The SEO Podcast

Why SEO is Important to Churches in 2025 - An Introduction to SEO

Church Design Resource — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Transcript:

I'm Andy, founder of ChurchDesignResource.com. We're a Christian-led organization dedicated to offering truly affordable websites and SEO services specifically for churches. Today, I want to talk to you about something that might sound technical but is absolutely crucial for your church's mission and growth in 2025: Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

What is SEO?

In simple terms, SEO is the practice of making your church's website more visible when people search for things online. Think of it this way: when someone in your community searches for "church near me," "Sunday services [your town]," or even "help for families [your specific community issue]," you want your church to be one of the first results they see. SEO helps Google and other search engines understand what your website is about and how relevant it is to what people are looking for.

In 2025, SEO has evolved beyond just keywords. It's now heavily focused on:

User Experience (UX): Is your website fast, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly?
Quality Content: Are you providing helpful, authoritative, and trustworthy information that genuinely answers people's questions and meets their needs? This includes sermons, event information, blog posts, and spiritual resources.
Local SEO: This is huge for churches. It's about optimizing your online presence to attract people in your immediate geographical area. This means having an accurate and optimized Google Business Profile, encouraging reviews, and ensuring your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all online listings.
AI and Voice Search: With the rise of AI Overviews in search results and the increasing use of voice assistants ("Hey Google, find a church service"), optimizing for conversational queries and concise answers is becoming more important.

Why is SEO Important for Churches Today?

Now, why does this matter for your church, especially in 2025? It boils down to mission and fellowship.

Reaching the Unchurched and Newcomers: The first place many people look for anything today, including a church, is online. If your church isn't visible, you're essentially invisible to those who are actively seeking. A strong online presence, driven by good SEO, means that when someone moves to your town, is looking for spiritual guidance, or is searching for a community, your church has the best chance of being found. This directly contributes to attracting new visitors and potential members.
Growing Physical Fellowship: In an increasingly digital world, getting people through your physical doors is more vital than ever. Local SEO is the bridge here. By ensuring your church ranks for local searches, you connect online curiosity with real-world attendance. Imagine someone searching for "children's ministry [your city]" – if your church appears prominently, it's a direct invitation to come and experience your community in person. Eighty percent of local searches lead to physical visits, so being locally visible is paramount.
Building Trust and Credibility: A well-optimized, professional website doesn't just help you rank; it builds trust. When your church consistently appears in search results and offers a positive online experience, it enhances your credibility within the community. It signals that your church is active, relevant, and accessible, which can lead to deeper engagement and a stronger sense of community.
Cost-Effective Outreach: Unlike paid advertising, SEO generates organic traffic – essentially, free visitors who find you through search engines. While it requires an initial investment of time and effort, a long-term SEO strategy can significantly reduce your marketing expenses over time, allowing more resources to be channeled directly into your ministry.

In 2025, the digital landscape is where ministry often begins. SEO isn't just a technical detail; it's a strategic tool for fulfilling your church's mission, reaching more people with the Gospel, and growing the physical fellowship God has called you to build. It's about ensuring that when people are looking for hope, community, or a spiritual home, your church is found.

How Does Google Treat AI Generated Content? & Google As a "Gate Keeper" in the EU

Church Design Resource — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 14:13:39 -0400

In this weeks SEO Podcast, we look at the latest news coming from Google including; how they treat AI Generated Content for Search Rankings, Whether you should still be using Google Sites for your business, and we look at exactly how Google will be affected by the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The SEO Podcast, is a Digital Marketing Podcast, bringing you the latest news, hints and tips from the world of Digital Marketing and SEO. Helping You to Grow Your Business Online.

Read More about the DMA - https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en

Googles Removes FAQs from Search Results, What it Means For You

Church Design Resource — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 11:20:52 -0400

Discussing Google's announcement that they are removing FAQs and How-to's from search results pages, and what it means for websites across the world as it rolls out in the next few days. SEO News: Google has announced that as of mid-August (2023) FAQ (from FAQPage structured data) rich results will only be shown in Search Results for well-known, authoritative government and health websites. For all other sites, this rich result will no longer be shown regularly, though this is a little vague and could mean high authority sites may still show some FAQs for example. Google added, sites may automatically be considered for this treatment depending on their eligibility. Google has been clear these changes will reflect shortly ins search console as the data will be removed. https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/08/howto-faq-changes Read more about Generative AI in search at Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/cherps-serps-generative-ai-search-430436

How to Optimise Podcasts for SEO in 2023

Church Design Resource — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 11:45:52 -0400

