What Google is doing sounds scary and has been termed "mobilegeddon" by some because of the potentially drastic changes it will have on search results on mobile devices. Should your church be worried and if so what should you do about it? You have so many things to do as church communicators, should you bother? Following I'll explain more what it means and give you some practical suggestions on what you can do.
What it really means
Google is constantly changing the algorithms for how results are shown when you put in a search term. One of the primary reasons they do this is that there are always people who try to game the system and manipulate sites so their sites show up high in search results.
Though this isn't an article on Search Engine Optimization, Google and all other search engines have always said, and continue to affirm, that the primary reason sites show up on the first page or two of results are because of the quality of their content, not just because of artificial Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There is legitimate, intrinsic SEO, that systems such as WordPress make easy to use and search engines benefit from that. Artificial, SEO which consists of key-word loading and other false and always new ways people try to beat the system without the legitimate work of creating valuable content is what they are fighting against.
Sites with a depth of good content will always be found when people search for the topics they are about.Though this is a purely personal and anecdotal comment, I have always found that to be true. Ever since the earliest days of the Effective Church Communications ministry, I've always been too busy to concentrate on any Search Engine Optimization strategy. I've simply tried to create as much useful material for church communicators as possible and because of that, the Effective Church Communications website comes up early in many results related to church communications.
Though a depth of good content is still important, this algorithm change with Google is different because with the current changes Google is penalizing websites that are not mobile friendly and it specifically relates to when a search is done on a mobile device. This change doesn't care about the content of your site--what matters is how people access your site.
The changes do not affect searches people do from their desktop computers. Many of the articles written about the changes don't make that distinction clear (here is one that does).
One conclusion some churches might draw from properly understanding that this big change only affects searches made on mobile phones is that it really doesn't matter to them because they might assume that few people look up their church website on a mobile phone. That conclusion is incorrect and it's important we understand why.
Why this is important
In the NPR article cited above it says that 48% of search traffic now comes from mobile devices.
If we truly want to be all things to all people that we might win some, we definitely need to make sure our websites are easily accessible to the people who want to use them, no matter what device they use. In many ways this action by Google is a great wake-up call for all churches.
We may not personally do searches on our phones (or even have a smart phone that allows us to do searches), but more and more people have them and constantly use them to look up everything). Many churches lament that they don't have young families coming to their church, but if you truly want young people to come, you have to communicate in the way they communicate. That means everything you want to tell them HAS to be accessible on their phones.
In many ways Google is simply helping us do what we need to do to share Jesus with our world.
What you should do at your church
First of all, check to see if you have a problem. The link below takes you to a very quick and easy test to see if your website is mobile-friendly. Just enter in your URL and in a couple of minutes you will get a quick evaluation of if your site is mobile friendly or not.
Second, be sure you understand this issue. To do that, this article will be helpful: A primer on responsive websites, what they are and why they are important
I wrote this article and did a short 4-minute video to explain what it means to make your site mobile- device friendly. "Responsive" was the term used in initially. It means the same as device or mobile-friendly today.
Practical suggestions on what to do
Before I get specific on some practical recommendations, it is worth repeating—this Effective Church Communications site does not take any advertising. Also, we do not take part in ANY affiliate program or do anything in exchange for any product or service. If I want software or hardware, I buy it (if I can afford it). I get no discounts or special deals. The important point of the preceding comments is that when I recommend something, I do it because I genuinely feel there is something of benefit in it for church communicators.
I'm bringing this up now because a number of articles I've seen about the Google changes then lead into a sales pitch for some tech group to help you make your site mobile friendly. Some may be genuinely helpful and if you have a person, a service, or website building system that has worked well for you in the past, you may want to keep using it. But if you are thinking about redoing your website or doing it at your church by an in-house person, here is one suggestion:
Learn WordPress and use a device-friendly template
Yes, there are many other great systems and companies, but I think WordPress is the best way to build a website, for many, many reasons, too lengthy to detail here. Also I think it is a skill every church communicator (and most staff members and pastors) should have. I have built many sites with it over the years and I continuously am amazed at all it does and what features are added to it. It is also free. You have to pay for hosting, but that can be minimal and instead of being locked into a proprietary system and cost, once you learn (and it is easy to learn) WordPress, it is one of the most cost-effective way for a church to have a complete and flexible site. If something else is working for you—great, but if you are checking out systems for websites, make WordPress on the top of your list.
This is an encouragement because now might be a time to take a deep breath, learn WordPress, and finally take charge of the website at your church.
HERE IS THE BEST RESOURCE for Google Changes and a great thing you can do for your church
The resource below is a WordPress church template company. Their themes have all the mobile-friendly features you need for the Google changes built-in and you don't have to do anything extra to make them an intrinsic part of your site.
Church Themes http://churchthemes.com/
Though I've known about this group for some time, I recently did an extensive search to find new templates for several sites (including this one) that I am redesigning. After spending way too much money trying templates that had great marketing examples, but were impossible to replicate in my office, I was very frustrated. One group actually said something like this "we know you can't build a site like our example and for several hundred dollars more we'll help you do that." I felt this was wrong and even if I did have the money to do that, it wasn't anything I could later recommend to other churches.
I didn't have personal experience with this Church Themes products, but I knew churches who spoke highly of them. I'd corresponded with them and felt they were genuinely people of integrity. So I decided to try a template—I was at the end of my rope and thought, what's one more frustrating trial? But things were radically different here.
Finally here was a beautifully designed template that did all I wanted it to do! But best of all were their tutorials for how to use their themes. The theme creator walks you through each step; they made sense and worked!
I am still working on some things behind the scenes that I am building with these, but I'll share them as soon as I get them done. I didn't want to tell you about them or the company until I did, but this Google situation required it.
Their templates can really work for any church and for staff with very little tech experience. You don't have to be a tech genius to create a fantastic, contemporary looking site with these templates. Plus all the tools you need for church sites: great looking slider header, sermon text, podcasts, video, events, blog, photos, videos, staff, locations, calendar, and donations are all built-in and best of all—demonstrated and explained!
You can either build your church website from nothing using them or switch your church website to one of their templates. It will take you more than a couple of days to do it, but the results will be worth it, device-friendly and something you can update at your church.
Now for ways to learn WordPress or more about it
WP101, https://www.wp101.com/
This is one of the best ways to get up and running quickly with WordPress. It has easy-to-follow and understand tutorials. Sure, you can view a million of them on YouTube, but you never know what version they are demonstrating. I have had some training on WordPress on the Effective Church Communication site, but I can keep up with changes. This site constantly updates their training. In addition to basics, more advanced topics easily explained.
Note: http://www.Lynda.com, that I recommend for a lot of other training, does have a number of WordPress tutorials—but for some reason, I think they are some of her weakest courses—this company is much better for learning WordPress.
WP Beginner, http://www.wpbeginner.com/
Not only beginners, but everyone who uses WordPress can benefit from the blogs and resource links on this site. Not terribly advanced, but very useful materials.
"a free WordPress newsletter" http://wpmail.me/
This is the geeky newsletter with the latest news from the WordPress organization, developers, and gurus. However, it has a lot for ordinary users, including great articles about plugins and overviews of new themes that have passed the WordPress standards. It comes out once a week and I always find something useful in it.
In conclusion
We don't make changes on our website because we're bored and have nothing else to do, nor do we do them just because Google makes a big change. For this change, making our sites more device and mobile friendly, may be one of the most important changes we can make to help unchurched people find us and ultimately find Jesus.
Thanks, Yvon. A very timely and informative posting.