Thursday, October 13, 2011

SEO & The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

On a daily basis, I try to follow the Savior's admonition to, "Search the scriptures" (John 5:39).  Recently, I've coupled my study of the Book of Mormon with study of the New Testament.  In supplementing my reading, I often use study guides, published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because they incorporate explanations and insights shared by modern prophets and apostles.

This morning, when I went to pull up the pdf URL of the New Testament manual I use, I accidentally ended up on google.com.  (Using Chrome, I can search Google straight from my address bar.)  Apparently, Chrome thought I had typed in New Testament as a Google search.  What was the second result for New Testament (coming only after the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia)?


Try Googling "New Testament" and see what you find.
Curious, I did a brief search on the subject of the LDS Church and SEO, and I found this article from Daily Mail in the UK.  It turns out there are a number of Google searches that will yield a page from the Church in the top ten results, including friend, ensign (which comes in at #1), new era, old testament, etc.

Maybe the F-Word can enlighten us with a conspiracy theory discussion, here.


In the view of many Latter-day Saints, including myself, this result will hardly be surprising, as we were commanded by the Savior to, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" (Matt. 28:19-20).


Using the Internet as a tool to spread the glorious message that the Jesus is the Christ, and that He has restored His Church on the earth, today, is a method frequently encouraged by the Master's prophets and apostles.  Messages from Elder M. Russell Ballard and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf are just two examples that come to mind.  Said President Uchtdorf, "My dear young friends, perhaps the Lord’s encouragement to 'open [your] mouths' (D&C 60:2) might today include 'use your hands' to blog and text message the gospel to all the world!"

Indeed, I firmly believe the principal reason the Lord has inspired men to create modern marvels such as the Internet and social media is to spread His message that His Church is on the earth, again, today, and "that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake"  (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, quoting a challenge from Ralph Waldo Emmerson to Harvard Divinity School students in 1838).

I add my witness, once again, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He has restored His Church to the earth, again, today, even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  While some might call this declaration "bold" and feel disconcerted to hear it, many were also taken aback when the Savior, Himself, proclaimed His own divinity (see John 6:25-62, particularly 60-62).

Rather than take my word that these things are true, I invite you to visit mormon.org, search, ponder, and ask our Heavenly Father for yourself.  I promise you that if you will "ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, [the Eternal Father] will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things" (see Moroni 10:3-5, which refers specifically to the Book of Mormon).

4 comments:

Fletch said...

Nice work. I had no idea. If you can make the most of SEO why not?

Steph said...

That's very neat! I didn't realize the church was so high up on search results. And thank you for sharing your testimony. You have such a good way with words :)

Daniel said...

F-Word, I still want my conspiracy discussion.

Thanks for your comments, guys. Glad you enjoyed it.

Not sure said...

It would be interesting to see how high we are on the search results with two members running for president.