Searching online for information about people, places, products, and organizations is commonplace in our digital age. Most of us are doing multiple searches daily or even hourly. Tools like Google Places and Yelp provide valuable information about the establishments we want to visit, like restaurants, stores, schools, and even churches. These tools give searchers a context and a place to refine and narrow their searches as they navigate the vast sea of information online.
Churches are a common and popular search topic that interested visitors and church shoppers are online researching. Quickly gathering important, accurate, and helpful information about your church is what searchers want. Church communicators understand that church websites, social media, and search engine place pages are essential tools that every church needs to be successful on and offline.
People searching for new churches to visit or to join often have a specific set of criteria they are using to find a church to visit. The denomination, type of service, size, and location are the most common criteria searched. This information should be clearly listed and easily found in all online media about your church. It is also important for churches to have this information online so they will show up in successful web searches.
But what about using online searchable directories that are specifically made for churches? Is your church listed in any of these directories? Should they be?
Church specific directories and searchable databases can help people and churches share information quickly and easily. Pastors, church administrators, and communicators should carefully consider all of the available digital tools church seekers may use to find them.
Christian Church Today is an online community of Christian leaders where users can provide feedback, update information, and share content with churches around the country. Christian Church Today’s church “Locator” is a searchable US-based directory of Christian churches.
Church Angel is a searchable database of US and Canadian Christian churches that can be found by state and denomination. It also includes searches for Christian Counselors and counseling services.
This online platform connects people with local Christian churches in the US and provides church profiles, church reviews, and services to help people make decisions about which churches to visit.
The Gospel Coalition is a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition and their Church Directory is a searchable global database of evangelical churches.
Facebook is the world’s largest social network with nearly 2 billion users. Facebook Pages is designed for businesses and organizations to promote themselves on Facebook.
Google My Business place pages appear in Google listings and searches, and give businesses the ability to share events, products, and services directly in Google Search and Google Maps with Google Posts.
Yelp.com offers businesses place pages and a set of tools to showcase their businesses and connect with the Yelp community.
This online directory of business listings, blogs, and advertising tools connects businesses with customers.
Check out global church finding resources like church.org and mychurch.org.
While there’s no doubt that large search engines and social media sites have a corner on the search market overall, directories specifically created for finding churches have carved out a solid presence online. Many of these church specific sites also add value by including additional resources and helpful services like blogs, church job listings, Christian Counseling, and consultation services to help churches reach more people.
Remember that directory resources are helpful, but they are not a replacement for a great church website and a healthy social media presence. Pastors and church staff can simply add these church directories to their set of outreach and communication tools if they like.
Create a comprehensive online presence and ensure seekers are easily able to find your church online by registering, creating, and claiming church business pages with as many online search directories as possible. Since many of these directories offer free listings, it is a sound investment of time and resources that pastors and church communicators can believe in and easily accomplish.