In this episode of the SEO Podcast, we look at how to optimise podcasts for SEO, ensuring they rank well on Google, Bing and other search engines including on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer and More! Andy Kinsey (Hosting), talks about why your podcast should have it's own website, how to optimise titles for SEO, why you should include keywords in podcast shownotes and whether transcripts are important! Plus much more in an SEO Podcast full of SEO Tips for Podcasters. Andy also discusses what has changed since 2008 when Google first announced Audio Indexing, which never really worked - and whether Podcasts are making their way back into Google Rankings today? Where to Submit Your Podcast (Podcast Directories) - https://www.seoandy.com/post/podcast-submission SEO Podcast Official Website - https://www.seopodcast.net/

Google Algorithm Update April 2023 - Google Review System

Church Design Resource — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 10:21:16 -0400

In this SEO Podcast, we look at the Google Update April 2023 for Google Reviews (formerly Google Product Reviews) and how ANYONE writing reviews on their blog or website is now included in the Google Review System! Andy examines the review system and explains how E-EA-T's applies to Reviews and how content can be improved with 5 simple tips to ensure your product reviews, destination reviews, movie reviews and game reviews remain number 1 on Google. -- The product review update on Google Product Review Update (March) video can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_wy6GCN1PY March / April Google Broad Core Update Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXZLMSMQdNY -- Guidelines from Google, Writing Quality Product Reviews - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/ecommerce/write-high-quality-reviews Googles Rules on Affiliate Links - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#thin-affiliate-pages -- As we mentioned @LinusTechTips and the teams great reviews it seems only fitting we link to the channel https://www.youtube.com/@LinusTechTips

Google March 2023 - Broad Core Update

Church Design Resource — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 11:41:06 -0400

Google Search has begun the roll out the first broad core algorithm update of the 2023 year, and this one is named the "March 2023 broad core update" (inventive).

In this SEO Podcast, Andy discusses everything we know so far about the March 2023 core update from Google which started on 15th March.

He looks at who is affected around the world, which websites are affected, whether you need to do anything today and what to do if you have been affected by the broad core update already!

There will be further updates about the Google Broad Core Update as soon as possible.

The SEO Podcast is hosted by Andy Kinsey, Founder and SEO Consultant at SEO Andy.

Google Dev Notes: https://developers.google.com/search/updates/ranking#march-15,-2023

Google Algorithm Update March 2023 & How Search Engines Actually Work

Church Design Resource — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 11:39:10 -0400

Get the latest update on how the first big Google Search Update of 2023 affected search rankings across the globe and which industries were the biggest impacted.

Discover how Google really works from crawling and indexing to how algorithms are applied during user searches. Andy demystifies how search engines actually work, so that you as website owners and website creators can better create content and develop websites in the future - gaining a competitive advantage moving forward.

Want to know more about how the Product Review Search update impacted SERPs? check out this round up by Search Engine Land - https://searchengineland.com/google-february-2023-product-reviews-update-more-volatile-than-previous-updates-say-data-providers-394103

If you want to dive into how search engines work, this short write up by on Google Developer Docs is a handy guide (and it's not too technical) - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/how-search- works

This podcast is brought to you by SEO Andy.

The First Google Update of 2023 - It's Here!

Church Design Resource — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 14:00:00 -0400

Google Product Review Update (Feb 2023)

In the first Google Search Algo Update of 2023, a Product Review System update, the search engine has added 10 languages to the algorithm - giving the Product Review Algorithm a global reach (it now includes: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese and Polish).

In this SEO Podcast we take a look at what this search update means for product review websites and content creators - what we can expect from Google in the coming months and when we can expect the update to finish rolling out!

You can read more about the Product Review System update here:
https://developers.google.com/search/updates/product-reviews-update

You can see a list of all confirmed Google Updates here:
https://developers.google.com/search/updates/ranking

Support the show

An Update - Sorry

Church Design Resource — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 16:00:00 -0400

This is just a short message to say sorry that there isn't a SEO Podcast this week, and hasn't been in the past two weeks.

Andy has covid-19 and isn't able to record at the moment.

9 SEO Questions You Were Too Afraid To Ask

Church Design Resource — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Every time we speak to a potential client, we wonder what they will ask about SEO - what the first question will be? However, we gave up wondering that after a few years - and started making a list of Common SEO Questions.

In this SEO Podcast, we discuss the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) when it comes to search engine optimisation, including:

What is SEO?
What is the difference between Organic Search and Paid Search?
What are Meta Tags?
Should you put keywords in domain names?
What is the difference between inbound and internal links?
Should I know how to code for SEO?
What is Alt Text?
Where can you learn more about SEO?

