Monday – January 23, 2024 – Local Church SEO
If you ask most individuals today about SEO, they will most likely tell you it’s all about picking relevant keywords and dispersing them throughout your web page. But the truth is that Marketing for Church and business SEOs are so much more involved today.
Any Christian webmaster will tell you that SEOs today have four primary (and equally important) sides — On-Page, Technical, Off-Page, and Local. Each of these must be looked after if you want a higher ranking on Google. Ignore one, and it could make your whole SEO efforts in vain.
“As marketers, we should be changing the mantra from always be closing to always be helping.” — Jonathan Lister
Jonathan Lister – Vidyard COO, ex-LinkedIn, Google, AOL. Investor, advisor, board member & family person
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is usually the most common form and what most people think of when discussing SEO. It involves picking the right keywords and using them in critical areas of your webpage. I recommend SEMRush to assist you here. It’s one of my most used SEO tools.
It would be best if you did your research to do the right job that brings in actual results. Guessing won’t cut it.
Google’s “How Search Works” report states that, even with advancements in artificial intelligence, certain traditional SEO practices, like specific keyword presence, remain integral:
Technical SEO
Technical SEO is making sure that all of your web pages are error-free. There are many different error codes you might encounter, but the two most common are:
- 4xx are any codes that fail to load on the client side or client error codes
- 5xx are any codes that fail to load due to a server error
4xx error codes: We were all familiar with the 404 error code. This is when a link wants to go to another webpage that either doesn’t exist or no longer exists. To correct this, you have three choices
- Remove the broken link
- Fix the broken link by changing the destination to the proper page
- Perform what is called a redirect
5xx error codes: All of these errors imply that something wrong at the server level is preventing the entire processing of the request. This results in the page not loading correctly, thus giving you a 5xx error.
These errors can be a big problem for SEO rankings. If you encounter technical SEO issues, I recommend using Screaming Frog, as it is my go-to tool for technical SEO issues, big or small.
Off-page SEO, aka Backlinks
Obtaining backlinks will (in most cases) boost your SEO rankings. That is if they are from a credible source.
It’s important to note that I strongly advise you not to buy, sell, or trade backlinks. This practice may seem like a good idea and a real-time saver. But you’ll soon discover that fooling Mr. Google is not wise. If he finds out you are trying to pull a fast one, there will be consequences. Your #2 ranking will sink like a cinderblock in the ocean quickly. And it may take you a very long time to recover.
Instead, earn your backlinks honestly. SEMRush can assist you here.
Local Digital Marketing SEO
This gift from Google is for Ministries and businesses that depend on the local community for survival. Just about any brick-and-mortar type establishment can benefit from this.
Products like Google Maps can highlight your Ministry/business location with pictures and other info. If you qualify, it can give you a significant boost in your community.
In Conclusion
Depending on where you read, Google handles 92% – 95% of the world’s search engine requests. Getting a high ranking on Google in any given worthwhile category is no easy feat. It takes a lot of research, time, and patience, but it can be done.
SEO research is my favorite part of digital marketing. Every account produces new challenges to solving the puzzle. It can be very frustrating and time-consuming, but when I start seeing positive results, it’s rewarding to me and the client.
In SEO, there is only one rule that I know of that is valid in all situations. This Christian Webmaster strongly suggests that you don’t try to cheat. Attempting to find loopholes in the system and getting a ranking your site doesn’t deserve will eventually end badly.
Together, we can do this!
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I’m Bob Taylor, and I approved this message by writing it.
Sincerely,
