OurChurch.com - Achieve your mission online.

pdstein · OCC Administrator Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 1436

OurChurch.Com, whose Directory of Christian Websites is one of the largest and most trustworthy Christian directories online, has launched a new Christian search engine powered by Google’s custom search engine service.

OurChurch.Com launched its original Directory of Christian Websites in 1997. Each of the 40,000 websites submitted to the directory have been painstakingly reviewed to ensure all those included are in agreement with OCC’s statement of faith. This makes it one of the most trustworthy searchable Christian directories online. To ensure the integrity of this new Christian search engine powered by Google, it has been configured to only display results from websites already reviewed for the directory.

The new search engine will be an improvement over not just OurChurch.Com's Directory of Christian Websites but over all Christian directories because of the inherent advantages search engines have over directories. First of all, Google’s superior ranking algorithm will provide better, more relevant results. Second, Google’s results also have the advantage of being based on a search of the actual text on each web page, whereas directories are based on a search of a short description submitted by the site owner. Finally, Google has the capability to index every page of a website compared with a directory which includes one entry per site. "OurChurch.Com is confident this new search engine will prove to be a superior search tool for Christian sites to all those in existence today," said Paul Steinbrueck, CEO of OurChurch.Com.

A beta version of OurChurch.Com’s new Christian search engine is available at:
http://www.ourchurch.com/search/new-christian-search-engine.php

During this beta phase, OCC will continue to provide default search results from its directory. OurChurch.Com is asking users to evaluate both its directory and new Google-powered search engine and submit feedback and comments through an online survey:
http://www.opinionpower.com/Surveys/955043336.html

Questions and comments about this announcement may be posted here in this forum.

In His Service,
OurChurch.Com

pdstein · OCC Administrator Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 1436

Thanks to those of you who have tried out the new search engine powered by Google and completed the survey. Based on the comments received so far there are a few additional things I'd like to explain.

- If your site did not appear in the results for the directory and/or the search engine, please include the URL of your site in your comments or post it in a reply to this forum topic. We want every site that is in our directory to also be in the search engine results and if it's not we want to figure out why and correct that.

- The Google ads cannot be removed, and we have no control over them. Google is not providing this service out of the goodness of their hearts. They make money by placing their ads around the results. Using their service means displaying their ads. We are very interested in your opinion of the ads, though, as it will affect our decision about whether we continue with the search engine beyond the beta phase and if so in what way.

- Try to be objective. If your site happens to appear further down in the search engine results compared with the directory listing results, I hope you will not berate the search engine for that reason alone. First, it's self-centered. Second, it's counter productive. Think about it: for every site that ranks lower in the search engine than the directory, there is one that ranks higher. So if everyone were to base their opinion on their own ranking, we would get a 50-50 split of very happy and very dissatisfied people. Try to think more from the perspective of a searcher rather than a website owner. Are the sites shown in the results relevant to the search query?

- Over the coming weeks I will periodically respond to some of the comments submitted in the survey. If you're intersted, you may want to click the "Watch this topic" link at the botton of this page so you'll receive an email whenever there's a reply to this topic.

Q: When someone does a search, why do google ads come up before those Christian companies you are trying to promote?

A: Because Google requires their ads be placed above or to the right of the search results. The page already stretches further to the right than we would like, so we opted to have the ads above the results.

Q: Your email announcing this search engine claimed to have checked out the sites - yet my search for "new believer" showed this: You are a heretic, a nut and probably not a true believer!You are a heretic, a nut and probably not a true believer! ... Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. ... That kind of answer is offensive and doesn't fit your goals.

A: If you click through to the site, you wil find that the page deals with the issue of "once saved, always saved" and the author was responding to being accused of being "a heretic, a nut and probably not a true believer." OCC does not take a position on this issue and includes sites on both sides of the once saved always saved issue.

Q: Google did not take both words together but apart, thus "new" went to lots of sites for the "new" testament.

A: That is how search engines process multi-word queries. If you want to search for a specific phrase, place quotes around the phrase.

In His Service,
Paul Steinbrueck
OurChurch.Com

jesuscelebration · Newbie Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 1

Our address is http://www.ourchurch.com/member/j/jcc/

Godlovesanobody · Newbie Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 1

I am new to computers. I enjoy reading your comments to get help learning how to operate this machine that my 13 year old is a whiz at. I was surprized that she could not help me, but we can't get to this site (Pam'Pew) from any of my other sites. I am trying to share my love of God with the young people I am in contact with. I have been able to put some of my sites up, but can't seem to get this one to click from myspace.com(pampdill).I know you are busy but could you please go to myspace and click my blog that takes you to my website walkingingrace. Then instruct me on how to connect the two religious sites together. These are my two favorite ones. Thank you so very much

Ckglez · Newbie Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 1

Hi,
I started working on our website and the computer went down. When I tried to go back, I could find no place to log in to find my site. I thought perhaps since I had not finished, that I should start over, but when I attempted this, the directory said the name I chose was already in use.

I'm not sure what to do now. I'm not a novice at this, but this is confusing to me. Can you help? Thanks, Kate Confused

karlbeau · All-Star Member Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 265

Hi Ckglez,

Thanks for letting us know. However, this is a topic more suited for the help desk. If you can ask your question there, we will be able to send information that should probably not be posted on a forum because it may involve usernames or passwords.

You can find the help desk here:

http://www.ourchurch.com/support

We will be happy to assist you!
_________________
In His Service,
Karl Beaudry
OurChurch.com

JaaKanojiaMinistry · Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 7:33 am Post subject: Search Engine Listing

Hello!

I can't seem to locate JaaKanojia Ministry in the old or new search engine. Actually, the web page did not open for the New Google listing.

FATAL ERROR page for any attempted search.

No match found for Christian Search.

http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/Wordandworship/

Wordand worship is case sensitive, as the name was already registered that way. Capital(W)=Word,lower case (w) worship.

Thank You, for your time and attention.

pdstein · OCC Administrator Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 1436

JaaKanojiaMinistry,

The status of your search listing was inactive. I activated it for you and it is appearing in the search results now.

In His Service,
Paul Steinbrueck
OurChurch.Com

thbc · Newbie Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 2

Paul,

I see you posted at 5:49 am. You are up early. Are you at home or work this early. Have you noticed any of the servers are down? I tried to get to www.twinbrook.net and it appears to be down.

pdstein · OCC Administrator Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 1436

thbc,

I didn't have any trouble viewing your site and the server your site is on hasn't been busy or down this morning. If you continue to have trouble accessing your site, please let us know via our help desk so one of our support staff can look into the matter further.

In His Service,
Paul Steinbrueck
OurChurch.Com

JaaKanojiaMinistry · Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 10:06 am Post subject: Christian Search Etc...

Thank you! Both for your time.

_________________
"No matter how many times a name is drug through the mud, when God does the laundry, His children will always come out clean."___Unknown

"Execercise Daily, walk with the Lord."__Marinieve

"The right key will unlock every door."__JK

"Winners talk victory, losers speak defeat."__JK