In order to successfully optimise your website for search engines, you need to pinpoint exactly which keywords are the best fit for your particular non-profit organisation.

You might be covering a whole range of bases, from volunteering opportunities to fundraising events and donations, as well as the core services you aim to provide. If you’re unsure of where to begin, the following advice should help to get you on your way.

While it’s useful to optimise your content for low competition keywords, it’s important to put yourself in the mindset of the person searching when deciding which keywords you’re going to target. For example, if you’re an animal charity, it may be more likely that people are searching for services you offer, such as “animal rescue’, ‘animal shelter’ or ‘animal welfare’ as opposed to searching directly for a charity.

With this in mind we’ve identified some keywords using the Moz Keyword Explorer tool. As well as monthly search volumes, we’ve also detailed the difficulty score to give you an indication of how you could make some potential quick wins.

For the purpose of this article, let’s say we are an animal shelter in London looking to bring in new traffic to our site:

1. Location keywords

Keyword: Animal shelter London
Monthly search volume: 201-500
Keyword difficulty: 50%

Keyword: Cat rescue London
Monthly search volume: 201-500
Keyword difficulty: 35%

Targeting users by location can be one of the best ways to gain new targeted traffic to your site. In this instance someone looking to re-home a cat is probably going to consider location as a major factor for their search, so in order to get picked up by local search make sure that your site is optimised for location-based keywords.

If you operate in a specific area then make sure that your meta descriptions, headings and location keywords are utilised accordingly so that searchers in that specific area can find you, and search engines rank you for that location.

2. Informational key phrases

Keyword: How to look after a dog
Monthly search volume: 501-850
Keyword difficulty: 33%

If you’re an expert in a particular field, don’t just sell your services, but also offer browsers access to a knowledge bank. ‘How to look after a dog’ may not initially come to mind when searching for an animal shelter, but if you’re looking to adopt a dog for the first time, it’s information you’ll want to know.

By creating a content hub of information or simple targeted blog posts covering a range of relevant topics, your charity will stand out as an authority on the subject and the one to return to in future. In addition, you will also benefit by capturing a wider range of online searches from potential customers who are looking for services you offer.

3. Purpose keywords

Keyword: Volunteering at animal shelters
Monthly search volume: 201-500
Keyword difficulty: 33%

Considering the purpose of a search can be essential when it comes to matching your content to your users intent. A person searching to re-home a cat has very different intent to someone looking for voluntary work. You should approach your keyword strategy through the lens of your website goals.

In this instance a good content opportunity would be to create a separate landing page which details information about how to sign up and what your volunteer program involves.

4. Transactional keywords

Keyword: Sponsor a dog
Monthly search volume: 851-1.7k
Keyword difficulty: 33%

Creating content that focuses on transactional keywords can be one of the best ways to increase your conversion rate. That’s because people conducting these kind of searches are likely to be closer to the point of purchase.

This happens when a person has already searched for the information and has made the decision to make a purchase or engage with your services. Creating an attractive donation landing page for this particular keyword would be a good approach.

Make sure that when you do so you’re informing your audience where their money will be spent. You might like to share case studies of your recipients who have benefited from the sponsorship, helping to tap into the emotional element. The power of storytelling can be hugely beneficial for charity organisations, as a compelling story is far more memorable and gives your brand authenticity.

Adding content for specific terms gives you a better chance of ranking in the search engines. Broad keyword choices such as ‘UK Charities’ are highly competitive, which means it’s going to be hard to rank well for a term that generic. Choosing a more niche term like ‘animal shelter volunteering London’ is simultaneously less competitive and more likely to draw in browsers who are specifically looking for what you offer.

To learn how a well-maintained keyword strategy can help improve your own SEO efforts, get in touch today.

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