SEO for charities and nonprofits

Three audiences, three routes

Most charities serve at least three groups through their website:

• People seeking help or information, often in difficult circumstances.
• Supporters: donors, fundraisers and campaigners.
• Volunteers.

Each searches differently and needs a clear route through the site. A person searching "food bank near me" at the end of the month needs the address and opening times now. A potential donor searching "local hospice charity" wants to know where money goes. A potential volunteer searching "volunteering opportunities Swindon" wants to know what's involved.

Help seekers come first

For many charities, people needing help are the most important searchers. Make sure:

• Help pages are easy to find from the home page and main menu.
• The most urgent information is at the top: phone numbers, opening hours, how to get help today.
• Language is plain and kind. Avoid jargon and acronyms.
• Pages work well on old, cheap phones and slow connections.
• Content is accessible. See our accessibility guide.
• Crisis information is clear. If your charity works in areas such as mental health or abuse, signpost emergency help clearly.

Google gives health and safety-related topics particular scrutiny. Its guidance on helpful, reliable content explains why expertise and trustworthiness matter most on these topics. Show who wrote and reviewed content and when it was last checked.

Trust signals for supporters

Donors want reassurance. Make it easy to verify you:

• Your registered charity number, with a link to your entry on the Charity Commission register (or the OSCR or Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register, as appropriate).
• Fundraising Regulator registration, if you're registered, with the Fundraising Badge.
• Clear information on how donations are used.
• Annual reports and accounts.
• Real stories, with consent and dignity, from people you've helped.

Local presence

Many charities have physical locations: shops, centres, hospices, community hubs. Each one can have a Google Business Profile with accurate hours and a page on your website. Charity shops in particular benefit from complete profiles with opening hours and what they accept as donations.

Our local SEO guide explains the basics, and our multi-location guide covers managing several sites.

Content that serves your mission

Charities often hold genuine expertise. Publishing it helps people and builds visibility:

• Information guides on the conditions, issues or rights you work on.
• Practical advice, such as how to apply for a particular grant or benefit, linking to official sources.
• Research and reports you've produced.
• Campaign pages explaining issues and how people can help.

Keep information current. Out-of-date guidance on benefits, rights or health can harm people.

Volunteer and fundraising pages

• Volunteer pages should list real roles, time commitments, locations and how to apply. A page per role or type of role can help if you recruit regularly.
• Event pages for fundraising events should have dates, locations, costs and sign-up links, with event structured data if appropriate.
• Donation pages should load fast and work smoothly on mobile.

Links come naturally to charities

Charities often earn links more easily than businesses: local councils, partner organisations, schools, press coverage, corporate supporters and community groups. Make sure partners link to the right page, and keep a list of organisations that already link to you.

Google Ad Grants

Eligible charities can apply for Google Ad Grants, which provide free Google Ads search advertising within set limits. It's paid search, not SEO, but it can complement organic visibility, especially for help-seeking searches where you don't yet rank well.

Keep it simple to maintain

Small charities often rely on volunteers to update the website. Choose a platform that's easy to edit, keep a short guide on how to add pages and update hours, and make sure more than one person has access. Outdated opening times or a closed service still showing online can send someone in need to a locked door.

Measuring what matters

Traffic is only part of it. Track key events that match your aims:

• Calls to a helpline, or clicks to call.
• Downloads of information guides.
• Donations and fundraising sign-ups.
• Volunteer applications.

Look at which search queries and pages lead to each.

A worked example

A small charity supporting carers in Somerset had a website focused on its history, trustees and news. People searching for help as carers found national charities instead.

The charity reorganised its home page around three clear routes: "Get support", "Volunteer" and "Donate". It wrote practical guides on the support local carers could access, including how to request a carer's assessment from the council, with links to official guidance. It created Business Profiles for its two drop-in centres with opening hours and photos. It added its charity number, linked to the register, to the footer.

Local carers began finding the charity directly through search, and the drop-in centres received more visitors who'd found them on the map.