. A great way to provide helpful content is through frequently asked questions. Google prioritizes and rewards content that effectively solves user problems and provides a satisfying experience.
3. Mobile Optimization
Optimize your website for mobile devices by ensuring fast loading speeds, easily readable text, and tappable buttons. This is crucial because Google uses mobile-first indexing to rank websites, and a majority (60%) of online searches now occur on mobile devices
4. Optimize Image Size
Optimize your images by sizing them appropriately, compressing them to a smaller file size and using modern image formats like WebP or AVIF. This leads to faster page loading, which improves user experience and positively affects search engine rankings by reducing bounce rates.
5. Alt Text for Images
Use descriptive alt text (e.g., “man-raising-hands-in-worship”) to explain your images clearly. This improves accessibility for screen reader users and helps your images rank higher in Google Images search results, increasing overall visibility.
6. SEO-Friendly URLs
Use descriptive and readable URLs, such as “/connect-card,” instead of unclear ones like “/new-page-6.” This practice instantly helps both users and Google understand the page’s purpose, improving user experience and SEO.
7. Internal Linking
Avoid orphan pages and strategically link related pages, such as the about page to the staff page, to boost your SEO. This internal linking spreads SEO authority throughout your site and improves Google’s ability to discover valuable content.
8. Block Pages
Hiding irrelevant pages through CMS settings helps to focus Google’s crawl budget. These pages may be old announcements, past events, or outdated information about ministries that are no longer active. This ensures that search engines prioritize crawling and indexing content that is more likely to improve search engine rankings.
9. Check for Broken Links
Identify and repair broken links that lead to 404 error pages on your website. Use a free tool like brokenlinkcheck.com to easily find them. Addressing these errors improves user experience by preventing frustration and ensures efficient use of Google’s crawl budget, allowing it to index important pages.
10. Redirects
Implement 301 redirects whenever you delete or move a page on your website. This prevents users from encountering frustrating 404 errors and preserves valuable SEO equity from the old URL by transferring it to the new one.
— Bonus Tips —
HTTPS Enforcement
To enhance security, redirect all pages from HTTP to HTTPS and ensure a secure connection is used throughout the website. This practice not only improves trust with users, as browsers label HTTP sites as “Not Secure,” but also helps boost search engine rankings since Google favors HTTPS sites.
Analytics Setup
To track traffic and SEO performance, install Google Analytics 4 and link it with Google Search Console. While these tools provide valuable insights, they do not directly influence search engine rankings.