5 SEO Strategies That Helped Church on the Move Get Found Online

Yariela Ceballos Bailey
Jul 29
6 min read

Growing Local Visibility for Church on the Move: A SEO Success Story

When Church on the Move, a Spanish and English church in Lake Placid, Florida, wanted to grow its online presence and reach more people in the community, they reached out to me for help. In this post, I’m excited to share 5 SEO strategies that helped Church on the Move get found online. By focusing on these key tactics, we boosted their local search visibility, increased engagement, and made it easier for new visitors to discover them.

👉 Visit their website here: https://cotmove.org/

The Challenge

Tim dreamed of a website that felt as warm and welcoming as the church itself—one that would not only reflect their values but help more people discover and connect with Church on the Move online. About a year after the updated site launched, though, a major issue became clear: it wasn’t showing up online.

Pastor Tim speaking on stage with a microphone at Church on the Move in Lake Placid, Florida — Tim Sewell, Pastor of Church on the Move / Iglesia en Movimiento

Investing in a polished website that can’t be found is frustrating for any organization. When your site doesn’t support your goals or attract the right visitors, it becomes more of a digital brochure than a true tool for growth.

Tim knew the website wasn’t reaching its potential, and he reached out with a simple but meaningful request: “Can you help us be found?” After a deep audit of the website, I found several technical and strategic issues that were holding it back—things that often go unnoticed without SEO expertise.

Your website might be facing similar challenges without you even realizing it. Here’s what I uncovered:

Low visibility in local Google searches
Inconsistent business listings across the web
Minimal engagement from organic search
Lack of SEO structure and keyword targeting

The website had a solid foundation, but without visibility, it couldn’t do its job. That’s where the strategy came in.

The Strategy

With the challenges clearly laid out, I put together a plan focused on local visibility, technical improvements, and content clarity. As you read through the steps below, ask yourself: is your site optimized in these areas too?

01 / Correct Keywords to Reach Local Audience

To help more local people find Church on the Move, I began by researching the exact words and phrases people in the community are likely to type when searching online. These words are called “keywords.” Some examples include phrases like:

“bilingual church in Lake Placid”
“family-friendly churches near me”

Once I identified these important keywords, I naturally incorporated them into key areas of the website, such as:

Page content — the text visitors read on the site
Page titles — the headings that show up in Google search results
Image alt tags — descriptions behind images that help search engines understand them

This careful use of local keywords helps Google better understand what the site is about and connect it with the right audience.

Focusing on relevant, local keywords is one of the most powerful ways to improve your visibility in search results because it targets people nearby who are actively looking for your services.

Google search bar with the typed query 'Spanish church near me' showing a local keyword used to improve Iglesia en Movimiento's online visibility — Here’s a look at the search bar with ‘Spanish church near me’—one of the key phrases helping Iglesia en Movimiento get found by local families.

02 / Fixed Technical SEO Issues

I tackled several key technical issues to help the website perform better in search results and provide a smooth experience for visitors:

Fixed indexing problems — Some important pages were accidentally hidden or blocked, which prevented search engines like Google from finding and listing them. I made sure all key pages were accessible and visible.
Improved mobile responsiveness — Since most people now browse on phones and tablets, I optimized the site to look great and load quickly on all screen sizes. A mobile-friendly design keeps visitors engaged and helps improve search rankings.
Enhanced site navigation — I ensured every page was easy to find and properly linked within the site. This helps search engines understand the site’s structure and makes it simpler for visitors to explore.

By addressing these issues, the site became easier to use for both people and search engines, boosting its online visibility and user experience.

Screenshot of Church on the Move appearing at the top of Google search results for Spanish church in Lake Placid — From invisible to unmissable: Church on the Move now appears at the top of Google searches for their community.

03 / Improved Site Structure and Page Titles

The website originally lacked clear organization, which made it difficult for both visitors and search engines to understand the main topics on each page. Additionally, the page titles were vague and didn’t clearly describe the content or what people might be searching for.

