How can nonprofits be seen and heard in the crowded online space?

The answer begins with three letters: SEO.

This article, exclusively translated from the Springly platformSpringly provides a comprehensive guide on how nonprofits can increase their search ranking and make their message more present and impactful. 99% of nonprofit leaders recognize the value of having a nonprofit management program that appears at the top of search engine results online, as it means more exposure leading to better results in donations and memberships.

However, many myths abound about how to improve search ranking. In many for-profit companies, there is even a dedicated role within the marketing team specifically working on search engine optimization (SEO).

As a nonprofit organization, you can also use search engine optimization (SEO) to elevate your organization’s ranking in Google search results. In fact, SEO is a fundamental part of any content strategy for nonprofits.

In this article, we will explain the basic concepts and tips for search engine optimization for nonprofits:

What is SEO? How can you improve your organization’s ranking in search results? What factors affect your SEO? Let’s get started!

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? SEO links the keywords used on websites to the searches people type into search engines, and your goal is for your organization’s site to show up at the top of search results for keywords related to your nonprofit’s activities. If you have just created your site, don’t worry, use the tips in this article to start off on the right foot.

The most commonly used search engine in the world is Google, and this article will specifically discuss this engine, but you can apply the same tips to other search engines like Yahoo and Bing.

Target a high ranking in search results Your organization’s ranking in search engines significantly impacts the number of clicks your website receives.

And the site that ranks first in Google search results gets the highest number of clicks, and few people navigate to the second page of results. In fact, in a study of 5 million search results, it was found that only 0.78% of Google users clicked on a link on the second page, according to Backlinko.

Therefore, you should aim for your organization to be in the first result for the core keywords in your message. The higher your site ranks, the more clicks it receives, and more people will learn about your nonprofit!

Use a different device If you typically access your organization’s site by typing its name directly into the search engine, it will show up among your top results. Don’t be fooled! Google knows your search history and updates results accordingly. Here’s how to check your organization’s true ranking: search from a different browser (like using Internet Explorer instead of Google Chrome) or from a different device (like a friend’s phone) or open an incognito window in Chrome or private browsing in Safari to start searching from scratch without your search history.

How to choose keywords for SEO

The first step in improving your organization’s search ranking is to identify your nonprofit’s keywords. If your organization is an animal shelter in San Francisco, you would want your site to show up first when people search for: “San Francisco animal shelter” or “animal shelter near me in SF”.

If your organization works in health care or advocacy, the keywords may be less obvious, and Google has some helpful resources like its article: “Basic tips for building a keyword list” (Basic tips for building a keyword list).

Think like your target audience: what words describe your organization’s work? What phrases do people type to find your organization? What goals do you want the visitor to achieve after entering your site? After you identify your keywords, you can use the following digital tools to evaluate their potential performance: Google Keyword Planner requires a Google account and tests your keyword groups and provides statistics on monthly search volume and competition level.

Google Trends shows what searches are most popular, which is very useful for organizations that work at specific times of the year, and keywords can be strategically chosen before peak seasons, helping you to increase ticket sales or donations. Start by typing the keyword you are interested in (like: “rescue shelter”), and search engines will automatically complete the most common search suggestions, which is a quick way to discover what people are really looking for. Do you see how the first automatic suggestion was “rescue shelter near me”? Knowing this search is common can influence your keyword selection.

And keywords are essential for SEO, but do not overuse them! If you add too many keywords within your site’s text, Google SEO may detect that your site is engaging in something called “keyword stuffing” solely to improve ranking. To avoid this, use similar words and phrases or related synonyms of the core keywords so that the text remains natural and genuinely related to your site content.

How to improve your organization’s ranking in search engines

Once you have identified your keywords, the next step is to learn how to use those keywords to elevate your site’s ranking in search results, and Google’s SEO algorithm remains somewhat mysterious, but experts and Google themselves provide some helpful recommendations:

Create content aimed at humans, not search engines This is not just about keywords, as the quality of the content itself is very important; the more time visitors spend on your site, the higher your ranking in search results. Launching a blog for your nonprofit can improve the quality of your content and satisfy visitors’ curiosity about your work, and the best way to achieve this is through nonprofit storytelling, which highlights your organization’s impact and the humanity of its mission.

Create unique content that sets you apart from other organizations. You can draw inspiration from other sites, but don’t fall into the temptation of copying or plagiarizing; originality is a key element in building trust and enhancing your site’s rating.

