Search Engine Optimization 101 for Nonprofits

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Richard Dietz

April 23, 2013

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Dates Topic

4/30 Search Engine Optimization 101 for Nonprofits

5/1 A Business Plan for Your Nonprofit

5/1 Making Shared Leadership Work: 5 Steps to Mastering Collaboration

5/7 Inbound Marketing: The Latest Techniques

5/8 The Three Languages of Appreciation

5/8 Managing Fundraisers; for the Non Fundraising Executive

Register at NonprofitWebinars.com

Search Engine Optimization 101 for Nonprofits

Richard Dietz

April 23, 2013

Protecting and Preserving the

Institutional Memories of

Nonprofits Since 1993

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Today’s Speaker

Rich Dietz President and Founder

Nonprofit R+D

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Cheri J Weissman, CJW Consulting & Services, Inc. Assisting with chat questions: Jamie Maloney, Nonprofit Webinars

SEO 101 for Nonprofits www.NonprofitRD.com 8

Rich Dietz Rich has spent the last 20 years working both in and with a wide variety of nonprofit, political, and government organizations, as well as technology companies focused on the nonprofit sector, including Sage Nonprofit, Convio and KIMBIA. Rich holds a M.S.W. from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

Nonprofit R+D is dedicated to helping emerging and growing nonprofits fully utilize technology and the web to support their missions through training, best practices, and support.

Agenda

1. Introduction

2. Search Engines

3. Keywords

4. On-page Optimization

5. Off-page Optimization

6. Action Plan

Our Goals Today

• Gain a better understanding of SEO and how it relates to nonprofits

• Generate ideas to get you started looking at your website

with SEO in mind

• Encourage you to take action and test out new ideas

Soap Box

Text Heavy Slides… Oh No!

I promise I do not just read the slides • Boring!

Why text heavy slides •You don’t have to take notes – the info is there for you later •You can focus on the “ah-ha” moments •They will still make sense 6 months from now

Let me know what you think

Download the Latest Slides: www.NonprofitRD.com/seo-101-nonprofits

Don’t Panic

There is help out there Google is your friend Me Too.

What You Talkin’ About Willis?

LSI, PPC, Long Tail

CRM, CMS

ROI, API,

wysiwyg

Open-Source

Blah, Blah, Blah

The Latest and Greatest…

Many folks like to focus on the latest and greatest tools and techniques (Shiny Object Syndrome) At Nonprofit R+D, we instead focus on the basics and building a solid foundation

Off Soap Box

1. Introduction

Why Listen to Me?

I love testing and experimenting • Nonprofit R+D

I love SEO • Test blogs with high rankings • Client sites

Recent Examples • “Easy ways to grow your email list” • “Richard Dietz” vs. “Rich Dietz”

Example Site

Beer-FAQ.com - SEO test blog • I no longer use client examples

Article: “What is the difference between an ale and a lager”

• #1 or #2 for multiple keywords (difference ale lager, etc.) • Page gets over 8,000 unique visitors per month (80% search engines)

Today – The Basics

Today we are coving the basics – 101 course • This is the foundation

Each of these areas have much more to them • Nuances, exceptions, contradictions, advanced techniques

What is ‘SEO’

For our purposes: • The process of getting your website found on the

internet… especially on the first page of Google.

Wikipedia says: “Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results.”

Why Should Nonprofits Care?

May be 1 Billion websites online by end of 2013 • How does your website stack up?

Almost 90% of internet users use search engines to find info • What the heck are the other 10% doing?

71% of Millennial donors get information about nonprofits through web searches Higher search results means:

• More clients, supporters, volunteers, partners, donors.

2. Search Engines (Google)

Why Focusing on Google?

Google is up to 67-83% of the U.S. search market • Up to 90% in some countries like U.K. and Australia

Work toward Google rank, the rest will come

Google is our future overlord… so be nice.

How Do Search Engines Work?

1. User enters a search term – “blah”

2. Magic Happens (the algorithm) a) No one knows exactly what is in the algorithm b) Estimated 500+ changes per year in Google c) Some criteria become evident over time

3. Search Engine sends back the best results

a) In their best interest to show the best results b) Results are pages, not websites

Awesome site explaining how search works http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory/

Search Engine Result Red =

Paid Listing 25% of clicks

Green =

Organic / Free Listing 75% of clicks #1 gets 37% of clicks #2 – 12.5% #3 – 9.5 #10 – 2.2% Only 6% go to page 2 (Optify.net)

What Do Search Engines See?

