SEO Tools Nonprofits Need to Be Found

What’s the point of being online if you can’t be found? That’s exactly the question your organization should be asking itself. But too often, nonprofits don’t take the time to consider the implications of not being found—they just throw the information out there.

Don’t be one of those organizations. Instead, use this rundown of SEO tools to help your nonprofit organization succeed at being found online. We’ve got the lowdown on what each tool can help you do, and why it’s great for your 501(c)3.

1. Google Adwords

What it is:

It’s Google’s top source of revenue, but that doesn’t mean it’ll break your nonprofit’s bank. It’s a way for you to post ads on the world’s top search site, so you can reach people on a local or global scale. You decide how much or how little you want to put in.

Why it works:

  • Google Adwords works because you only pay if it works. When people actually click, you pay.
  • Budget Friendly: You set the amount you want to pay for the adwords.*Added bonus! You may be able to get Google Adwords for FREE with Google Grants (the nonprofit version of Adwords). They give out $10,000 worth of adwords to nonprofits each month.

 

Analytics help you assess how your ad is doing. If your ad isn’t working, you’ll know. And you can alter it or your budget at any time.

Cost:

$0-$10/month

2. Keyword Eye

What it is:

This tool will help you figure out what words are helping your nonprofit succeed. Knowing the right words will help you work those into your content to increase your SEO effectiveness.

Why it works:

  • Easy to read data is the name of the game for Keyword Eye. External linking anchor text (people outside of your organization linking to your website) comes to you in a word cloud. So basically, the bigger the word the more times it’s been linked to your site.
  • This tool can be paired with Google Analytics to give you even more SEO information. For select information, you can get search volume and ranking in an easy to read report.

Cost:

Free-$4.99/month

3. WordStream

What it is:

Similar to Google Adwords, this is a Pay Per Click (PPC) tool. It offers a variety of free keyword tools for your organization to utilize.

Why it works:

  • Like with any PPC campaign, you only pay for the results.
  • This feature offers phone and email support to help walk you through the process and to help your organization better understand SEO.
  • A variety of the features are free. For example, let’s say your organization is a soup kitchen. Start with a basic search to see what related terms people are searching. You’d notice that “volunteer soup kitchen” is next on the list, so you can add it to your content.

Cost:

Free for some features. However, if you want to go in-depth with this tool it can be pricey—$299/month at the least.

4. KeywordSpy

What it is:

Ok, so you don’t have business competitors, necessarily. But you are competing for donors’ dollars in an ever growing pool of nonprofit organizations. And that’s how you can be a keyword spy! See how other successful nonprofit orgs are doing it with SEO and you can do it too.

Why it works:

  • KeywordSpy gives you a side by side comparison of what your competitors are doing, so you can know exactly how to optimize your SEO like the pros. See what local organizations are doing or even the big-leaguers.

Cost:

$89.95/month

5. SEMRush

What it is:

Organic SEO is one of the best tactics for nonprofit organizations (think budget, nonprofits!). This is the site to see how you stack up against everyone else in keyword usage.

Why it works:

  • It tracks the top 95 million keywords by volume. C’mon, are you kidding us?! 95 million? That’s a lot. And I’m sure your keywords are in there waiting to be discovered.
  • The site also features a blog with free education so you can continue to expand your SEO/SEM knowledge.
  • It tracks long-tail keywords (phrases between two and five words). How does that apply to nonprofit organizations? Your mission. What do you do? Boil it down to less than five words.

Cost:

Beginning price starts at $69.95/month

6. WordTracker

What it is:

It does exactly what the name suggests—it tracks words for you. This helps eliminate the jargon terms your nonprofit might be using and gets to the heart of what your potential donors and constituents might be searching.

Why it works:

  • Search any keyword to see the amount of traction it gets, for free. For example, we typed in “nonprofit” as an example. Type in related keywords to see what gets searched most often.
  • FREE education is essential for your organization. WordTracker offers a free e-book that called “SEO Made Simple.” What could be more simple than that?
  • With a paid subscription, get access to over 200-300 phrases or words that people have recently searched so you know what to work into your content/website.

Cost:

Use the keyword tracker for free, or pay $69/month for a more in-depth analysis.

Lyndsey Hrabik

Lyndsey is a former editor for Nonprofit Hub and Nonprofit Hub Magazine. She now serves as a guest contributor, writing on topics such as social media, technology, marketing and starting a nonprofit.

July 2, 2013

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