Technical SEO Fixes Nonprofits Overlook

Your content is good. Your titles are clear. But you still do not rank. Often the problem is under the hood. Technical SEO is the stuff donors never see. Google does. When it is wrong, you lose.

Why Technical SEO Matters

Google has to crawl your site to show it in search. If pages are blocked or broken, Google skips them. So do visitors. Technical fixes do not need a developer every time. Many you can do with free tools and a bit of time.

Fix Crawl Errors First

Crawl errors mean Google tried to open a page and failed. Maybe the page moved. Maybe the link is wrong. Maybe the server timed out. These errors pile up. Google starts to trust your site less.

Use Google Search Console. It is free. Link your site and check the Coverage or Pages report. Look for errors. Fix redirects for old URLs. Remove links to pages that no longer exist. Next, run a quick check every few months.

Find and Fix Broken Links

Broken links are links that go nowhere. Click and you get a 404. They hurt user trust. They also waste crawl budget. Google spends time on dead ends instead of your good pages.

Use a free broken link checker. Scan your site. You will get a list of broken URLs. Update them to the right page or remove them. Do this once a quarter. Links break when you change URLs or delete posts.

Submit a Sitemap

A sitemap is a list of your pages. You give it to Google so it knows what to crawl. Many site builders create one for you. Look for yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. If it loads, you have one.

Submit it in Google Search Console. Go to Sitemaps. Enter sitemap.xml. Click Submit. Google will use it to find your pages faster. You do not need to do this every day. Once is enough. Update when you add a lot of new content.

Check Your robots.txt

robots.txt is a small file that tells crawlers what they can access. Sometimes it blocks too much. Then Google cannot see key pages. Check yoursite.com/robots.txt. Make sure you are not blocking your main pages or your sitemap.

If you use WordPress or another CMS, check the settings. Some plugins add rules that block Google. When in doubt, search how to allow Google in robots.txt for your platform. One wrong line can hide your whole site.

Add Schema Markup When You Can

Schema is code that describes your content to Google. It can make your listing show extra info. Like your address. Your events. Your org name. Rich results get more clicks.

You do not have to do this first. Get crawl errors and sitemap right first. Then look at schema. For nonprofits, Organization schema is a good start. Some plugins add it for you. Test with Google's Rich Results Test when you are done.

What to Do Next

Start with Search Console. Fix crawl errors. Add or fix your sitemap. Check robots.txt. Then clean broken links. Schema can come later. These steps take a few hours. They pay off for months.

Technical SEO is not glamorous. But it is the base. Without it, great content does not get seen. With it, Google can find you and show you to the right people.

Need help finding and fixing technical issues? AYNI offers free support to nonprofits. Nominate your org or book a chat at ayni.io. We will help you get the basics right so your site can rank.