In the last week, Google began rolling out updates to its main search algorithm and its local rankings. As a result, we’re seeing a lot of volatility in church search rankings.
We monitor situations like this very closely because…
Google is the highway to your church.
So, let me share with you some of what we’re seeing…
Intermittent Church Listings
For example, when I search Google on my computer for “Christian Churches near Middletown, OH” I see 3 ads followed what we call the “local 3 pack,” a map with 3 local results below it. If I click “More Places” I see that one of our SEO clients, First United Methodist Church of Middletown, is #7 out of 36 local listings. But when I search Google from the computer we use to generate search ranking reports, there are 49 local listings and First UMC Middletown is not in them.
Intermittent Local 3 Pack
Another example… When I search Google on my computer for “Blended churches near Middletown, OH” I’m shown the local 3 pack at the top of the results and First UMC is #1.
But when I search Google from the other computer, Google does not include the local 3 pack in the search results at all (though First UMC is #1 in the results shown).
Continuing on the other computer, when I go directly to Google Maps and search there it says it has no results
We’re seeing inconsistencies like this with some (but not all) keywords for most of the churches we do SEO work with as well as other types of organizations.
So, what’s going on?
Google is notoriously quiet about updates to its search algorithms, and so far it has not provided any information about the latest update to the local rankings. So, that leaves us with trying to figure out what is going on through our own observations and experiments and by reading the observations of others.
1) Local quality update. Many local SEO experts are saying Google is removing a lot of spammy local listings. Some companies like locksmiths try to trick Google by setting up “locations” at UPS store addresses, so they appear to have an office in cities where they really don’t. However, I’ve never seen a church do that, so it doesn’t seem relevant to church search listings.
2) Update still rolling out. Some of Google’s updates take weeks or even months to be fully roll out. During that time search rankings can bounce around a lot. Additionally, Google has thousands of servers, and so it’s possible to search for the same thing twice and get two different results from two different Google servers.
3) More info coming. As we and other professional SEOs analyze more client data, it’s likely patterns will emerge and we’ll have a better understanding of what this update is all about and how best to respond to it.
What should I do?
If OurChurch.Com provides search engine optimization services for your organization, we will be sending you your monthly search ranking report in the new few days. It will likely show a lot of changes in local rankings – some up, some down, some missing. Don’t worry. Just sit tight while we continue to monitor Google and your search rankings. Once things settle down, we’ll let you know if we’ll be making any adjustments to our SEO strategy.
If we don’t provide SEO services for your organization, I encourage you to check your search rankings more frequently and make a point of searching for news about Google’s local update. If it seems like that may be over your head or you just don’t have time for it, let’s talk about how we can take care of that for you. SEO provides a great return on investment, and church SEO is probably a lot less expensive than you think.
What do you think?
- Are you seeing volatility and inconsistencies in your search rankings?
- What if anything are you doing about Google updates?
4 Comments
WOW! Amazing article! Paul, when will you update new article about SEO? I enjoy all your article~
Robby, we usually post an article about SEO once a week on Thursdays.
Hi, I’m Brazilian and I loved the article, I’m waiting for the next one ..
Hi Paul, which type of update do you think that google will release in 2017? 🙂