Knowledge > Products > PewSearch Directory > Church Detail Page

Church Detail Page

What It Is

The church detail page is the single most important page in PewSearch. It is the canonical URL for every church in the directory -- the page that ranks in Google, the page visitors land on when searching for a specific church, and the page where the claim/upgrade funnel begins.

Route: /churches/[slug] File: pewsearch/web/src/app/churches/[slug]/page.tsx

Each of the 218K+ visible churches has a detail page. These pages are statically generated at build time for high-traffic churches and rendered on-demand for the long tail.

Data Displayed

The detail page renders everything known about a church, organized into visual sections:

Header Section

Element	Source	Notes
Church name	church.name	H1 tag, primary heading
Denomination badge	church.denomination	Colored badge, links to denomination page
Premium badge	church.is_premium	Gold verified badge if claimed
Rating stars	church.rating	1-5 stars from Google Maps
Review count	church.reviews_count	"(X reviews)" label
Photo	church.photo_url	Hero image, falls back to placeholder
Logo	church.logo_url	Circular overlay on hero (if available)

Contact & Location Section

Element	Source	Notes
Full address	church.address	With copy-to-clipboard
Phone number	church.phone	Click-to-call link
Website	church.website	External link (opens new tab)
Google Maps link	church.google_maps_url	"Get Directions" button
Interactive map	church.latitude, church.longitude	Leaflet map with pin

Service Times Section

Element	Source	Notes
Working hours	church.working_hours	JSONB: {"Sunday": ["9:00 AM", "11:00 AM"], "Wednesday": ["7:00 PM"]}
Custom hours (Premium)	premium.custom_hours	Overrides working_hours when available
Next service highlight	Computed from hours	"Next service: Sunday at 9:00 AM" callout

The hours display logic:

pseudocode: resolveHours(church, premium)
  if premium exists AND premium.custom_hours is not empty:
    return premium.custom_hours    // Pastor-provided hours take priority
  else if church.working_hours is not empty:
    return church.working_hours    // Google Maps scraped hours
  else:
    return null                    // Show "Hours not available" message

About Section

The church.about JSONB field contains up to ~20 metadata fields scraped from Google Maps:

Field	Type	Example
accessibility	JSONB	{"Wheelchair accessible entrance": true, "Wheelchair accessible parking": true}
amenities	JSONB	{"Restroom": true}
atmosphere	JSONB	{"LGBTQ+ friendly": true}
crowd	JSONB	{"Groups": true}
from_the_business	JSONB	{"Identifies as women-led": true}
highlights	JSONB	{"Great for kids": true}
offerings	JSONB	{"Groups": true, "Youth programs": true}
payments	JSONB	{"Debit cards": true}
planning	JSONB	{"Appointment required": false}
popular_for	JSONB	{"Worship services": true}
service_options	JSONB	{"Online services": true, "Onsite services": true}

Each non-empty field renders as a collapsible section with icon badges.

Photos Grid

Element	Source	Notes
Primary photo	church.photo_url	Large hero display
Logo	church.logo_url	Circular display
Additional photos	Premium uploads	Only for Premium subscribers

Nearby Churches

A "Nearby Churches" section shows churches within a configurable radius:

pseudocode: getNearbyChurches(lat, lng, radiusMiles=10, limit=6)
  SELECT id, name, slug, address, city, state_code, photo_url,
         denomination, rating, reviews_count,
         (haversine_distance(lat, lng, church.latitude, church.longitude)) as distance
  FROM churches
  WHERE directory_visible = true
    AND business_status = 'OPERATIONAL'
    AND distance <= radiusMiles
    AND id != current_church_id
  ORDER BY distance ASC
  LIMIT limit

This uses PostGIS-compatible distance calculation. The query runs server-side and returns the nearest 6 churches.