To fix this, I focused on two key improvements:

Reorganized the site’s headings into a clear hierarchy — Think of it like chapters and subchapters in a book. This helps visitors quickly scan the page and find what they need.
Rewrote page titles and meta descriptions — These are the snippets that show up in Google search results. I made them more descriptive and included relevant keywords to better match what people are searching for.

These changes help search engines understand exactly what each page is about, improving the chances that people searching for those topics will find the site. Plus, a well-structured site with clear titles makes browsing easier and more enjoyable for visitors.

Homepage of Iglesia en Movimiento, a bilingual church in Lake Placid, Florida — Updated site structure and descriptive page titles help search engines understand the website’s content and boost visibility.

04 / Built Citations Across Trusted Directories

To help Church on the Move become more visible online, I submitted their information to trusted directories such as Yelp, Google Business Profile, the local Chamber of Commerce directory, and several well-known church directories. Each listing included accurate and consistent details like their name, address, phone number, and website. This ensures that no matter where people search, they find reliable and matching information about the church.

Here’s why this matters:

Consistency builds trust – Accurate listings help potential visitors find the church easily and without confusion.
Boosts credibility with Google – When search engines see a website listed across multiple trusted directories, it’s like receiving a vote of confidence that the organization is legitimate and trustworthy.
Creates valuable backlinks – These citations link back to the church’s website from respected sources, increasing its authority and improving its ranking in search results.

In short, the more Google trusts your website, the easier it is for your local community to discover and connect with you online.

Creating consistent, accurate directory listings like Yelp signals trust to Google and improves local rankings.

05 / Optimized SEO for Spanish-Language Pages

Recognizing the importance of connecting with the church’s bilingual community, I optimized the Spanish pages on the website to ensure they could be easily found by Spanish-speaking users searching online.

This involved:

Adding targeted Spanish keywords – I researched and used phrases that local Spanish-speaking families are likely to type into Google, making it easier for them to find the church.
Updating meta titles and descriptions – These are the snippets that appear in search results. By writing them in Spanish with clear, relevant keywords, the pages became more appealing and visible to the right audience.
Improving headers and image alt text – Every detail matters for SEO, so I optimized headings and even image descriptions in Spanish, helping Google better understand and rank the content.

By tailoring the site’s SEO specifically for Spanish speakers, the church not only improved its visibility in local search results but also made its website more welcoming and accessible to a broader, more diverse audience.

Spanish homepage of Iglesia en Movimiento for bilingual families in Lake Placid — Reaching the local Spanish-speaking community with fully optimized SEO and translated content

The Results

Thanks to strategic SEO, Church on the Move saw significant progress in local visibility and engagement.

Real Results That Make a Difference

*Metric*	*Growth*	*Details*
Search Impressions	+68,700%	From 5 to 3,440 impressions in 7 months
New Users	+12,900%	From 4 to 520 new users in 7 months
Clicks from Google	+10,500%	From 1 to 106 clicks in 7 months
Top Keyword Rankings	Ranked Top Results	For phrases like “bilingual church in Lake Placid” and “churches near me”

Professional portrait of Pastor Tim and his wife Barbara from Church on the Move next to a testimonial about Sheep of Faith SEO services — A heartfelt testimonial from Pastor Tim about how Sheep of Faith’s strategic SEO services helped Church on the Move grow its online reach

I’ll never forget when Tim excitedly told me how thrilled he was to see notifications about the surge in interactions on his website!

Final Thoughts

When Tim first reached out, the church had a great website but almost no visibility. Today, Church on the Move ranks high in local searches and has a stronger online presence than ever. Strategic SEO doesn’t just improve numbers, it helps real people connect with organizations that matter to them.

This project is a great example of how simple, strategic SEO can make a big difference for churches, local ministries, and service-based businesses alike. Helping Church on the Move connect with more people online was such an honor, and I'm excited to continue supporting other mission-driven organizations and businesses as they grow their online presence.