An analysis of 2,754 church websites across Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming — revealing a dramatic gap between centralized and independent denominations.
“LDS church websites have 89% schema markup adoption — more than triple the rate of Baptist churches in the same four states.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints runs a centralized web platform. Every ward in Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming gets the same optimized template on churchofjesuschrist.org — with schema markup, SSL, mobile responsiveness, and proper meta tags baked in.
The result: 89.2% schema adoption, 99.2% SSL coverage, 98% mobile responsiveness. No other denomination comes close. Episcopal churches are a distant second at 66.7% schema. The gap isn't about theology — it's about technology infrastructure.
Pentecostal churches sit at 27.1% schema and just 60.8% SSL. 'Other' non-categorized churches: 26% schema, 60.3% SSL. Evangelical churches: 32.7% schema, 69.9% SSL.
The pattern is clear: denominations with decentralized, independent governance have the worst web fundamentals. Each church builds its own website — often by a volunteer, often on a free platform, often abandoned after the initial setup. Without institutional web standards, quality varies wildly.
Catholic churches lead OG tag adoption at 24.7% — dramatically higher than any other denomination. LDS sites, despite dominating every other metric, have 0% OG tags (the centralized platform doesn't include them).
This matters because when a parishioner shares a church event on Facebook, OG tags determine whether the post shows a branded preview or a generic URL. Catholic diocesan web standards appear to include social media optimization — a surprising area where the Catholic Church outperforms the tech-forward LDS platform.
Utah churches have 63.4% schema adoption — nearly double Wyoming's 36.9%. Idaho (55.4%) and Montana (39.9%) fall in between. The LDS concentration in Utah (602 of 921 churches) drives the state's numbers up, but even removing LDS from the data, Utah's remaining denominations outperform Wyoming's. The Wasatch Front tech ecosystem lifts all boats.
Methodist churches stand out at 58.5% schema adoption — the highest among non-LDS, non-Episcopal denominations. The United Methodist Church provides recommended web resources and standards through its conference structure, creating a middle ground between full centralization (LDS) and total independence (Pentecostal).
This suggests that even light institutional guidance — web checklists, recommended platforms, diocesan standards — dramatically improves web quality. Churches don't need a centralized platform. They need a checklist.
Website health metrics across 12 denominations in the Mountain West.
| Category | Total | Schema % | Sitemap % | OG Tags % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nondenominational | 615 | 42.8% | 59.8% | 6% |
| LDS | 602 | 89.2% | 96.8% | 0% |
| Baptist | 447 | 42.5% | 67.8% | 8.1% |
| Other | 219 | 26% | 33.8% | 6.8% |
| Pentecostal | 181 | 27.1% | 35.9% | 6.1% |
| Catholic | 158 | 34.8% | 72.2% | 24.7% |
| Lutheran | 150 | 41.3% | 62.7% | 4.7% |
| Methodist | 118 | 58.5% | 72.9% | 8.5% |
| Evangelical | 113 | 32.7% | 52.2% | 3.5% |
| Church of Christ | 57 | 43.9% | 70.2% | 14% |
| Presbyterian | 55 | 41.8% | 58.2% | 9.1% |
| Episcopal | 39 | 66.7% | 79.5% | 7.7% |
How Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming compare across all church website metrics.
| State | Total | Schema % | Sitemap % | Viewport % | SSL % | OG Tags % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UT | 921 | 63.4% | 75.8% | 83% | 87.6% | 4.5% |
| MT | 646 | 39.9% | 59.3% | 72.8% | 76.6% | 7.1% |
| ID | 610 | 55.4% | 74.6% | 84.9% | 88.4% | 7.2% |
| WY | 577 | 36.9% | 54.2% | 69.2% | 72.1% | 7.6% |
We analyzed 2,754 church websites across Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming sourced from Google Business Profiles. Each website was audited for SSL certificates, XML sitemaps, robots.txt files, viewport meta tags, Open Graph tags, and Schema.org structured data markup. 2328 sites had full technical audits completed. Denomination data derived from Google Business category classifications. Data collected January–February 2026.
“When someone shares your church on Facebook, 93% of the time it shows a generic link with no preview image.”
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“Businesses with 500+ Google reviews are 24% more likely to have schema markup than businesses with under 25 reviews — but OG tags remain near-zero across all tiers.”
“Boise contractors average 454 Google reviews but only 31 are listed — while Meridian has 145 contractors averaging just 275 reviews each.”
“45% of local businesses are invisible to Google's rich results — the enhanced listings with stars, hours, and contact info that get 58% more clicks.”
“Wyoming roofers average just 19 Google reviews while Nebraska roofers average 121 — a 6x gap that directly impacts who shows up in local search.”
“Salt Lake City contractors average 1,115 Google reviews — 16x more than West Valley City businesses just 15 minutes away.”
“Across 8 western states and 6,673 trade businesses, only 3.5% are prepared for social media sharing.”
“One-third of Wyoming contractors are invisible to Google's rich results, and nearly half don't have SSL.”
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