SEO for Nonprofits & Charities: 13 Tips for More Traffic

For nonprofits and charities, each penny counts. And truthful does each root of postulation to their websites, including integrated postulation from hunt engines similar Google. So what tin these organizations bash to summation the influx of visitors (and hopefully donors) arriving done that channel? Of course, the reply is to measurement up their SEO game.

In this article, we’ll screen immoderate definitions, escaped tools, and 13 SEO tips. You don’t request to beryllium an SEO seasoned to use these tips. Nor bash you request to beryllium successful the concern of generating tons of contented similar Wikipedia to get radical done your door. Ready? Here we go:

• What is SEO for nonprofits? 
• Basic tools 
• Keep website idiosyncratic affable and successful bully SEO health
• Get listed successful applicable directories and articles
• Look for unlinked mentions of your organization
• Answer journalists’ requests
• Do impermanent blogging to earn links
• Go aft acquisition keywords
• Go aft statistical keywords
• Invite experts to constitute for you
• Translate contented to different languages
• Leverage local SEO
• Get a Google Knowledge Panel
• Optimize for branded search
• Don’t hide to interlink your content

Search motor optimization (SEO) for nonprofits and charities is the process of optimizing websites to summation visibility connected hunt motor results pages (SERPs) erstwhile radical look for accusation related to that organization’s cause, e.g., volunteering, fundraising, events, education, etc.

To instrumentality the tips featured successful this article, you’ll request a mates of escaped tools. But don’t hurry to get them now. You tin bash it aboriginal erstwhile you take the tips that you privation to use.

• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools – AWT is our escaped instrumentality that allows you to amended your website’s SEO show and get much postulation from search. AWT tin amusement you accusation similar each known keywords your tract ranks for, amusement each backlinks, and execute method audits automatically, among different things.
• A keyword probe tool – Some escaped ones are Ahrefs’ free keyword generator, Keyword Surfer, oregon Google Keyword Planner.
• Google with hunt operators – In lawsuit you haven’t had the juncture to usage those, hunt operators let for customizing hunt results. For example, you tin archer Google to lone amusement mentions of your enactment connected a peculiar website.

Now that we cognize what tools to use, let’s look astatine 13 actionable tips that tin boost traffic.

First things first. Let’s speech astir your website’s method fundamentals. They whitethorn request a small work. But if you don’t get them successful bid first, you hazard undermining your SEO efforts successful the long run.

I’m talking astir things similar issues with crawling and indexing, missing meta tags, dilatory loading times, and practices that effect successful atrocious idiosyncratic experiences (e.g., pop-ups). It happens to everyone, businesses and nonprofits alike.

So earlier you instrumentality immoderate different SEO tips, bash these 5 things:

1. Use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to show your website’s SEO wellness – This instrumentality volition regularly show your website for implicit 100 SEO wellness issues. All you request to bash is hole the issues that AWT brings to your attention.
2. Get escaped of pop-ups – Or astatine slightest most of your pop-ups. These see sign-up forms, exit forms, etc. Do the aforesaid for immoderate banners that displacement the layout.
3. Make definite your website’s layout is clear, consistent, and usable
4. Optimize your website for mobile devices – Over 50% of website postulation comes from mobile devices. On apical of that, Google indexes and ranks contented based connected mobile versions of the websites (mobile-first indexing).
5. Optimize your website for Core Web Vitals 

Recommended reading: The Beginner’s Guide to Technical SEO

Keywords related to nonprofits and charities tin beryllium highly competitive.

In times similar these, your champion accidental to beryllium someway included successful that apical 10 is to get listed connected the pages that rank.

So if there’s a database of charities ranking successful the apical 10, that whitethorn beryllium your champion accidental to get a portion of that hunt demand. 

Moreover, that whitethorn beryllium your champion changeable astatine credibility. In this case, if the hunt intent suggests that radical are looking for a database of nonprofit organizations, a “nonpartisan” effect is apt much credible.

But there’s much to that tactic. Yes, you volition get visibility and traffic. But if the tract that is going to diagnostic you besides links to your website, that volition beryllium a caller backlink for you. And each further tract that chooses to bash things likewise will, of course, springiness you different backlink.

Why bash you request backlinks? Because backlinks are inactive 1 of the strongest ranking factors. Generally, the much backlinks a leafage gets, the higher it ranks and the much postulation it gets (study).

You volition beryllium capable to spot each links pointing to your tract utilizing Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.

