The Power of SEO for Churches – Unlocking Your Online Potential With Phil Mershon

A few weeks ago I sat down with Phil Mershon, author of Unforgettable and an expert in event organizing. Phil teaches event planners how to leave lasting impressions and build attendee loyalty.

In preparation for the  Modern Church Leader workshop in Dallas a few months ago, I wanted to go over examples for how churches can improve their visibility in their local community. As a Christian myself, churches getting more visibility in their local community is a cause I care deeply about.

In this article we’ll go over how SEO works more broadly, our 4 stage Content Factory which we use for all of our clients, and how churches specifically can rank higher online to attract more attention and attendees. 

What Is SEO and How Can We Use It To Help Local Churches?

SEO isn’t some magic formula which you pay an agency for. SEO is the result of giving search engines overwhelming proof that you’re a real entity. And one of the easiest ways to do that is by following our 4 stage Content Factory formula. Just like how being in shape is the result of working out and eating healthy, the same applies for boosting our presence online.

Bradly Sticker is a great example of helping churches use social media to bring new guests to their services and grow their ministries through his agency Church Candy. Bradly does this in part by following the same process.

I want to explain how this process works and then show how it can be applied to any church around the country in their local area.

Producing Content For Churches:

Before we can show Google that our church deserves attention, we need to produce content which serves as a trust signal. Here’s just a few ways to do that effectively:

Sermons: Think about your Sunday sermons. These are not just weekly spiritual messages; they’re gold mines for content creation. Capture every sermon on video and audio. But don’t stop there. Break them down into powerful quotes, make short clips for Instagram, or even turn them into detailed blog posts that delve deeper into the topics covered.

This way, your sermon lives beyond Sunday—it becomes a resource that people can engage with throughout the week. For example, Phil and I went over ways to improve the video for “Real Life Church” by adding a better description of its content and repurposing it on the website, social media, and as a blog post. 

The key here is relevancy – your audience and Google needs to know what the point of the content is and how it relates to our entity (the church itself).

Real Stories: There’s nothing more powerful than real stories from your congregation. People’s personal faith journeys can deeply move others and foster a stronger community connection. 

Capture these testimonials through video interviews or write them up as blog posts. Share these stories on your platforms to show the real impact of your church’s work, providing a personal touch that can resonate deeply with both current members and newcomers.

For example, a church member might have a story of the first time they entered your church and their experience. That should be captured and shared.

Blog Articles: Blogs are a fantastic tool to discuss a variety of topics that might be relevant to your community. From practical advice on living a Christian life to deep dives into biblical events, these articles can help educate and engage your audience.

For example, you might write a blog post on “The Importance of Community in Christian Life” or “A Guide to Prayer for Beginners.” These pieces should be informative, accessible, and, importantly, actionable. But the best way to write blog posts is by repurposing existing video content already taken from the church.

Videos of Church Events: Whether it’s a community outreach program, a youth retreat, or Easter Sunday celebrations, capture these moments on video. Such content does wonders on social media platforms, where the vibrancy and dynamism of your community can be displayed, attracting not just likes and shares but also giving potential visitors a glimpse into your church life.

Each piece of content you create is an extension of your church’s mission. It’s about more than just filling up your content calendar; it’s about making your church accessible anytime, anywhere.

Good production quality, relevant titles and descriptions, and an understanding of platform-specific preferences are crucial. By diversifying your content and ensuring it’s authentic and engaging, you’ll not only reach but resonate with a broader audience, helping to grow your church both online and off. You don’t need to hire a film crew for this – an iPhone works fine as long as these real experiences and stories are captured.

Optimizing Content for Maximum Engagement and SEO Impact

After capturing your sermons in video and audio formats and breaking them down into various content pieces like quotes and blog posts, the next step is optimization. For video content, ensure you’re using relevant keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and tags on platforms like YouTube. For example, if Phil and I discussed improving video content for “Real Life Church,” we might add keywords like “Christian Life,” “Sunday Sermon,” or “Faith in Daily Life” to match search queries.

For blog posts derived from sermons, use SEO best practices such as integrating target keywords naturally within the text, using header tags (H1, H2, etc.), and adding meta descriptions that hook the reader while using relevant keywords. This helps Google understand the content better and improves your chances of ranking higher in search results.