What we see: What search engines see:

www.NonprofitRD.com

Stay on Google’s Good Side

(Avoid the Google Slap)

No Magic Bullet

Google is getting smarter • So are their engineers.. They always find the tricks • No Black Hat or Gray Hat techniques

Pandas and Penguins • Updates to fight the tricksters • Panda attacked low quality content • Penguin attacked low quality links

Google Likes

Authoritative content • Unique and interesting content,

linked TO from other authority sites, reviews from peers, longer content

Cornerstone content • Reports, whitepapers, infographics, resources that people want

Frequent content • The more the better… Google wants fresh and new content

Social signals

Video • Forrester Research - 50x easier to get page 1 with video

Google Dislikes

Spam / Junk content • Panda

Low quality inbound links • Penguin

Duplicate content

Black hat / Gray hat techniques • If it feels wrong, it probably is

3. Keywords

Keywords Are… Key

Keywords are the backbone of search • It is what the user types into the search box • It is what Google uses to figure out what you want

Keywords will be the focus of your content

Finding Your Keywords

Get in the head of the searcher • What are they looking for that you can provide? • How would they type it in?

Other ways to find keywords • Ask your Board, staff, volunteers, supporters.. How would they search? • Analytics program – Keyword Report: it may surprise you • Pages of similar organizations • Keyword software like Google Keyword Search Tool • Google Suggest

Don’t Forget the Long Tail

Long tail keywords • 3+ words • Low search volume

Easier to rank for

Example – Google Keyword Tool

4. On-page Optimization

What is On-page Optimization?

SEO factors that apply to the content and structure of your website

• It lets Google know what your page is all about • This is where you have the most control

#1 Rule – Write Awesome Content

Remember its not about tricks

Remember what Google likes

• Unique, interesting and authoritative content • More words the better – at least 500 words • Written for humans, not search engines

Now, use your keyword in your content

Using Your Keyword (General)

Don’t over do it! • Write for people first, search engines second • No keyword stuffing • Pretend Google is human.. Soon it may be

Need good relationship between

• Keyword > Description > Page content • Needs to make sense

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-keyword-targeting-on-page-optimization

Using Your Keyword (Specifics)

Page Title (<title> tag) • Most people will not see this but first thing search engines will look at

Page URL • SEO friendly URL, using keyword

Meta Description (<meta> tag) • No SEO benefit, but will be used in the search listing • Like a small advertisement, use a call to action to get the click

Headline • May be better to use keyword in beginning, but still make sense • eg/ Overview of the Top Literacy Programs Top Literacy Programs – An Overview

Using Your Keyword (Specifics)

SubHeadings (H2, H3) • Also good for humans, easier to skim content

Keyword Density • Be careful here… no keyword stuffing • Think of synonyms and variations (LSI on next slide)

Images • Use relevant images for content • Use keyword in Alt Text on images IF appropriate

• Helps search engines / helps make more accessible

Links • Internally to your content • Externally to relevant resources (Google likes this)

LSI – Latent Semantic Indexing

LSI – How the search engine determines what a page is about by looking at patterns of related words.

Example – “fork”

Fork in the road OR dinner fork

Important to use synonyms and variations of the keyword • This usually comes naturally when you write awesome content

Example: Keyword: Difference ale lager LSI Keywords: Beer Yeast Brewing Fermentation Keyword Variations: Ales and lagers Ale lager differences

5. Off-page Optimization

What is Off-page Optimization

SEO that applies to building backlinks

• Google sees a link back to your site as a positive vote • Enhances your sites importance and authority • The web is nothing without links

#1 Rule – Real Links

Get links for visitors first • Good links will bring what you really want… Traffic! • Best links will have real people following them… Traffic!

This is where many tried to game the system

• Google always figures out the tricks • You will lose ranking or get penalized

Links to all of your pages, not just homepage • Remember:

• pages are what is ranked not websites • Long tail is easier to rank

Quality Links

Authoritative / credible / popular sources • CNN is better than Joe’s blog

Relevant to the content on the page • Does the link and website connection make sense?

Content links better than sidebar links • Links in the text are more natural

Link text diversity • Some with keyword, some click here, etc.

How To Get Those Links?

Ask supporters for links • Board, staff, volunteers, etc. • Make it easy by supplying example links, ideas • “SEO friendly” badges or banners

Ask other orgs/groups you work with • Sponsors, partners, related organizations

Guest Posting • Write articles for other sites, get link back in author box • Have others write articles for your site, they will promote it

How To Get Those Links?

“Link Bait” • Create amazing content, reports, videos, infographics … cool stuff • Sites will want to link to it

Social signals

• Big factor now for Google. Is your content being shared socially? • Make it easy for visitors to share – social share buttons • Ask people to share it – supporters, Board, volunteers, etc.

Many other ways to get real links • Google “Ideas for link building”, etc. • Make sure to do it the right way! • If it looks to good to be true…. Probably is.

6. Action Plan

Action Plan

1. Start writing more and better content

2. Find your keywords

3. Optimize your pages with the keywords

4. Get inbound links to those pages

5. Get others to share your content

6. Rinse and repeat

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Upcoming Webinars

Dates Topic

4/30 Search Engine Optimization 101 for Nonprofits

5/1 A Business Plan for Your Nonprofit

5/1 Making Shared Leadership Work: 5 Steps to Mastering Collaboration

5/7 Inbound Marketing: The Latest Techniques

5/8 The Three Languages of Appreciation

5/8 Managing Fundraisers; for the Non Fundraising Executive

Register at NonprofitWebinars.com

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