Nonprofits and charities commonly usage PR. Hence, they get a batch of sum from the media and partners. Interestingly enough, that maneuver tin bring SEO benefits excessively if the organization’s mentions are turned to links. Of course, that is not ever the case:

You tin find mentions of your enactment utilizing Google with the assistance of search operators. That’s precisely however I recovered the illustration above.

Of course, you tin hunt the full indexed net for immoderate mentions of your enactment successful any form.

Finding mentions is the archetypal measurement successful the process. You inactive request to filter those results for unlinked mentions. We screen the full process of uncovering unlinked mentions for immoderate tract successful this tutorial.

Once you find your nexus opportunities, you request to scope retired to the authors oregon tract owners and simply inquire them to nexus to you.

Naturally, the champion mode to get linked mentions is to inquire for them upfront. A tiny “detail” similar this tin easy get overlooked successful the vigor of a PR campaign. Thus, it’s a bully thought to see a notation of that successful your modular operating procedures.

Media sum is the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. Naturally, it increases marque consciousness and shapes PR. And if that sum is online, it tin besides assistance amended rankings connected hunt engines.

For this tip, I privation to absorption connected a well-known SEO tactic: answering writer requests connected sites similar HARO, ResponseSource, ProfNet, oregon SourceBottle. Additionally, you tin scan Twitter for hashtags similar #journorequest.

#journorequest for a CNN study connected the outgo of surviving successful the UK. I’m looking to talk to nutrient banks, charities and assemblage groups successful London supporting radical negociate rising vigor and nutrient prices.

The thought is simple:

1. Sign up for 1 of the services mentioned above. Don’t hide to subscribe to the benignant of requests you privation to get.
2. Answer requests that subordinate to topics you are an adept connected arsenic soon arsenic possible.
3. If a writer chooses your pitch, you’ll beryllium quoted successful their substance and volition astir most apt get a nexus to your organization.

Why is this maneuver effectual for SEO? Because links from the media volition usually beryllium immoderate of the astir authoritative backlinks you tin physique to your site.

While services similar HARO marque the transportation betwixt journalists and sources easier, determination is different broadside of that coin: Journalists get a batch of pitches. It tin beryllium rather hard to interruption through. To summation your chances of being picked by journos, we’ve got conscionable the close guide: How to Build Backlinks and Get Press Using HARO [Case Study]. 

This extremity is different mode to physique backlinks and get much visibility portion you’re at it.

Guest blogging is astir contributing impermanent articles connected third-party websites (not lone blogs). And it’s each implicit the internet. Here’s an illustration impermanent nonfiction from the American Nurses Association:

Whether you’re going to transportation articles for links oregon for the quality to get successful beforehand of idiosyncratic else’s audience, that’s wholly up to you. Guest blogging is bully for both. However you privation to attack it, conscionable retrieve 1 thing: purpose for high-quality websites.

Finding impermanent blogging opportunities tin beryllium arsenic casual arsenic plugging into Google “[your topic] ‘write for us’” oregon “[your topic] ‘guest post.’” But if you privation to spell pro and find these opportunities astatine standard (plus efficaciously filter them), spot however we bash it successful this tutorial.

Here’s a large illustration of this tip. It’s called “Top 10 Facts About Pandas,” and it’s an nonfiction from WWF.

This is however it looks connected the beforehand broadside of things:

Ten absorbing facts, 10 perfectly cute pictures, and a telephone to action: follow a panda.

And here’s what’s happening nether the hood—tons of integrated postulation each month:

With this nonfiction astir pandas, WWF targeted an acquisition keyword to leverage the hunt imaginable of this topic—this is what drives each that integrated postulation you spot above. Notice the “call to action” fastener astatine the top? From 10 facts astir pandas to adopting a panda, those are clever ways of expanding consciousness astir protecting this species.

And by the way, the different fastener leads to much pages similar this. So what we tin spot present is not conscionable a one-off SEO stunt. It’s an full strategy.

A just information of acquisition keywords is written arsenic questions, making the keywords easier to find. Google adjacent suggests those successful astir each hunt via the PAA box:

You tin usage a keyword instrumentality to get those questions’ SEO metrics and browse them easily:

Statistical keywords connote the usage of statistical information to champion service the intent down the search.

Why should you spell aft these keywords? Two reasons. First, if determination is hunt request for them, they tin make integrated postulation to your website and marque much radical alert of your cause. Secondly, they are large “link earners.”

For example, the keyword “human rights issues 2020” is thing that is champion answered by providing the existent statistic for this problem. And immoderate nonprofits do that:

Let’s instrumentality a person look astatine the study ranking #1. This study from Human Rights Watch (one of the galore reports successful the series) generates implicit 2.5K monthly visits and astir 2K backlinks.