Claim CTA

Every non-premium church shows a sticky "Claim This Church" call-to-action:

State	CTA Text	Link
Unclaimed	"Is this your church? Claim it for free."	/claim/[slug]
Claimed (free)	"Upgrade to Premium"	/pricing
Premium	No CTA (already subscribed)	--

The CTA is sticky at the bottom of the page on mobile and appears in the sidebar on desktop. It is the primary conversion point for the PewSearch funnel.

Pastor Lead Capture

Below the hours section, a contextual CTA targets pastors:

"Are you the pastor of [Church Name]?"
"Claim your free listing to update hours, add photos, and connect with visitors."
[Claim This Church →]

This is distinct from the sticky CTA and appears inline in the content flow.

Vanity URL Support

Premium churches can set a vanity_slug in premium_churches. When a vanity slug is configured, the church is accessible at both:

• /churches/[original-slug] (canonical)
• /churches/[vanity-slug] (redirect to canonical)

The vanity slug lookup happens in the page's data fetching:

pseudocode: resolveChurchBySlug(slug)
  // First try direct match
  church = query churches WHERE slug = slug
  if church exists:
    return church

  // Then try vanity slug
  premium = query premium_churches WHERE vanity_slug = slug
  if premium exists:
    church = query churches WHERE id = premium.church_id
    redirect to /churches/[church.slug]  // 301 redirect

  // Not found
  return 404

SEO Implementation

JSON-LD Structured Data

Every church detail page emits JSON-LD structured data for Google:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Church",
  "name": "Grace Community Church",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "123 Main St",
    "addressLocality": "Dallas",
    "addressRegion": "TX",
    "postalCode": "75201"
  },
  "telephone": "+1-214-555-0100",
  "url": "https://www.gracecommunity.org",
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": "Sunday",
      "opens": "09:00",
      "closes": "12:00"
    }
  ],
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.7",
    "reviewCount": "142"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 32.7767,
    "longitude": -96.7970
  }
}

Breadcrumb Schema

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://pewsearch.com"},
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Directory", "item": "https://pewsearch.com/directory"},
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Texas", "item": "https://pewsearch.com/directory?state=TX"},
    {"@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Grace Community Church"}
  ]
}

Meta Tags

Tag	Template
<title>	`{name} - {city}, {state}
meta description	{name} in {city}, {state_code}. {denomination}. Service times, directions, contact info, and more.
og:title	Same as <title>
og:description	Same as meta description
og:image	church.photo_url or PewSearch default OG image
canonical	https://pewsearch.com/churches/{slug}

Church Type Definition

The full type returned by getChurchBySlug() in queries.ts:

interface Church {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  slug: string;
  address: string;
  street: string | null;
  city: string;
  state: string;
  state_code: string;
  zip_code: string | null;
  latitude: number | null;
  longitude: number | null;
  phone: string | null;
  website: string | null;
  category: string | null;
  subtypes: string[] | null;
  denomination: string | null;
  lgbtq_inclusive: boolean | null;
  inclusivity_signals: string[] | null;
  rating: number | null;
  reviews_count: number | null;
  photos_count: number | null;
  photo_url: string | null;
  logo_url: string | null;
  description: string | null;
  about: Record<string, unknown> | null;   // ~20 JSONB fields
  working_hours: Record<string, string[]> | null;
  google_maps_url: string | null;
  is_premium: boolean;
  created_at: string;
  website_scraped_at: string | null;
}

Performance Considerations

• Static generation: High-traffic church pages are ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration) with revalidation
• Image optimization: photo_url and logo_url are served through Next.js Image component with lazy loading
• Map lazy loading: The Leaflet map only loads when the user scrolls to the map section (intersection observer)
• Nearby churches: Server-side query, not client-side -- avoids sending all church coordinates to the browser

See Also

• PewSearch Directory Overview -- parent document with full context
• Search System -- how users find churches before landing on this page
• Denomination Taxonomy -- denomination badge and filtering
• Data Quality -- why some fields are missing or inaccurate
• Pro Website Overview -- the enhanced hosted website for Premium subscribers