SEO for charities: Link building and site reputation

SEO is a vital tactic for charities to gain better brand awareness and attract new audiences online.

A key step to this is ensuring that your website ranks as high as possible in search results.

There are many factors that search engines take into account when deciding which web pages to rank first. Previously, we’ve discussed the importance of content relevance for SEO and ways to optimise meta titles and descriptions. Today, we’re going to be talking about site reputation, and the importance of link building.

What is link building?

Link building is an SEO strategy that involves acquiring links from other websites to your own, known as backlinks.

The more links you have to your domain, the more signals are sent to search engines indicating that you have authority on a certain topic.

However it’s not just the number of links you should worry about. Links from reputable websites should be the priority. A high quantity of high quality links will make your site appear more trustworthy. On the flip side, a high quantity of low quality links will make your site appear toxic.

How backlinks can impact site reputation

Site reputation is an important consideration when analysing the quality of your backlinks.

Also known as domain authority, a term used by SEO tools such as Moz, this is a score that can compare the strength of a website and its ranking potential. It takes into account the number and quality of backlinks to a site. Therefore gaining backlinks from other sites with high authority can in turn improve your own.

Relevance is another element to consider.

You’ll want topically related domains linking to yours. Google essentially sees each backlink as an endorsement to your site, so having backlinks from several sites in your sector can establish you as a reputable source within that category.

However it has been made clear by Google that backlinks and domain authority aren’t a ranking factor that will impact where your page appears in search results.

So are backlinks and site reputation important for SEO?

Backlinks won’t directly make a page rank higher, but they can enhance your likelihood of Google positively evaluating your content under their E-E-A-T framework, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. The search engine uses this system to evaluate the credibility and quality of your site content, which is just one of many factors that Google will take into account to determine where a page should rank.

In summary, building backlinks to your site will give you more credibility, which is important for SEO.

There are certain criteria that can also make a backlink even more valuable. These types of backlinks include:

• Backlinks from varied domains: if you have several backlinks from only one domain Google can read this as an attempt to manipulate your links. Varied links will create a more natural link profile.
• Dofollow backlinks: these allow search engines to discover your page via other sites. Ironically, too many dofollow backlinks and too few nofollow links can also be seen as unnatural. It’s hard to please Google, isn’t it?
• Backlinks with relevant anchor text: the anchor text used to link to your site will be read by Google to understand the contents of the link, and ultimately the relevance of your site. This can also help you rank for a certain topic or keyword.

Unfortunately, these factors are hard to control, but tools like Moz or SEMRush can help you to break down which types of backlinks your site currently has and identify certain types you might be missing. This is beneficial to know when carrying out link building exercises. Which leads us onto our next point, how exactly do you go about gaining new backlinks?

How can charities build backlinks to their website?

The natural way to build site reputation is through earning links. This strategy requires focusing on the quality of your content, in the hopes that your content will naturally attract links from other sites and publications. Think about the types of content that’s likely to attract links. It could be unique research, infographics or news on a trending topic.

For example, Freedom Fund is an organisation dedicated to ending modern slavery by amplifying the voices of those affected and partnering with organisations and communities to strengthen and support their work. Their content strategy not only provides educational content on the types of modern slavery that exist around the world today, but they publish regular reports and research, resulting in publications such as Forbes and The Guardian citing them as an authoritative source on the topic, resulting in links to the Freedom Fund website.

Another strategy is to essentially ask for or encourage links from relevant individuals or organisations. Charities can do this in several ways.

Link building techniques for charities

1. Online directories
An easy way to create links to your site is by listing your organisation in online directories such as The Charities Network.

2. Working with other organisations
Do you host events or carry out partnerships with another organisation? These kinds of collaborations can often lead to links from their online content to yours.

3. Targeted outreach
If an organisation has mentioned you online but haven’t linked to your site, why not reach out and ask?

4. Write guest content
Consider sharing content on other sites that will link back to your site. Take topics you are passionate about, and find a publication which is looking for content from your charity perspective.

5. Carry out competitor research
Tools like SEMrush allow you to analyse the backlinks of competitors, to identify relevant sites that might also link to your own. AI can be a handy tool for researching and identifying publications or sites that are relevant to yours, or for suggesting trending topics and content that is likely to draw backlinks.

Link building mistakes to avoid

A third strategy which should be avoided at all costs is buying links. Unethical practices such as this are flagged by Google as black hat SEO, a term for ways sites might manipulate search engines, which Google has cracked down on and will negatively affect your site rankings.

Forgetting to prioritise your content quality in the pursuit of links is another no-go. Ultimately, if your content is of high quality and relevance to your audience, you should naturally build up links over time. This will also help you to acquire more high value links, rather than links from irrelevant or toxic sites.

Link building – is it a priority?

Remember that link building is just one part of your wider SEO strategy. It’s vital to improving or maintaining your site reputation, which is key to establishing your site as authoritative and trustworthy. Start by carrying out a backlink audit and go from there. If you identify gaps that need filling, then you might consider working link building techniques into your SEO strategy.

Whatever techniques you choose to use, remember that external links aren’t the only thing to consider and your internal linking strategy is just another piece of the puzzle for improving search visibility. By effectively linking between your pages, you can share the authority you’ve gained from backlinks with other pages on your site.

Finally, don’t forget to track the results of your link building efforts. Setting achievable KPIs and understanding your ultimate project goal will help guide you in deciding where to prioritise and how to measure success.