4 Best SEO Tips for Churches and Non-Profits

SEO’s impact on your website can be significant, but your to-do list to implement doesn’t have to be. With this short list of best tips for churches and non-profits, your organization will be ahead of the curve in a strategic and successful approach to SEO.

P.S. Click here for the full downloadable eBook and Checklist for SEO Best Practices, or continue reading for SEO quick tips. 

#1: Prioritize the Power of Keywords

When a user types in a search box, search engines crawl millions of web pages looking for those keywords. Using both primary and secondary keywords effectively attracts more people to your website. Why? Because you prove quickly that you have the answer to a user’s question. 

But which keywords should you use, and where should they be placed?

With Google Search Console, you can find out exactly what keywords are leading to your web sessions. Using that insight, create web pages and format them accordingly using primary and secondary keywords, headers, and page content. Then, monitor your page’s performance through the same dashboard and adjust errors and/or obstacles to see a substantial increase in site visitation.

#2: Win the Battle of the Searches With Strong Page Titles and Descriptions

If you’re using strategic keywords but still not seeing a boost in your web sessions, you might want to take a closer look at the titles and descriptions you’ve applied to your pages. This is one of our best SEO tips for churches and non-profits.

Keywords put you in the game. Page Titles and Descriptions win you points.

A potential visitor looks at the search results’ page title and short description (also known as meta description) to determine if they will journey to your website for more details. Consider these tips to make your Page Title and Meta Description effective:

1. Begin your Title with your main keyword
2. Page Title: 30-60 characters
3. Meta Description: <160 characters
4. Convey what the page is about and why it’s helpful to the visitor
5. Create unique Titles and Descriptions for every page
6. Use one keyword per title (read more about this from Google here)

#3: Get Creative with Links On and Off Your Site

Use the mass volume of web pages across the internet to your advantage by implementing a strategic approach to linking resources across your website. 

Here are three link-building tactics you can use: 

• Backlinks

Find ways to link to your blog from other sources (and ideally high-authority sources) to be prioritized in search engine results.

• Internal Links

Retain your web visitors by directing them to other relevant pages on your site. Not only does this prove your credibility with the user, but also engages the user experience, and improves your site’s crawlability on search engines too.

• External Links

Connect your content with other quality, authoritative content by implementing external links, or URLs that lead a user to another website. While this seems unwise to intentionally direct a user off of your site, this flow in the user journey actually improves your site’s SEO credibility.

#4: Boost your Page Load Speed

Instant gratification has never been challenged more than by the infamous spinning internet wheel. When there are so many web pages that could answer a user’s question faster, most people don’t opt to wait around on your site. 

Consider this as your practical checklist to ensure that your site doesn’t have a high bounce rate. Have you confirmed the below for your pages?

• All plug-ins are necessary and helpful
• All images are compressed and lazy-load using a tool like Kraken.io
• Your page uses a lightweight design theme
• You’ve considered using a content delivery network (CDN) to host your site’s media through servers that are geographically close to your clients

More Best SEO Tips for Churches and Non-Profits

If our best SEO tips for churches and non-profits have been helpful to you, then our one-page SEO Checklist will be a great reminder of all that you need to be efficient and effective when creating and editing your web pages. Click here to view, save, and print for your purposes.

Interested in leveraging more marketing channels to scale your organization? We’d love to talk with you. Contact us and tell our team more about your goals and how we could help.