Nic Abraham | Marketing Director
Search engine optimization (SEO) adds value to any organization. Once you recognize this, the next question is how to leverage it. Whether your goal is to drive more traffic to your website or get leads and donations, you’ll want to identify your audience’s top search terms. These keywords will help your website rank higher in search engines.
There are three factors to consider when identifying your keywords – volume, relevance, and competition. Let’s take a look at each.
VOLUME
When identifying keywords, it’s easy to pick terms that relate to your organization. However, these words may not be what people are searching for, so your audience would be practically non-existent. The more people who search for a keyword, the larger the audience is, The audience size is determined by the number of people who search for a keyword or phrase via Google, Bing, Explorer or their search engine of choice. Large audiences benefit those who are optimizing content for the most frequently searched words. Doing research on each potential term/phrase/keyword will help determine the best keywords to meet your SEO needs.
RELEVANCE
It’s best to use frequently searched keywords, but you also want to include terms that describe your organization and meet your audience’s needs. If your organization donates goods to teen mothers, chances are you’re looking to increase awareness. The chosen keywords need to align with your cause but also be relevant to people searching the term.
COMPETITION
It’s important to remember that your competitors are probably also using SEO strategies. If their location and cause are similar, they may rank before or after your organization in search engines. In a nonprofit setting, however, we also advocate for collaboration vs. competition whenever possible. Working with other organizations in your field can help strengthen everyone’s reach and impact, making progress on an issue happen more quickly.
To create a solid list of keywords, ask yourself a few audience questions:
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What are my ideal site visitors interested in?
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What problems or issues are they facing?
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What is the everyday conversation around your cause?
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Where are they currently getting the services and/or information they need?
You will then use this list to choose keywords for your organization that will also work well for your audience. We suggest reviewing SEO results on a monthly or quarterly basis, so you can adjust as needed.
At Good Cause Creative, it is our mission to empower people and organizations that make the world a better place. We do this by connecting nonprofit organizations with skilled independent contractors who can fill the talent gap and help our clients reach their most ambitious goals. Click here to schedule a call and learn more.