--
Watching this podcast before 28 Feb 2023?
Get "The Beginners Guide to SEO" on Amazon for 99p/99c (Usually £2.50) or Free on Kindle Unlimited - head to seoandy.com/book to get this special offer.
--

Visit The SEO Podcast website @ seopodcast.net

Support the show

How I Predict Future Google Search Algorithm Updates

Church Design Resource — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 14:41:00 -0400

Have you ever discussed with an SEO Consultant or Executive, and they have said something along the lines of "yeah, I think there may be a Google Update coming soon...".

If you have, and you questioned why it's rare, we as SEO's will give an answer. The reasons aren't just that, as techie's we tend to be introverted, but also that it's kind of a secret sauce - we have a few resources we go to that track a number of things that can often tell us how likely an Algorithm Update is (or isn't). Of course, that comes on top of the time factor - how long its been since the last BIG search update in any given niche/market.

So today, given The SEO Podcast is all about sharing resources to enable you to understand how search works, and to do more - I am going to share some of these resources (though not all I admit), as well as several resources for you to find out what those updates actually mean for you - and if you were affected how to fix those issues.

In this SEO Podcast, we mention the following websites:

MozCast - https://moz.com/mozcast
SEMRush Sensor - https://semrush.com/sensor
Algoroo - https://algoroo.com

Search Engine Journal - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/
Search Engine Land - https://searchengineland.com/
Sistrix - https://app.sistrix.com/en/google-updates
Moz Google Update History - https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
Google Algorithm Updates (Google Dev Notes) - https://developers.google.com/search/updates/ranking

Rusty Brick (Barry Schwartz) YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@rustybrick
Google Search Console YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@GoogleSearchCentral

If you want to support this podcast, you can buy our book which was launched the week this podcast was released.
Its a Short Beginner's guide to SEO - you can find it on Amazon (globally) https://amzn.to/409So10

Google Ranking Factors in 2023 - The SEO Experts View

Church Design Resource — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 13:00:00 -0400

The industry experts have spoken, and in this week's SEO Podcast, we look at what the Top 6 Google Ranking Factors for 2023 will be and how you can improve your website to gain an advantage today!

Andy discusses Search Ranking Factors in 2023 including:

How Google prioritizes High-Quality, Expert Content
Why Keywords are still important in 2023
Why site structure and user experience is vital!
Why a great user experience can make the difference to search rankings.
How improving mobile experience can improve conversion rates.
and Why security is more important than ever in 2023!

The SEO Podcast if brought to you by SEO Andy.

If you'd like to support the SEO Podcast, you can leave a tip by visiting https://www.seoandy.com/pod-thanks

The BIGGEST SEO Trends for 2023: What Should You Be Watching For

Church Design Resource — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 15:50:00 -0400

Whether you are an e-commerce website or lead focused service website, SEO and ranking on Google is likely to be a big part of your online marketing strategy.

In this SEO Podcast, Andy discusses the top 5 SEO Trends for 2023, how they are likely to impact on SME's and how you can grow your online business and sales in 2023.

Discussing the Biggest SEO Trends for 2023, SEO Andy, talks about:

User Intent in accessing your content and how to focus your content on increasing search rank and gaining more traffic and sales.
Local Search and why it's going to become more important in 2023.
Voice search and how to take advantage of it.
Why Google is likely to focus on Video in 2023, and how you can use this to gain more traction in search ranking.
and Why AI is going to explode in online marketing in 2023.

Watch this podcast on our youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEQ8PrGMY4E

Head over to the podcast website at https://www.seoandy.com/podcast

Google Core Update and Meta Descriptions News?

Church Design Resource — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:44:35 -0400

Andy discusses the latest Broad Core Update News, the Google Helpful Content Update and yes, Google did just update its guidance on meta descriptions. Also, andy talks about Structured Data!

Links relevant to this week's SEO Podcast:

Helpful Content Update (Google Dev Notes) - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update

Local Business Schema Update (Google Dev Notes) - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/structured-data/local-business#local-business-properties

Meta Description Snippet Guidelines (Google Dev Notes) - https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/appearance/snippet#use-quality-descriptions

Google Search Ranking Update List - https://developers.google.com/search/updates/ranking

The SEO Andy Podcast is brought to you by SEOAndy.com

Find the Best Web Hosting for SEO

Church Design Resource — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 10:56:48 -0400

In this podcast SEO Expert Andy Kinsey talks about all things Web Hosting. Looking at the Essential features of a great web host - so whether you are looking for the best web hosting for wordpress, a good web host for your online store using magento or you are looking for website hosting for your blog, Andy will be able to help you discover the secrets to a great web hosting platform.