Organize your site’s pages with a clear structure. Google’s algorithms automatically look for the most important pages on your site; the more logical and easy-to-navigate your site’s structure is, the greater the chances of appearing in the top results.

Check the accessibility of all pages. If you have links leading to an error message like “404 not found”, Google will directly lower your site’s rating, so ensure all links work smoothly and that visitors do not encounter missing pages.

What affects search engine optimization (SEO)

Now we will study the five most important factors affecting SEO, according to Moz, a site specializing in digital performance analysis.

Factor 1: Backlinks

Backlinks are links found on other sites that direct visitors to your organization’s site, but not all links are equal in value; how much they affect your site’s ranking depends on:

1. The traffic volume of the original site: The higher the traffic of the site containing the link, the stronger the link.

2. The credibility of the original site: Government or educational sites, for example, have high authority and trust in Google’s evaluation.3. Anchor Text: This is the text that contains the link that the user clicks on.

If the text is something like “click here,” it won’t impact your ranking much, as it doesn’t contain keywords describing your site, but if the text is something like: “Learn about this animal shelter in San Francisco,” then the search engine will better recognize the keywords and link them to your site.

4. The number of links on the original page: The value of each backlink is divided among the links present on the page. So, if the page contains only 5 links, each link has higher weight than if it had 100 links.

Did you know that your nonprofit can earn or build backlinks too?

You can do this through mutual promotion with your nonprofit partners. Here are some methods:

1- Contact local government agencies like the municipality or public library to mention your site on their pages.2- List your site in the other branches of your organization if applicable in multiple cities.3- Collaborate with business partners or sponsors to exchange links on your official sites.4- Participate in specialized forums and answer relevant questions.

Example: If someone writes a question on a forum like: “Does anyone know an animal shelter in San Francisco? I want to adopt a cat.” You can respond and include a link to your organization’s site! This way, you get a trustworthy backlink naturally and related to your activity.

Factor 2: Website Content and Structure

Your website must be organized clearly and understandably, as Google Search examines specific elements on each page, the most important of which are:

1- Page Title (Title Tag)

This is the title that appears in Google search results; if the title matches the keywords that the user is searching for, the chances of your site appearing in the top results increase, and the title should not exceed 70 characters.

2- Meta Description

This is the short text that appears under the title in search results and should not exceed 155 characters, and it should be clear and concise and accurately describe the page content, as the meta description directly affects click-through rate (CTR), a good description enhances credibility and encourages users to visit your site.

3- Page URL

This is the link that leads to your page, and it’s preferable for it to be short and include the main keywords. Remove unnecessary words or those not related to the content of the page.

4- Heading Tags (H1 / H2 Tags)

These tags are used within the page code to help search engines understand the content structure; the main page title should contain an H1 tag, while subheadings should contain H2 tags. To avoid the penalty of “keyword stuffing,” use synonyms and varied phrasings instead of literal repetition.

Also known as alt tag or alt description, this is the text that appears or is read if the image cannot be displayed and is an important element in accessibility for visually impaired individuals, as it is read aloud by screen readers, and it helps search engines understand image content, thus contributing to improving your site's ranking.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

Systems like WordPress or Springly automatically optimize some elements of your site to enhance SEO performance. If you are a beginner in this field, it is recommended to use one of these systems, as they provide support in writing meta descriptions, formatting H1/H2 tags, and adding alt text to images correctly.

Factor 3: General Technical Features

This category includes a set of fundamental technical features on your site that affect search engine optimization (SEO) even though they are not directly part of the content. In a study conducted by Google in 2018, it was found that visitors leave a site if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load, which is why your site’s loading speed should be as optimal as possible.

Reduce image sizes to be under 150 kilobytes per image, as this slows down the loading process. To accurately analyze your site’s speed, use the Google PageSpeed Insights tool, which gives you a comprehensive assessment with suggestions for improvement.

Did you know that Google penalizes sites that are not mobile-friendly? When a site has a version that automatically adapts to screen size, it is considered responsive. Since most internet users today browse from their smartphones, neglecting to optimize your site for mobile is a major mistake, especially for nonprofits that want to reach a wide audience.

To find out if your organization’s site is responsive, you can use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check your site’s compatibility with mobile devices.

HTTPS

Adding the HTTPS protocol to your site provides users with protection and security for their personal data while browsing and is considered one of the core standards that Google uses in site evaluation; anything that enhances user safety is prioritized in search results.

