SEO as a term might seem like just another buzzword but for organizations (including nonprofits) operating in the modern world, Search Engine Optimization has become a must. SEO is when you get traffic from search engines organically by optimizing your website and marketing efforts. This can be done by using strategic keywords that will drive your ranking up the search engine pages. This article offers the ideal SEO checklist for your nonprofit organization to get better at optimizing your site.
Title Tag
First up on our SEO checklist, title tag refers to the headline on the search engine results page. Technically speaking, it is the HTML code tag that allows you to give a title to a certain webpage. For instance, if you Google “nonprofit fundraising software” and you see GiveCentral’s name pop up in one of the results, the title tag then becomes “GiveCentral | Nonprofit Fundraising Software”. In simple words, it is the ownership of a page that you are allowed to claim on your website. It is extremely important to include your keyword(s) in your title tag.
Page URL
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and its function is to help people/visitors locate you. It is like the details of your house address, a way to find you. Most URLs are not case sensitive – capital letters really do not make any difference. When setting up your page URL, there are a few things to remember.
- Make sure that your URL includes your keyword or keyphrase
- The use of your keyword or keyphrase should be as close as possible to the beginning of your URL. For example, “givecentral.org/nonprofit-fundraising-checklists” is a good way to put it.
- Use hyphens, not spaces or underscores
Image ALT Tag
This refers to a text, a textual description in case an image cannot be displayed. The purpose of an image ALT tag is to enable wider accessibility for viewers who are not able to see the image due to some reasons. The tag helps in improving SEO by helping search engine crawlers. Including your keyword in the description of your image is an excellent practice.
Image File Name
You might be thinking that a simple image file name will not have an impact on your SEO efforts, but the truth is that it very much does. Search engines are more likely to find images with descriptive and detailed names. It is however advisable to limit your file name to five or six words. You can further reinforce your image content and enhance your SEO content by including your keyword(s) in your image file name.
Keyword Density
Keywords and SEO go hand in hand. Imagine your nonprofit organization is a conversation and your keywords are your topics, there can be no conversation without a topic. Go on and populate your content with your keywords and do keep the rules in mind.
- Try to keep your keywords between 5-7% of your overall page content.
- Add your keyword in your title and closest to the beginning of your page content as possible.
- Make sure that the placement of your keywords makes sense, avoid inserting randomly.
Meta Description
Meta description is a brief outline of your page’s content, it is more like a snippet of what your page offers, rounded up in about 155 characters. Insert your keyword(s) in this tag in HTML which summarizes your page’s content and you are good to go. If you are a nonprofit publishing a blog article about easy fundraising ideas, then using “easy fundraising ideas” in your meta description will help you level up on your SEO.
Page Content
There is no denying that quality matters. Therefore, make sure that you are creating helpful and quality content that can open doors to further engagement with your visitors and readers. Get to know the interests of your readers and grab their attention with your content. For all the other steps to be effective, your content should be good enough to get you inbound links.
Conclusion
Maximizing your SEO efforts is a cost effective way to improve your nonprofit’s visibility. An ideal SEO checklist is ideal when you implement and make it work for you. If you are not sure about a particular step in SEO, feel free to read in depth about the same – educate yourself for the growth of your nonprofit organization. When done right, great SEO efforts can result in turning your site visitors into donors and volunteers, thus widening your horizon.