If you're looking for a web host for multiple websites or network of websites, Andy has some great tips on this too with what to look for with larger scale hosting - which can also work for enterprise website as well as multiple site hosting.

**** A big thank you to CloudAbove.com for letting me talk about them again this week and their Affordable Web Hosting services - you can get £5 off their hosting services using promo code "SEOANDY" at checkout.* ***

Full Show Notes @ https://seoandy.com/podcast

Support the show

Top E-Commerce SEO Tips from Google & This Weeks Google News

Church Design Resource — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 09:04:27 -0400

Discussing Top Tips from Google on How to Get Better Rankings in Search for Your E-Commerce Website, Why You Should Get Rid Of Internal Redirects and This Weeks Google News.

Top E-Commerce Tips from Google!

Have an Awesome Meta Title

- Google will rewrite it if it doesn’t adequately describe the page content, using the h1 of the page or anchor text from links to the page. Don’t use dynamic information such as the price as there is a lag in updating the title tag in serps.

Use High Quality Images

-Use the best images you can, and avoid using manufacturer images as this is what you will find 90% of competitors use. Place the product in an appropriate location to show size/scale and with objects of reference to showcase the item/object.

Use Structured Data / Rich Data

Structured data will help google to understand the product better and may make your product eligible for rich result displays. So ensure you use structured data coding such as Schema.org. Include if possible - title, description, images, rating, price, offer and availability - if you can include more do so (and refer to google structured data guidelines https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/structured-data/product for more guidance… )

Share Price Drop Data

I mentioned above using structured data for the ‘offer’ this is if you have a sale, and the price is different in an ‘offer’ / sale… well this gives a ‘price drop’ as google refer to it and allows you to potentially be come eligible for more space in search results. Take advantage and update your structured data if you can.

Identifiers

If your product has a GTIN or other global identifier, you can again use structured data to mark this out. This allows Google to know exactly the product you are showcasing and compare it directly with other, and make your product eligible for product carousels (potentially).

Create a business profile! (if you have a physical location)

Greeting a google my business / business profile ensures google can give you as much credibility locally as possible and make your products eligible as specific listings along side local listings.

Always Get Rid of Internal Redirects

One of the questions that SEO’s often get asked is about existing URLs on websites and should they get replaced, this is particularly the case with a move to secure websites or should you move from www to non-ww (or vice-versa).

Recently Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller weighed in on this, and said ‘yes’ its worth doing but not because you are going to get any tangible seo benefit but rather a performance benefit - which again is something we the SEO community have always said.

In essence if you have an internal link that is for the non-www but your site is www. You are forcing a redirect for no reason, a second or so of redirect time which is a performance improvement for free.

But additional to this you also start to remove the risk of creating large redirect chains (big chains can cause browsers and search engines to simply stop an index), of redirect loops (cycles which cause errors) and of broken links (if the redirect is simply not right).

If you use wordpress plugins such as blue velvet urls and better search replace are great for updating old urls - even if your entire url changes!

Common Search Engine Optimization Questions Answered

Church Design Resource — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 09:54:59 -0400

In this weeks podcast Andy looks at this weeks SEO News and answers common Search Engine Optimisation questions, including:

Once I start SEO, how long does it take to get rankings

Should I continue once I get rankings and traffic?

Can I just buy links?

Can you guarantee me rankings with SEO?

Can you get me ranked for general terms like 'barber', 'seo' or 'designer'?

How often do search engines update their algorithm?

Is Local SEO different to Normal SEO?

Should I hire someone to help me with my SEO?

How can I find SEO Errors?

Is Blog Commenting still valuable as link building?

Page Speed Optimisation - What You Need To Know

Church Design Resource — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 04:00:53 -0400

In this weeks SEO Podcast, Andy talks all things page speed optimisation and discusses this weeks google news, including:

- Google Haven’t rolled out another update on July 16th.

- Google now lets you see search ranking updates

- Google search console allows you to verify by dns cname

- Google search console announces video indexing reports (for self hosted videos).

- John Mueller (Google search advocate) confirms you shouldn’t be publishing empty pages.

