You may have heard of SEO and thought that it is just a digital marketing buzzword. But in the modern world, SEO is indispensable for any organization that has any digital presence online.
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation refers to the process of changing or adding certain aspects to the website design and content so that it has a better chance of appearing on search engine result pages. That way, the website can get more organic traffic which is instrumental to the success of the company.
You may be thinking that SEO is probably necessary for businesses that need to make a profit. However, SEO is crucial for any organization that wants to succeed, irrespective of its legal status. Nonprofits also need to enhance their digital presence so they can attract people to their website to increase their popularity.
There are almost 200 aspects that can affect website ranking on search engines. We believe these are the most important factors that can impact SEO for nonprofits.
Meet Search Intent
Search intent is one of the most crucial aspects of any search engine. It is nothing but the purpose with which a user presents a query on any search engine. Therefore, your goal should be to provide the information that your potential visitors might be looking for on Google or other search engines.
For example, let us assume that you have a nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates stray dogs. Therefore, you would want your website to appear for search queries like “dogs for adoption” or “rescued dogs” to increase your visibility. To achieve that, you should include in-depth articles that share your experiences of rescuing stray dogs or the process of adoption for them.
You can also publish guest blogs on your website that share the experience of people who have adopted stray dogs from your organization. These are some tips that can help your content fulfill search intent.
- Search the top-ranking articles on Google to understand the types of content you should include on your website.
- Put yourself in the shoes of a potential visitor. What will your target audience think before looking for an organization like yours on the Internet?
- Try to answer possible questions that your target audience might use on search queries. It can also help your website appear as a featured snippet.
Improve Your Website Speed
Website and page loading speed will become official ranking factors for Google searches from July onwards. It is a part of Google’s Page Experience update that focuses on visitors' journeys. Website loading speed has always been an unofficial contributing factor for SEO.
But Google made an official announcement last year to signify the importance of Core Web Vitals in search rankings. You can check your website's current performance with tools like Google Page Speed Insights and find out the aspects that need to improve. These are some general tips that you can follow.
- Make sure that your web pages load in less than 3 seconds.
- Compress the images to reduce file size.
- Use a good hosting service.
- Optimize technical SEO aspects of your website.
Make a Mobile-Friendly Website
Apart from loading speed and visual stability, Google has also emphasized the mobile-friendliness of the website in the Page Experience update. That means your website should provide the same experience for desktop and mobile users.
Mobile-friendliness of the website is also important to increase your organization’s visibility. More than 50% of people in America use their mobile phones to look for websites. So most of your visitors would browse your website on their mobile phones unless your nonprofit has something to do with their work.
You should connect your website with Google Search Console. Once you have done that, you would be able to check your website’s Core Web Vitals on the Enhancements tab. It will show you how the individual pages are performing and whether they need improvement for a better page experience.
Get the Right Keywords
Keywords are necessary to define the topics and ideas presented in your content. They also match the content with the words and phrases used by your target visitors in the search queries. There are several keyword research tools that you can use to find the right terms. These are some of the places where you can place the keywords for maximum effect.
- Page title
- H1 tags
- Meta descriptions
- Image all texts
- Video subtitles and transcripts
You can also use Google Trends to find the terms your target audience might be using to search for organizations like yours. But avoid stuffing too many keywords as it may hurt your ranking.
Get High Authority Backlinks
Your website's search engine ranking is also determined by the websites that link to your pages. However, not every link is valued equally. You should try to get backlinks from websites that have high domain authority. These are some ways to get quality backlinks for your nonprofit:
- Get your stories featured on news websites and ask them to add a link.
- Request your financial contributors and sponsors to add your links on their websites.
- Collaborate with other non-profit organizations for mutual links.
- Publish your articles on guest blogs on reputable websites and include your links.
- Create content of great quality that other websites would automatically want to link to.
Make sure that you keep your backlinks as natural as possible, or it may look like spam.
Search engine algorithms keep changing all the time, so you have to ensure that your SEO efforts are long-term. These efforts will also take some time to yield results, so you have to be consistent and patient. But with the right SEO techniques, you can ensure that your organization achieves the desired success.