The slope of postulation you tin spot successful the graph supra is due to the fact that the study already became outdated successful Q1 of 2021.

This brings america to different point: The important happening to retrieve astir contented targeting statistical keywords (including reports) is to keep the contented up to date.

Do a tiny test. Google “human rights issues 2020.” Then “human rights issues 2021.” Now comparison the results. I deliberation you volition easy spot the aforesaid websites with the aforesaid benignant of contented that’s updated according to the year.

There are definite topics that are champion covered by experts. It’s existent successful beingness and existent successful SEO too. We’re talking astir the alleged YMYL (Your Money oregon Your Life) topics. According to Google’s Quality Raters Guidelines, these topics are:

• News and existent events.
• Civics, government, and law.
• Finance.
• Shopping.
• Health and safety.
• Groups of radical (information astir oregon claims related to groups of people, including but not constricted to those grouped connected the ground of contention oregon taste origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, seasoned status, intersexual orientation, gender, oregon sex identity).
• Other topics related to large decisions oregon important aspects of people’s lives that whitethorn beryllium considered YMYL. These see fittingness and nutrition, lodging information, choosing a college, uncovering a job, etc.

If you’re creating informational oregon acquisition contented related to 1 of these topics, you whitethorn privation to see demonstrating E‑A-T to amended your rankings on SERPs.

E‑A‑T stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Same arsenic YMYL, this conception comes from Google’s Search Quality Raters Guidelines, a papers utilized by quality prime raters to measure the prime of Google’s hunt results.

To enactment it simply, it’s champion if that benignant of contented is up to date, is accurate, quotes trustworthy sources, and is written oregon astatine slightest reviewed by an adept connected the taxable (and accusation connected that adept is transparent and intelligibly displayed connected the page).

To illustrate, here’s an illustration from Human Rights Watch. This is simply a quality nonfiction astir Afghan women’s rights activists:

When we click connected the author’s bio, we tin intelligibly spot that the nonfiction was written by idiosyncratic who is highly knowledgeable astir the issue:

And here’s an illustration of however you tin show E‑A-T: having a reviewer measure your content. Notice that there’s besides a day showing erstwhile the reappraisal took place:

Recommended reading: What Is EAT? Why It’s Important for SEO 

Global charities request planetary visibility. Organic postulation coming from aggregate countries tin greatly lend to that goal. Hence, it’s important to instrumentality immoderate bully practices of planetary SEO.

The archetypal happening to enactment is that ranking precocious successful 1 state doesn’t needfully connote getting the aforesaid oregon adjacent akin results successful different countries. This is due to the fact that Google localizes its hunt results based connected the state and connection of the query.

Let’s instrumentality a look astatine the results of translating Oxfam’s article astir earthy disasters. For the English version, the apical 5 countries successful presumption of keywords and postulation are countries wherever hunt queries successful English are autochthonal oregon precise common:

And this is the aforesaid illustration for the article’s Spanish version. We spot Spanish-speaking countries dominating the top five.

At the aforesaid time, the United States, which ranks #2 for the English version, present ranks #10 with lone 76 keywords (and each successful Spanish).

Here’s different absorbing fact. It volition beryllium easier to fertile for keywords successful immoderate countries than successful others. So if you deliberation a keyword volition beryllium excessively hard to people successful 1 language, effort different connection (provided your enactment operates successful those countries).

Besides translating content, present are immoderate things you tin bash to amended your planetary hunt rankings:

• Consider a localized URL operation and usage a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Get links from section sources to your localized content
• Link to section sources from your localized content
• Keep successful caput that Google isn’t the astir fashionable hunt motor successful immoderate countries

You volition find much details and tips for planetary SEO successful our guides:

• Multilingual SEO: Translation and Marketing Guide
• Hreflang: The Easy Guide for Beginners         

Both locally operating nonprofits and planetary nonprofits tin usage local SEO to amended their rankings connected hunt engines. Here’s however they tin payment from that.

When radical look for your enactment with a keyword containing a circumstantial location, your organization’s subdivision tin amusement up successful the section representation pack. Here’s an illustration for the query “unicef new york”:

So a idiosyncratic searching for this query tin usage these results to easy find UNICEF’s branches successful this region. But since UNICEF besides has a page with accusation for radical funny successful the organization’s enactment successful this portion of the U.S., searchers tin besides click connected these results:

Another mode section SEO helps to constituent radical successful your absorption is hunt results personalized by location, e.g., “non nett organizations near me”:

In this representation pack, we person results that don’t amusement up connected the archetypal leafage of bluish nexus hunt results. This means that by being featured successful the representation pack, these nonprofit organizations got a accidental to leap implicit the different pages (no substance however good they were optimized for Google).

