SEO Tips for Non-Profits: A Complete Guide

SEO Tips for Non-Profits: A Complete Guide

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is critical for non-profits looking to expand their reach and promote their cause online. With more donation dollars shifting digital, implementing an SEO strategy can help non-profits connect with supporters and achieve their mission.

This comprehensive guide covers actionable SEO tips for non-profits and charities in 2024 and beyond.

Understanding Why SEO Matters for Non-Profits

In today's digital world, people increasingly go online to research causes to support. A robust SEO strategy helps ensure your non-profit appears prominently in relevant searches. Consider these statistics:

• 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine like Google or Bing (HubSpot)
• 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results (HubSpot)
• Non-profits ranked on the first Google search results page report 86% more web traffic than those on page two (OptinMonster)

With SEO best practices, you can capture searchers' attention, educate them on your mission, and motivate them to donate or volunteer.

Top SEO Benefits for Non-Profits

Implementing SEO provides many concrete benefits for non-profit organisations:

• Increased site traffic. Higher rankings lead to more visits.
• Improved credibility. Prominent rankings signal authority and trust.
• Lower marketing costs. SEO delivers targeted visitors without paid ads.
• Expanded reach. You can get your message in front of new potential supporters.
• Measurable results. You can track SEO success via Google Analytics.
• Renewed discoveries. People can learn about your cause months or years later via search.

Conducting an SEO Audit

Before optimising your website, perform an SEO audit to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.

Analyse on-page and off-page factors impacting rankings:

Examining On-Page SEO Elements

On-page SEO refers to elements within your control on your website. Assess:

Page titles and meta descriptions

• Are titles descriptive and compact, and are page titles and meta descriptions unique for every page?
• Do meta descriptions provide an engaging overview of page content?

URL structure

• Are URLs short, keyword-rich, and easy to understand?
• Is there consistency across site architecture?

Headings

• Does each page feature a hierarchy of optimised H1, H2, and lower-level headings?

Content

• Is content well-written, informative, and valuable for target audiences?
• Are keywords woven in naturally throughout each page?
• Is multimedia included where relevant?

Page speed

• Does each page load quickly on mobile and desktop?
• Have unnecessary elements slowing page speed been eliminated?

Evaluating Off-Page SEO Signals

Off-page SEO includes external signals search engines analyse to rank pages:

Backlinks

• How many sites link back to your non-profit's website?
• Who is linking to you? What is their domain authority?
• How competitive are your main keyword targets?

Social shares

• Which content attracts the most social media shares? Why?
• How can you encourage increased shares?

Once you've audited technical and off-page ranking factors, identify 3-5 priority areas for improvement.

Optimising Site Architecture and Navigation

A clear, consistent site architecture improves visitor experience and SEO. Ensure people and search bots can easily navigate your non-profit site.

Creating a Site Map

A sitemap outlines your website's pages, hierarchies, and navigation pathways. If your non-profit lacks one, build a visual sitemap to optimise.

Benefits include:

• Identifying orphan pages untouched by site architecture
• Eliminating redundant or thin content not benefiting SEO
• Structuring IA informed by user searches and behaviour flow
• Building internal links to boost rankings of critical pages
• Providing search engines with an index of pages to crawl

Ideally, create an XML sitemap file and submit it to search engines.

Enhancing Findability

Evaluate whether critical sections and pages from the homepage and subnavigation are manageable.

Best practices:

• Include descriptive leading site sections such as “About Us,” “Programs,” and “Get Involved.”
• Create logical IA under sections — Example for “Get Involved”: Volunteering, Donating, Events, Jobs.
• Add visible main and footer navigation linking important pages
• Enable breadcrumb trails below page titles indicating page trail
• Build site search, allowing visitors to search content
• Implement tags and categories if using a blog

Optimising Site Speed

Site speed significantly impacts user experience, bounce rate, and SEO. Optimise these elements:

• Enable browser caching and compression
• Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files
• Optimise images (file types, dimensions)
• Eliminate render-blocking resources
• Fix broken links and redirects
• Upgrade to faster web hosting if needed

Measure speed via Google PageSpeed Insights and fix what slows your site.

Building Quality Link Profiles

The number and authority of external sites linking to your non-profit's website signal trust and relevancy to Google.

Earning High-Value Editorial Links

Build contextual backlinks from reputable publications—pitch contributors expert sources (your staff) for quotes in articles on your cause. Offer unique data or free professional resources to insert as links where relevant.

Securing Links from Partners and Supporters

Website mentions from corporate supporters, community partners, influential bloggers, and influencers provide value. Initially focus on your city or state, then expand to national organisations.

Leveraging Link Building Outreach

Proactively and regularly reach out to niche industry media, bloggers, resource sites, and local interest websites. Offer great guest posts or resources relevant to their audience with links to selected pages on your non-profit site.

Participating in Forums and Groups

Share authentic expertise on popular forums like Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn Groups, and industry hubs. Include live links back to your site when relevant to build community trust and link equity.

Optimising Content For Organic Search

Creating robust, valuable content that ranks well organically helps non-profits attract and inform visitors without paid search ads.

Researching User Intent for Keywords

Conduct keyword research to uncover terms and questions people search when seeking information from non-profits like yours.

Identify searcher intent, volume, difficulty, and alternatives for your most relevant SEO keywords. Integrate these organically into compelling page copy.

Creating Rank-Worthy Title Tags

Search engine results pages prominently feature page title tags encouraging clicks. Craft meta title tags that are:

✅ Descriptive, clear, and concise

✅ 60 characters max, with key term upfront

✅ Unique for every page

Writing Strategic Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions summarise page content in search listings. Compelling descriptions boost click-through rates.

❗ Avoid simply reusing title tag content.

