Charity SEO Audit

Search engine optimisation (SEO) plays a vital role in helping charities reach their audience. Regular SEO audits help your charity maintain and improve its online visibility. ultimately leading to increased donations and volunteer engagement.

What is an SEO Audit?

Starting with the basics, an SEO audit is a detailed examination of your charity's website that evaluates its performance in terms of potential to rank within search engines. It identifies areas for improvement and ensures your organisation remains visible to potential donors and supporters.

How Often Should I do An SEO Audit?

For charities, conducting an audit on an annual basis helps maintain optimal website performance and adapt to changing search engine algorithms.

Key Components of an SEO Audit for Charities

Technical SEO

The technical foundation of your website affects both user experience and search engine rankings. Key areas to examine include:

• Website Speed: Pages should load within 3 seconds. Slow loading times can discourage potential donors and negatively impact search rankings.

• Mobile Responsiveness:

  Your website must function seamlessly across all devices. Over 60% of traffic now come through mobile devices. Over 92% of internet users access the internet using a mobile phone. (Source)

• SSL Certification:

  Ensure your website has proper security certificates to protect donor information and maintain trust.

• Site Architecture:

  Create a clear hierarchy of pages. This makes it easy for visitors to navigate to important sections like donation pages and impact reports.

On-Page SEO

On-page elements directly influence how search engines understand and rank your content:

• Content Quality:

  Create informative, relevant content that communicates your charity's mission and impact.

• Meta Descriptions:

  Write compelling summaries for each page that encourage clicks from search results.

• Header Tags:

  Use a logical structure with clear headings to organise your content and help visitors find information quickly.

• Image Optimisation:

  Include descriptive alt text for all images to improve accessibility and SEO.

Read more about on-page SEO in our On-page SEO Checklist Guide

Off-Page SEO

External factors significantly impact your charity's online authority:

• Backlink Profile:

  Build relationships with reputable organisations and secure high-quality links from trusted sources. In our experience, charitable and non-profit organisations will have a ready made network of supporters who will naturally link to their site. As part of your audit, check you are making this process as easy as possible.

• Social Media Presence:

  Maintain active social media profiles to increase visibility and engage with supporters.

• Online Reputation:

  Monitor and manage reviews and mentions of your charity across the internet.

Tools for Conducting SEO Audits

Essential tools we’ve found that make doing an SEO audit for our charity clients include:

• Google Search Console: Free tool for monitoring website performance in search results

• Google Analytics: Tracks visitor behaviour and campaign effectiveness

• Screaming Frog: Crawls your website to identify technical issues (free version available)

• Sitebulb: Crawls your website and conducts an SEO Audit (free trial available)

Steps to Perform an SEO Audit

1. Website Crawl

   Begin by conducting a comprehensive crawl of your website to identify technical issues and structural problems.

2. Content Analysis

   Review all content for quality, relevance, and keyword optimisation. Ensure your charity's mission and impact are clearly communicated.

3. Technical Assessment
   Evaluate website speed, mobile responsiveness, and security measures. Address any issues that could impact user experience or search rankings.

4. Link Analysis

   Review internal and external links to ensure they're working properly and contributing to your site's authority.
   

Common SEO Issues for Charities

Frequently encountered problems include:

• Slow-loading images and videos - this is the most common issue we come across (and often one of the easiest to fix)

• Slow-loading images and videos - we mentioned it again just so it sinks in

• Outdated content about past campaigns or events

• Missing meta descriptions on key pages

• Broken links to donation forms or volunteer sign-up pages

• Slow-loading images and videos
  

Implementing Audit Findings

Doing a thorough SEO Audit is great but it won’t have any impact on your organisation until you implement fixes to resolve the issues you have found. The best way to do this is to create a prioritised action plan based on:

1. Impact on donor engagement and conversions - try to do the things which have the biggest impact on traffic or conversions first

2. Resource requirements - do you have the in-house expertise to fix this or will it require specialist help?

3. Implementation timeframe - try to do the quick wins first

Measuring Success

Track these key metrics to measure your SEO progress:

• Organic search traffic to the key pages on your site

• Conversion rates for online donations

• Volunteer enquiries through website forms

• Time spent on impact report pages

• Downloads of resources

Ongoing SEO Maintenance

Schedule regular maintenance tasks including:

• Monthly content updates with fresh impact stories

• Quarterly technical checks of website performance

• Monthly/Quarterly checks on 404 pages and redirects

Regular SEO audits are essential for charities to maintain its online visibility and effectiveness. By following this guide, you can ensure your charity's website performs well in search results and successfully engages with potential donors and supporters.

We realise SEO Audits aren’t everyone’s idea of a good time - if you would like some help with yours, please get in touch,