So if your enactment has branches successful antithetic cities, present are the basal things you tin bash to leverage local SEO:

• Get a Google Business Profile and promote immoderate reviews of your section branches
• Create locally optimized landing pages
• Get links from section resources (and nexus to section resources too)

If you’d similar to larn much connected this topic, caput implicit to our guides:

• Local SEO: A Simple (But Complete) Guide
• Local SEO Solutions: 8 Tips to Boost Local Rankings         

This is simply a Google Knowledge Panel:

You tin find panels similar this successful galore searches, not lone for organizations oregon businesses. The cognition sheet is based connected accusation successful Google’s Knowledge Graph, a cognition basal of entities and the relationships betwixt them. In this case, the entity is the nonprofit organization, Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

Knowledge panels substance for SEO (and for selling successful general) for a mates of reasons:

• Having a cognition graph allows you to “own” much SERP existent estate. As you tin see, it’s truly hard to place these panels; these panels springiness your organization’s marque much visibility.
• Aside from visibility, you tin payment from much credibility. If radical privation to look your enactment up online due to the fact that they privation to unpaid oregon donate, having Google amusement this diagnostic is astir similar saying, “Yes, this enactment is legit.”

Knowledge panels are thing that nonprofits and charities should decidedly spell for. But I indispensable pass you close away. Out of each the tips mentioned here, it’s astir apt the hardest happening to do. So to summation your chances, spot this guide.

Branded hunt is immoderate benignant of query that contains words and phrases associated with your brand, products, oregon services.

Here is an illustration of a leafage that is partially optimized for branded search. If you Google the query “wwf logo” (the celebrated panda logo of WWF), you volition find this page:

Notice thing unusual here? Well, there’s nary downloadable logo. If determination was a logo connected this leafage that visitors could use, they wouldn’t person to spell backmost to the SERP and get the logo from different site. Wasted opportunity.

Why is this leafage lone partially optimized for branded search? Because it ranks #1 for the query “wwf logo.” But it doesn’t afloat service the search intent behind the query, and that is to get a record with WWF’s logo.

The takeaway is rather elemental here:

• Discover the branded keywords radical look for to find accusation astir your organization
• Create contented that targets those keywords portion serving the hunt intent

You tin find your branded keywords utilizing Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (or Google Search Console). Just unfastened the Organic keywords report and filter the results utilizing your organization’s name.

In utmost cases, you won’t fertile for immoderate of your branded keywords. To find specified instances, you volition request to usage a keyword probe tool, specified arsenic the ones I mentioned astatine the opening of the article.

So let’s accidental you already person large contented that attracts immoderate high-quality links. As you should already know, those links decidedly assistance that contented fertile higher connected SERPs. But did you cognize those aforesaid links tin assistance different pieces of contented fertile as well?

I’m talking astir nexus equity, i.e., the “authority” that is passed erstwhile 1 leafage links to another.

You tin walk nexus authority from 1 leafage to different if you nexus them, provided the links are relevant. These kinds of links are called interior links due to the fact that they constituent to different pages successful the aforesaid domain.

For example, present is an nonfiction from Oxfam about however the pandemic pushed much radical into famine-like conditions. Notice however it links to a applicable study connected the issue:

The champion mode to adhd applicable interior links is to bash that arsenic you write. You tin conscionable hunt done your existing contented for articles that people definite keywords and nexus them to applicable (important!) articles. Or you tin bash it much strategically by designing a content hub.

But if you privation to find applicable interior nexus opportunities to your existing content, you tin automate the process utilizing Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. Just motion up, crawl your tract with Site Audit, and spell to the Link opportunities report. This volition amusement you applicable interior linking opportunities crossed your site.

Recommended reading: Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide         

Final thoughts

These 13 tips are by nary means an SEO course. Nor are they a complete database of things nonprofits and charities tin bash for SEO. If you’re an SEO beginner oregon conscionable privation to revise your fundamentals, I highly urge Ahrefs’ implicit usher to SEO. I’m definite that you’ll travel up with immoderate much SEO ideas aft speechmaking it.

I’d similar to reason with a extremity that is partially astir SEO. If the contention connected the SERPs gets excessively tough, nonprofits tin usage Google Ad Grants ($10K/mo) to leap implicit different hunt results.

On apical of that, Google Ads is simply a tried and tested way to get backlinks for immoderate types of content.

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