Read Andys full notes on website page speed optimisation at https://findthegaps.com/page-speed-optimisation-56f1a843d9cc

Watch the video of this podcast on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UqNoSxOKHs

5 Easy Steps to Writing Compelling Headlines & This Weeks SEO News

Church Design Resource — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 06:00:30 -0400

In this weeks podcast, Andy discusses the easy steps website owners and content creators should follow to create compelling and clickable headlines for content in 2022 - as well as this weeks SEO News headlines.

** Watch the Podcast Live each Thursday on the SEO Andy Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/Seoandyblog **

Andys Top Tips for Writing Compelling SEO Headlines:

1) Start With a Working Title

2) Be Specific

3) Add an Action

4) Focus on Pain Points

5) Use Your Data

If you would like to know more about how to write clickable headlines for content, you can read more here in Andys full guide https://bit.ly/3mVreJc

Please don't forget to subscribe to the channel and hit the bell icon for notifications, we will be live each week - allowing you to get the Podcast before anyone else.

Visit SEO Andy at https://seoandy.com

Google Algorithm Search Update - Everything You Need To Know

Church Design Resource — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 10:16:21 -0400

The May 2022, Core Google Search Update has now been completed (1), in this weeks SEO Podcast, Andy discusses everything you need to know about the latest Google Algorithm Update;

Who was affected by the Google Update?
What impact has the Google Update had?
Was it a content update, link update or something else by Google?

Andy talks through the in's and out's of the search update, including which websites have won & why - who the biggest losers are & why - and how you can help ensure your website recovers if it has been affected by the May 2022 Broad Core Update.

Meta Tag SERP Update - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/06/title-script-misalignment

1, Google Confirm, Roll out of update is complete - https://twitter.com/googlesearchc/status/1534803662802935809

Improving Site Indexing, Beat Your Competition & The Weeks SEO News

Church Design Resource — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 08:48:10 -0400

In this week's SEO Andy Podcast, Andy talks all things Site Indexing and how to ensure your website is fully indexed - ensuring you can gain traction in search and beat the competitors.

Andy also discusses this week's SEO News, talking increased FAQ Rich Snippets, Improved Video Snippets in Search and the death of NoFollow link value (again!).

Google Search Update & Local SEO

Church Design Resource — Thu, 26 May 2022 11:31:40 -0400

In this weeks show, Andy talks about the latest Google Algorithm Update (landing now, from May 25): what we know right now, what it means, and who is likely to be hit!

Andy also discusses how to optimise your website for local search, explaining that 66% of people are looking to shop more locally moving forward (google survey).

If you've any questions or comments about the show, get in touch via seoandy.com/podcast

Links mentioned in the show:

Google Developer Notes for May 2022, Search Update - https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/05/may-2022-core-update
Previous Search Updates (Moz) - https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
Google Search Console - https://search.google.com/search-console/about
Google Page Speed Test - https://pagespeed.web.dev/
SEM Rush Sensor* (tracking category rank fluctuations) - https://semrush.com/sensor
Divi by Elegant Themes* - https://elegantthemes.com
A Complete Guide to Local SEO (by SEO Andy) - findthegaps.com

If i have missed any links please let me know.

*the above marked links are affiliate links, using these links does not cost you any money but helps keeps this podcast running. Thank you.

New Indexing Protocol for Website Owners - IndexNow

Church Design Resource — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 06:00:27 -0400

In this episode Andy discusses the new Search Engine Indexing protocol which allows Website Owners and Content Creators to ask search engines to index content with priority. The new protocol can be used across content which has been updated, added or deleted.

Andy discusses how the IndexNow protocol can help website owners of all types, from bloggers to e-commerce - why website owners may want to implement this today and what the best methods are currently to implement the IndexNow protocol (plugins and CDNs).

You can learn more about the IndexNow protocol via https://www.indexnow.org

Support the show

Product Review Ranking Updates & This Weeks SEO News

Church Design Resource — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 10:59:49 -0400

In this weeks podcast, Andy talks about the latest Google Algorithm updates, what Google thinks you should be doing with Alt Text, whether you will get punished for using AI generated content and why Page Speed is a ranking factor for ALL websites!

If you've got a question you need answered, get in touch @andykinsey (on that there twitter!)

Support the show

Google Analytics 4 - Questions and Answers

Church Design Resource — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 10:05:13 -0400

In our first episode, Andy answers questions about Google Analytics 4: Why Google 'Killed' Universal Analytics, What this means for Website Owners, How Long you have to move, can you move data, and what process is being advised.

If you are wondering if this is the end for Google Analytics and what the alternatives may be (because GA4 may not suit you moving forward), Andy has written this article - Andy will also be talking about it next week!

https://findthegaps.com/free-google-analytics-alternatives-6a492da7a979