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Make Google Favor Your Church Website in Mobile Search Results

Update: Since the time of writing this post, Google has begun to roll out mobile-first indexing. This makes having a mobile-friendly church website even more critical.

It is absolutely necessary for your church to have a mobile-friendly website.

According to KPCB Internet Trends, 25% of global web usage is on mobile devices — and the increase from last year alone has been nearly two-fold in some regions. Expect that trend to continue. Statista forecasts more than 200 million smartphone users in the U.S. by 2017. That’s virtually everyone. Google has said 65% of searches begin on mobile phones. That statistic blew me away.

Because of this, Google recently rolled out a new feature for their search engine that helps smartphone users identify which sites are more worth visiting in search results. A mobile-friendly church website is not only convenient for users but is also a factor in search engine optimization.

Have you ever tapped on a Google Search result on your mobile phone, only to find yourself looking at a page where the text was too small, the links were tiny, and you had to scroll sideways… Google

Google is evaluating websites to determine whether or not they are mobile-friendly (ie. comfortable to use on a smartphone screen).

Sites that are mobile-friendly receive favor from Google in search results with a new “Mobile-friendly” label. This alerts users to the fact that the site will be more usable on their phone than websites not deemed mobile-friendly. As a result, sites that are optimized for phones have an advantage in Google search results over sites that are not. That could mean more church visitors.

Mobile-friendly Google Results for Church Website

All of our church WordPress themes have responsive designs and are made with phones and tablets in mind. You don’t have to do anything — it’s automatic. If you’re using one of our themes for your church website, you’re set.

If your church website is not mobile-friendly and therefore not favored in mobile search, think about switching to one of our WordPress themes. Remember that 65% of users begin searching on a smartphone — and that includes people looking for a church in your area.

Sources

2 Comments

  1. Great feature that I don’t have to do anything to implement, huge plus for both themes. Our resurrect site saw about 40% mobile visits this past year!

    • Wow, that’s a huge portion and would probably have been next to nothing just a few years ago. I don’t know if people realize yet how necessary it is to have a mobile-friendly website.

      Smartphones will become as common as hands at this rate.

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