✅Feature your value prop and call to action

✅Keep under 155 characters

✅Use keywords naturally

✅End with ellipses to encourage clicks

Publishing Content that Ranks Well

The content itself heavily determines rankings. Create pages that:

🔎 Answer specific user questions

🗣 Use keywords based on search intent data

⚖️ Feature quality over quantity

❤️ Provide precious information to readers

Conversion-focused copy is better than keyword stuffing. Help first; optimise second.

Enhancing Content with LSI Keywords

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords and phrases relate closely to your core terms. Weave these organically into content to strengthen rankings.

For a non-profit site targeting the keyword “volunteer mentoring programs,” related LSI terms could include:

• youth mentoring
• become a mentor
• mentor training
• mentorship programs
• mentor opportunities

Vary usage between main terms and supporting LSI phrases.

Optimising Content Structure with Headings

Proper heading tag structure signals document hierarchy to search engines. Outline content with optimised headings:

H1: Primary page title/topic

H2: Main subtopics

H3: Supporting details on subtopics

H4: Granular details

Integrating Media for Engagement

Videos, gifs, images, infographics, photo galleries, audio clips and other multimedia engage visitors and boost dwell time and social shares. Ensure accessibility best practices are met. Optimise file names and ALT text.

Improving Local SEO Presence

Over 97% of searches on mobile devices seek local information. Local SEO builds visibility in area-relevant search results.

Complete and Optimise Google My Business Listing

Google My Business profiles display prominently for local searches like “non-profit organisations near me” in Maps and Search.

❗ Complete your free listing with essential details:

✅ Address, phone, hours

✅ Website URL

✅ Description summarising the cause

✅ Photos representing your organisation

Encourage reviews to build local trust signals. Respond publicly.

Register and Manage Bing Places for Business

For expanded reach, verify and optimise your free Bing Places listing—sync key details from Google for consistency.

About 34% of searches happen on Bing, so tap into this demand, too.

List Your Non-profit on Key Directories

Increase exposure by listing your charity on crucial local directories like:

• Yelp
• Facebook
• Apple Maps
• Alexa Local
• Trip Advisor

Sync your hours, descriptions, photos, offerings, and contact information across each.

Encourage Reviews and Testimonials

Positive Google, Facebook, and Yelp ratings and reviews reinforce community trust. Proactively request feedback from engaged volunteers and donors. Share and link to 4 and 5-star reviews.

Blog Local Events and Partnerships

On your blog, showcase upcoming local events, fundraisers, speaking engagements, and awareness campaigns. Tag locations. Link to community partners.

Also, include your non-profit as the experienced local perspective in relevant city paper stories on your cause.

Amplifying Content Reach on Social Media

Leveraging social media extends your SEO impact by engaging followers and earning clicks and shares of content.

Research Ideal Platforms and Influencers

Identify key influencers and optimal platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc. – for your cause based on current reach and follower demographics.

Connect and provide share-worthy content to influencers.

Create Clickable and Shareable Posts

Craft social media updates, leading followers to click optimised pages on your site.

Effective tactics:

🔗 Shortened URLs

📋 Catchy previews

💯 Emojis and reactions

🤳 Engaging images

Stimulate Shares with Compelling Multimedia

Curate and natively publish engaging photos, videos, live videos, and reels/stories highlighting your non-profit programs and community impact.

Caption Videos receive 1200% more shares than text and images combined.

Leverage Hashtags for Expanded Visibility

Include hashtags representing your cause alongside branded tags in social posts to tap into more extensive conversations.

Join Twitter chats and Facebook Groups centred around these to engage new audiences.

Run Targeted Contests and Campaigns

Launch social contests and hashtag campaigns rewarding participants for shares. Require visiting your site as part of entries to build SEO metrics.

Example: Share a volunteer selfie and reason for service for a chance to win a $100 donation to the non-profit of the winner's choice.

Tracking and Improving SEO Performance Over Time

Once SEO best practices are implemented, monitor rankings and traffic to assess effectiveness.

Connect Google Analytics for Insights

Link Google Analytics to view:

🔎 Visits from organic vs other sources

📈 Keyword rankings and conversions

⏱ Page dwell time and bounce rates

📱 Mobile vs desktop metrics

Monitor Rankings Manually via Tools

Additionally, manually check keyword rankings monthly using free tools like:

• Google Search Console
• MozBar plugin
• SEMRush's Position Tracking

Compare your site against competitors for critical terms—set goals for reaching page 1 rankings.

Perform Quarterly SEO Audits

Re-evaluate on and off-page SEO health every three months to identify new issues and opportunities.

Review analytics reports for insights on rising search queries to create content.

SEO Mistakes NonProfits Should Avoid

Steer clear of common SEO missteps with long-term repercussions:

⛔ Overusing exact-match keywords

⛔ Stuffing keywords were unnatural

⛔ Plagiarising content from other sites

⛔ Buying fake social media followers

⛔ Using misleading metadata

⛔ Having thin content pages

Focus on publishing beneficial content using keywords naturally. Building authentic trust and authority takes time. Patience and best practices ultimately prevail.

Conclusion

By now, you should have a strong understanding of core SEO strategies vital for non-profits.

The time is now to increase your search visibility.

Start with foundational on-site optimisations and savvy content production. Monitor your search analytics routinely to track progress.

Stay attuned to algorithm changes, new features, and search trends annually to keep your rankings competitive.

Fine-tune and amplify your SEO approach over time. The long-term rewards of increased donations, volunteers, and community authority are worth this effort.

By embracing essential SEO, you can elevate your non-profit's purpose to help even more people in need. Let your key messages be found and shared.

Now, here are answers to some frequently asked questions on this topic:

SEO Tips for Non-Profits FAQs