5 Ways People Singing Your Praises Can Boost Your Church Website’s SEO

As most small businesses and operations plan to spend around $75,000 a year on digital marketing, non-profits and churches struggle to hit this number. Thankfully there are ways to stay competitive online without having to dig into your budget.

While the idea of marketing your church might seem strange, getting positive reviews is how every kind of institution finds new members. Here are 5 ways to improve your ranking on search engines with positive reviews.

1. They Can Write in a Blog

When people search for something on the internet, they’re either looking for a specific product or the answer to a question. When they come across a blog post, they can get an answer to that question with your church or your services.

When search engines rank a website, they rank the number of times a website is mentioned and whether it’s mentioned positively. When your parishioners talk about your site, they will link to your website. If you know someone who comes to your services and writes on their blog pretty often, ask them if they’ve gotten the chance to write about you.

If they haven’t considered, you can ask them outright. If they have, ask them to link to your website. On your own site, you should add a link to them as well, in one of the blog posts on your site.

If you’re not creating a blog, you need to be populating your site with new content on a regular basis. When search engines rank a site, they want to see positive praises and lots of content together. This will prove to them that you’re a strong church with a devoted congregation.

2. Search Engines Rank On Reviews

When members of your congregation sing your praises online, they help to boost your site’s search engine rankings. Web crawlers who go through the internet looking for keywords to rank a site will look at a variety of factors to rank your church’s website. The algorithm now takes into account how well your church is reviewed on online review sites.

Ask your most devoted practitioners to rank your church on Yelp, Google My Business, Yahoo Local, and any other review site your community uses.

You’ll often have to claim the listings on these sites to prove you have the authority to edit them. Claiming these listings gives you the opportunity to ensure they all have the same information. One incorrect listing can spread throughout the web, propagating wrong information about your church’s location, hours, or phone number.

If you want to ensure every new member of your congregation can find you, you need to have consistent information across every listing. Having the right information also ensures that every review gets linked back to your church.

3. People Trust Reviews

As more than 80% of people trust online reviews as much as recommendations from their friends, online reviews matter. When you get glowing reviews from your congregation, you show people that you have a lot to offer.

When members of your church have great things to say about you online, other people get to see that and start to learn what’s great about your church. When they understand what people love about your church, they can imagine going there and having that experience.

While you might not personally trust reviews, you need to give value to what the statistics show. Ask your most internet savvy members and the younger people in your congregation to give you some reviews. As newer members of your community move in and start looking for a church, they’ll see yours as a great option because of the work you’ve done.

4. Get “Star-studded” Reviews

In your area, there are sure to be some local celebrities and people who everyone nearby knows as a trusted voice. If you know they’re members of your church and devoted to praising every weekend, ask them to give you a hand online and help get traffic to your site.

When new potential members see some names they recognize, they’ll take an extra second to stop and look. With reviews that come in from local celebrities or well-known community members, you’ll have some extra cachet when it comes to your church.

Your reviews need to come from the most devoted members of your church who contribute the most to your daily operations. That way when people come to visit, they get to meet people who they recognize from seeing online.

5. Social Media Can Inspire New Members

In the last few decades, the number of young people who have no religion at all has quadrupled. With these numbers growing so rapidly, you need to find ways to reach out to young people.

As most people on 35 spend a lot of their time on social media, they look for all their interests and find new things to do on the internet. When they want to buy a pair of shoes or find a place to go out to on the weekend, they search online. If they find positive reviews from a church, they could easily be convinced to reconnect with their spirituality.

Positive reviews on social media can bring new members to your church’s website. You need to speak the language that young people speak for the future of your church. If you want some examples of how to conduct church business online, check out this company.

Positive Reviews are Important for Every Church

When people ask their friends and family about where they should attend church, those recommendations have massive value. As stated above, positive reviews online can have just as much power. Inspire your community and expand your offerings by reaching out to even more people with good reviews.

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