There are some structural frameworks to keep in mind for your church website that can curry favor among the search engines. There are professional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms that can help. But here are the basics:
1) Identify the right keywords - must-haves are your church name and city. You may also want to include your denomination (ex. Presbyterian) and demographic (ex. Korean) if appropriate. You can use tools like Wordtracker or Overture to guesstimate how often certain keywords or phrases are searched.
4)
Clean URL's. Keep your URL's descriptive yet brief. Try to use keywords in the actual URL, and show the file
structure and hierarchy in the URL. For example, churchname.org/media/sermons/the-prodigal-son/ instead of
churchname.org/m=040507&s=9am&mode=short
4a) Keep URL's limited to no more than 2 dynamic parameters. For example,
in the bad URL above, there are 3 dynamic parameters
(m=040507&s=9am&mode=short)
5)
Optimize your <title> tag. Google uses the title tag as one of the
most important pieces of info to judge the page's content. The
<title> is also displayed on the search engine result page.
a) Use Title Case in <title>
b) Each unique page should have a unique <title>
c) Use the keywords identified from #1. Put the most important words in the beginning.
d) Keep the <title> short and sweet (Google only displays 66 characters
of your title in its results)
6)
Optimize your <meta> description. <meta
name="description" content="Description goes
here."> Your meta description (or snippets of it) is what gets
displayed under the title on a search result page. Use 1 or 2 sentences
that contain some of your keywords and elicit a call-to-action (to entice
people to actually click-through to your site)
8)
Use H1 header tags to make a keyword-rich headline for your pages.
9)
Use the <alt> tag to describe pictures with the appropriate keywords identified in #1.
This
is a technical checklist that is aimed for your webmaster. In a future
post, I might follow-up with some tips aimed more towards the marketing and
promotion of your church website.
Question for church webmasters - what keywords and phrases are folks typing into search engines to find your church website? Are there any non-obvious long-tail keyword gems that you can share?
Question for everyone - what keywords and phrases do you want your church to rank for? Is my list in #1 missing anything important?
Good article with helpful stuff, but I've got a couple of comments:
On #3, you can sort of set this within google sitemaps under 'Tools/Set preferred domain'. Not as good as a 301, but for less techy people, perhaps an easier option!
With #9, although having filled up 'alts' may help SEO, in can be less than good accessability wise: http://www.webaim.org/techniques/alttext/ rule of thumb (as told to me by a blind web-designer friend) "If it's eye candy, use a blank alt!"
Keep up the great work!
James
Posted by: James Cooper | September 29, 2007 at 06:06 AM
Thanks for the comment James.
I didn't know about the preferred domain setting within Google sitemaps. Certainly an easier way to do it as you noted!
Regarding the alt tag, I skimmed through the link you sent me. I think we're on the same page... I'm not promoting useless keyword stuffing for meaningless pictures. But a good description with keywords if it makes sense. For example, "Grace Church's annual picnic in Oakland, Ca" instead of simply "Picnic 040507"
Posted by: Joe | September 29, 2007 at 02:55 PM
I'm glad the google tip was helpful!
On the alts, yes those are good, but if the rest of the article is about the picnic and to a blind veiwer "Grace Church's annual picnic in Oakland, Ca" doesn't add anything new (and in fact probably repeats things - possibly in the middle of some other text) do you need it at all?!
Just my £0.02p!
Posted by: James Cooper | October 05, 2007 at 06:30 AM