Start with What Search Engines Actually Read
Search engines look at specific parts of each page to understand what it's about. The most important are the page title, the meta description, the main heading (H1), and the body text. If these are missing, vague, or duplicated across pages, Google has a harder time matching your content to the searches that should find it.
Before anything else, check that every page on your site has a unique, descriptive page title. This is the single biggest SEO improvement most nonprofit sites can make, and it takes no technical skill — just the willingness to edit each page.
Make Sure Google Can Find and Index Your Pages
There's no point optimizing pages that Google can't access. Check that your site doesn't have a robots.txt file blocking crawlers, and that your pages aren't tagged with a "noindex" setting left over from a staging build. Both are surprisingly common causes of invisible websites.
You can verify this by submitting your site to Google Search Console — a free tool that tells you which pages Google has indexed, which have errors, and what search queries are bringing people to your site. If you haven't set this up, it should be the first thing you do.
Match Your Language to What People Actually Search
The words on your website need to match the words people type into Google when they're looking for what you offer. If your organization provides "transitional housing support" but your potential clients search for "help finding housing," there's a gap. Your page may be perfectly written and still never surface in results.
You don't need keyword research software to fix this. Talk to staff who field intake calls, review the questions people ask you by email, and write in plain language that reflects how your community actually describes its needs.
Get Your Most Important Pages Properly Structured
Each page should have one clear H1 heading that describes what the page is about. Supporting sections can use H2 and H3 headings to break up content. This structure helps search engines understand the hierarchy of information and helps visitors scan pages quickly.
Don't use headings for styling purposes — don't make something an H2 just because you want bigger text. Headings carry meaning for both search engines and screen readers. Use them to signal what each section covers.
GoodSiteReport's nonprofit website audit checks every page for missing titles, duplicate headings, indexing issues, and other SEO basics that are easy to miss and easy to fix once you know they're there. See what your site looks like to search engines.
Build a Few Relevant Links — Quality Over Quantity
Links from other websites to yours signal credibility to search engines. You don't need hundreds of them. A few links from relevant, trusted sources — a local foundation, a partner organization, a local news outlet that covered your work — carry more weight than dozens of low-quality directory links.
Start by making sure your organization is listed on Google Business Profile, your city or county's nonprofit directory, and any coalition or network sites you belong to. These are easy wins that many nonprofits haven't claimed.
Don't Let Technical Issues Undo Your Work
Good content and accurate page titles won't fully help if your site has technical problems that interfere with how search engines crawl and rank it. The most common issues to watch for include:
- Pages that load slowly (especially on mobile)
- Broken links pointing to pages that no longer exist
- Missing or incorrect redirects after a site redesign
- Duplicate content caused by www vs. non-www versions of the same page
- Images without alt text, which reduces accessibility and SEO value
You don't need to address all of these at once. Prioritize the ones that affect your most-visited pages first, and work through the rest over time.