Site Map

A site map is a file that explains to search engines the structure of your site’s pages and their relationships, and this map helps Google know the most important pages and understand how they are interconnected.

Most content management systems (CMS) automatically generate a site map, and ensure you have internal links connecting your site’s pages—each internal link is an extra opportunity to boost your ranking in search results.

Unique Page Content

Google penalizes sites that contain duplicate content, so always ensure to write original content specific to your organization’s site because search engines can detect literal copying, whether from the internet or between the pages of the same site.

If you must use duplicate content, use a canonical URL so that Google recognizes the original version and doesn’t mistakenly penalize your site.

Factor 4: Visitor Behavior

You can analyze how visitors interact with your site through user behavior statistics, the most important of which are:

1- Click-Through Rate (CTR)

This shows how relevant your content is to your audience and how well you are optimizing your titles and meta descriptions, calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of times your page appears in Google results. The higher the CTR, the better your content and attractive meta description are.

2- Bounce Rate

This is the percentage of users who leave your site after just one page, and if the visitor starts from your homepage, ensure the bounce rate is low, as this indicates your content is attractive. For article or blog pages, a high bounce rate does not necessarily mean something negative; for instance, if the visitor reads your article for 3 minutes and leaves after finding what they were looking for, that is a good thing.

Remember: Analyzing the bounce rate depends on the type of page and its context.

3- Pages per User and Time Spent

These two indicators measure how engaged visitors are with your content; the more pages users visit and the longer they stay, the more Google understands that your site provides valuable and engaging content. You can monitor this data through Google Analytics, and most CMS systems provide it automatically.

How to make visitors stay longer?

1- Create visually appealing and easily readable content. 2- Balance text and images. 3- Add short video clips showcasing your organization’s story or achievements.

Factor 5: Social Media

Most nonprofits use social networks like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn to engage with their communities, and although these platforms do not directly relate to your site, search engines evaluate your digital presence and how widely known your organization is online.

The stronger your social media presence, the more links pointing to your site, enhancing credibility in Google’s algorithms.

To strengthen your social presence:

1- Design: Share realistic and engaging photos of your activities, team, and events. 2- Content: Share short stories, memories, or facts from your organization’s archives. 3- Engagement: Ask questions, conduct polls, launch challenges, or use popular hashtags in the nonprofit sector. 4- Consistency: Regularly share new content to maintain engagement with your audience.

Thus, these five factors, from backlinks to social behavior, complete the integrated system of enhancing your nonprofit's visibility in search results and confidently and sustainably strengthening its digital presence.

Bonus Feature: Geographic Location

Google’s search algorithms are increasingly focused on geographic location, whether of your organization or of the person conducting the search.

For example, if someone searches for “animal shelter San Francisco”, your organization’s location may appear in the top results, and if someone in San Francisco searches only for “animal shelter”, they will likely also see your organization among the results, as Google links the searcher’s location with nearby sites.

However, this can only be achieved if you have clearly listed your organization’s location on your website and in Google Maps, as adding your accurate address and location information not only contributes to improving your local ranking in search results but also enhances the trust of users and the local community in your organization.

Optimizing your organization’s performance in search engines (SEO) and elevating its ranking in Google results is essential if you want to attract visitors to your website and reach potential donors, members, and volunteers.

With all the talk about keywords, page titles, images, and links, always remember to prioritize your community, i.e. the people visiting your site, and ask yourself:

Does your organization provide a pleasant and informative browsing experience for its website visitors? When someone clicks on your site link in search results, do they feel compelled to stay and explore further? Will they return another day?

To delve deeper into this, you can read our articles on website structure and designing nonprofit websites. With a sincere heart and a clear mission, apply all the SEO tips in this article to lead your organization to the front ranks in search results and increase its digital presence and community impact.

Building an effective digital presence for nonprofits is not a coincidence but a conscious understanding of the factors that create trust in the digital space. Every studied keyword, every carefully designed page, and every improved user experience contributes to enhancing the impact and sustainability of the mission.

SEO is not just a technical task; it is an extension of the essence of nonprofit work aimed at reaching people and inspiring them to participate and support. When organizations treat their websites as platforms for communication and impact, they not only aim for visibility in search results but also become entrenched in the awareness of their audience, building a long-term relationship based on trust and knowledge.

Source: Springly.org – with acknowledgment of the author's literary rights and the original site