Personal stories carry great emotional weight, making them perfect for engagement. Optimize these videos and blog posts by including specific keywords related to personal transformation, faith journeys, or community impact. Ensure that the titles and descriptions are compelling and provide a clear indication of the story’s content, which can increase click-through rates from search engines and social media feeds.

For example, if a church member shares a transformative experience upon first visiting your church, you might title the video or blog post: “Finding Faith: John Doe’s Journey to Real Life Church.” Use descriptions that incorporate keywords like “life-changing church experience” or “personal faith journey,” which are likely search terms for people seeking similar transformations.

You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to find relevant keywords with good search volume but low competition to target in your posts. 

For example, for Redeemer Church in Wichita, KS, Phil and I went over keywords the church ranks on and what keywords we’d like to improve on. 

What this means is that by adding real EEAT content to our website, we increase our chances of ranking higher on our existing keywords and adding more which are relevant.

Content Distribution and Amplification For Your Church: 

Distribute your sermon content across multiple channels to reach different segments of your audience. Upload full sermons to YouTube and embed these videos on your church website under a dedicated ‘Sermons’ section.

For shorter clips and quotes from sermons, use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to capture quick attention and direct traffic back to your full sermons. 

For real stories, load full interviews or stories to your YouTube channel and feature snippets or highlights on Instagram Stories or Facebook posts. Encourage the featured members to share these posts within their networks to increase reach.

Eventually, you’ll find what we like to call winners – which are pieces of content that have a high engagement rate, which for us is at least 10%. As an example, imagine you uploaded 10 videos and 1 of them has many more comments and likes compared to another. You can then amplify that by spending a dollar-a-day on FB, YouTube, or other platforms.

Sending More “Votes” With A Geo-Grid:

When we want our church to rank higher on keywords, Google is looking for trust signals or “votes” that we do what we claim to do in the town we preach in. This is called a geo-grid and it’s core to understanding how Google views who’s trustworthy and who isn’t.

Imagine you’re a church in Tampa who wants to rank higher on Google. To do that, you should connect with churches outside of Tampa or with other Tampa businesses and people. 

For example, you might meet another pastor in Boston in your same denomination. Having their church website link to yours and vice versa stands as a great trust “vote”, since that tells search engines that you’re real.

Or if you’re in Tampa, consider linking to other Tampa businesses you work with and visit often. Since for local signals, this lets search engines know that you’re actually operating in the area.

Claiming Your Personal and Church Knowledge Panels:

Knowledge Panels are those boxes that appear on Google when you search for entities like people, places, organizations, and more. They provide a snapshot of critical information and serve as a trust signal to users that Google recognizes this entity as notable and authoritative.

For pastors and churches, claiming your Knowledge Panel is crucial. Why? Because it directly impacts how you are perceived online. It gives you control over the narrative.

When you claim your panel, you can verify and influence the information that Google displays—be it the service times for your church, the biography of a pastor, or direct links to your social media or recent sermons.

This can greatly enhance your online presence, making your church or pastoral leadership more accessible and trustworthy to those seeking your services. Plus, it significantly boosts your SEO efforts by enhancing your entity’s credibility in the eyes of Google, which can lead to better rankings and increased visibility in search results.

To claim your own, use our Google Knowledge Panel Explorer and type in your name.

Here’s The Main Point:

Wrapping up, let me distill the insights shared into a clear action plan for any church eager to amplify its digital presence. Recognizing SEO as an ongoing strategy rather than a one-off task is key. Don’t pay for an agency to do this for you – it has to be real content your church produces.

The concept of the Content Factory that we discussed isn’t just a method but a mindset that involves continuously creating, optimizing, and distributing content to engage both your current congregation and potential newcomers effectively.

By systematically leveraging sermons, testimonials, and other church events, and presenting them across various digital platforms, you can significantly expand your reach and deepen your engagement with the community.

I encourage church leaders to take a proactive approach: evaluate your existing digital content critically, identify opportunities for improvement, and embrace the tools that will boost your content’s visibility and engagement.

Experiment with different formats and platforms to find what resonates best with your audience. Remember, the ultimate goal is to make your church’s valuable insights and community more accessible to a wider audience.

With dedication to these strategies, your digital outreach efforts can flourish, extending your church’s impact far beyond its physical walls. Let’s get out there and make it happen—your community is waiting!