Technical SEO
Crawling, indexing, site speed and security, fixed first. For The Fred Hollows Foundation this included an HTTPS site migration and a full round of technical SEO improvements.
SEO for charities and not-for-profits
Charity SEO measured in donations, not rankings.
SEO for charities that want to be found for the cause, not only for their name. We fix the technical foundations, plan the content and report on the support it brings in. For The Fred Hollows Foundation, organic revenue rose 177% and the SEO visibility score rose 40%.
- Top 3%
- Google Premier Partner
- 4+ years
- Average client relationship
- 4.9 / 5
- Rating on Clutch
Trusted by Australian organisations since 2014
The problem
People search the cause before they search the charity.
A charity usually ranks for its own name. The harder part is being found by people who have never heard of you. They search the condition, the issue, the region or the question, and whoever answers it properly is the organisation they remember.
That matters because people are tired of being asked for money. They are not tired of the cause. What works is arriving earlier: being useful first, and earning the right to ask later.
SEO is how you do that without paying for every click. It takes longer than advertising and it keeps paying once it is built. It also feeds your Google Ad Grants account, because the grant can only serve searches your site has a useful page for. Our guide to digital marketing for charities covers how the free programs fit together.
The measure is donations and sign-ups from organic search, not rankings.
What's included
SEO built around the cause.
One programme, covering technical SEO audits, content and AEO and GEO optimisation. See all SEO services ↗
Cause and issue keywords
Research into what people search about your cause, your programs and the issue you work on. Not only your organisation’s name.
Content planning
What your site can answer today and what to publish next, planned around appeals, awareness weeks and the dates that matter to your supporters.
International SEO
Country and region targeting for organisations that work or raise funds in more than one market. We built SEO strategies for multiple countries and regions for The Fred Hollows Foundation.
AI search visibility
Whether AI tools name your organisation when someone asks about your cause, and what they say about you when they do.
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- Gemini
Donation tracking and reporting
Donations, sign-ups and enquiries from organic search tracked properly, in a report you can take to the board.
Published client results
Charity SEO results we can prove.
The Fred Hollows Foundation is an international development organisation with a presence in more than 25 countries. Organic revenue rose 177% and the SEO visibility score rose 40%. The 211% is total transactions, across SEO and the Google Ad Grants account together. All not-for-profit case studies ↗
Case study · Fred Hollows Foundation
What we did for The Fred Hollows Foundation.
The Foundation needed to communicate across more than 25 countries with limited marketing resources and a limited digital footprint. We ran an HTTPS site migration and technical SEO improvements, developed SEO strategies for multiple countries and regions, and created and optimised content for a global audience. Alongside the SEO, we optimised and expanded the Foundation’s Google Ad Grants account.
“I’ve been working with Ilan for two years and can safely say he’s one of the most knowledgeable and responsive consultants I’ve ever dealt with. His understanding of search is in-depth and he’s always able to break down complicated concepts in to easily understood, actionable tasks. I’ve asked Ilan hundreds of questions and have developed my own skill-set because of his ability and willingness to help. Because Ilan is results-oriented and wants the best for all his clients, he’s truly an asset to any digital project. And, in addition to having technical prowess and an ability to deliver, he’s also personable, friendly and collaborative. I’d recommend him in an instant.”
How we work
Fix the foundations. Then build.
Audit first, foundations second, then the pages that bring in support.
- 01
Audit
Technical health, content, links and tracking. We look at what people search about your cause and where your site is missing.
- 02
Fix the foundations
Crawling, indexing, security and donation tracking. Content does little until search engines can read the site properly.
- 03
Build the pages
Pages for your cause, your programs and the questions people ask, published to a content calendar.
- 04
Measure and expand
We report on donations and sign-ups from organic search, keep what works and extend into new topics and markets.
Related services
Go deeper on each part of the work.
Each part of the programme is also a service in its own right. For paid campaigns alongside SEO, see Google Ads management and digital marketing for not-for-profits.
SEO services
Everything we do in organic search, and how we run it.
Technical SEO audits
Migrations, site speed and crawl issues, prioritised for your developers.
AEO and GEO optimisation
Being named, and described accurately, in AI answers.
Google Ad Grants management
The free search advertising that your content also feeds.
From the blog
Related articles.
Frequently asked questions
SEO for charities, answered.
The foundations are the same: a site search engines can read, useful pages and credible links. The goal and the audience are different. Charity SEO, also called nonprofit SEO, has to reach donors, volunteers, people who need your services and people who simply want to understand the issue. Much of that searching is for information, not for a product. So we plan content around the cause and measure the result in donations and sign-ups.
Yes. The grant is text ads on Google search only, with bids capped at $2 a click. SEO earns the click without an ad, on the same searches and on many the grant cannot win. Both depend on the same thing: useful pages on your site. Every good page gives the grant more searches to serve and gives Google more reasons to rank you. See Google Ad Grants management.
The technical foundations and the tracking. If search engines cannot read the site properly, new content will not do much. If donations are not tracked, nobody can tell what is working. A technical SEO audit sets the order of work.
Yes. The Fred Hollows Foundation has a presence in more than 25 countries, and we developed SEO strategies for multiple countries and regions. Read the Fred Hollows Foundation case study.
Start with the channels that carry no media cost: the grant, if you are eligible, and organic search. Paid campaigns come in for appeals, events and audiences that search cannot reach. See Google Ads management for the paid side, and digital marketing for not-for-profits for how the channels fit together.
On outcomes first: donations, transactions, sign-ups and enquiries from organic search. Rankings and traffic come second, as the signals that explain the outcome. If rankings rise and support does not, we change the plan.
No. There are no lock-in contracts. Our average client relationship is over four years.
Get started
What should organic search be doing for the cause?
In-house or with another agency, we will give you a clear, honest picture of what is working and what is holding the site back.
- A real conversation with a senior strategist, not a salesperson.
- Specific to your organisation, your audience and your goals.
- No obligation. No lock-in. 100% confidential.
Prefer to talk? 1300 490 147