Get found on Google

Google finds new sites on its own, but it can take weeks. You can tell Google about your site yourself. It takes about 15 minutes, once.

Your site must be published first. See Publish your site.

What the builder does for you

Each time you publish, the builder makes a sitemap. A sitemap is a list of every published page, sermon, class and post, so Google knows what to read. It is at your site’s address followed by /sitemap.xml. For example, https://gracechurch.projectgosites.com/sitemap.xml.

The builder also gives each page a title and a description for search results. Your town goes into your homepage’s title, from the address in Church info.

Tell Google about your site

1. Add the Search Console code to Church info, publish, and verify your site in Google Search Console. See Add website analytics.
2. In Search Console, open Sitemaps.
3. Paste your sitemap’s address. It is your site’s address followed by /sitemap.xml.
4. Submit it.

You do this once. Google keeps checking your sitemap, and it sees new pages each time you publish.

After you publish, the Publish your site window shows Get found on Google under Next steps, with your sitemap’s exact address. Clicking Get found on Google opens Church info.

Help each page show up

Each page has its own search settings: a title, a description and a focus keyphrase. Fill them in for your most important pages, like Plan Your Visit. See Help a page show up on Google.

Tip

Write your church’s name, town and service times on your pages in plain words. People search for “church of Christ near me” and “church in” plus your town. Pages that say those words are easier to find.

If it does not work

• Your site does not show up on Google yet: Give it a few days to a few weeks after you submit the sitemap. Search Console shows how many pages Google has read.
• Search Console says it cannot read the sitemap: Check that you published. Open the sitemap’s address in your browser. If it shows a list of addresses, it works. Try again in Search Console.
• A page is missing from Google: Check that Page published is on in its Page settings, and that you published since. A page that is off is not in the sitemap.

Still stuck?

Email info@project-go.com. Tell us your church name and what you tried.