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SEO CASE STUDY
SEO for Charities: How Strategic SEO Increased Organic Clicks by 115% and Expanded Awareness Beyond Branded Search
A national Australian charity had strong existing brand recognition but limited visibility among people searching for the broader issues, questions and support topics connected to its mission. Over a 16-month campaign, SAAR® implemented a long-term SEO strategy designed to strengthen rankings, expand non-branded discovery and build sustainable organic visibility.
NOT FOR PROFIT
SEO
115%
YoY Organic Click Growth
+56%
Improvement in Average Rankings
+91%
Growth in Top 3 Rankings
THE CHALLENGE
Strong brand recognition was driving existing supporters to the website, but limited non-branded visibility was restricting the charity's ability to reach entirely new audiences through search.
The charity had already established meaningful brand recognition, and people familiar with the organisation could find it relatively easily through branded searches. The greater growth opportunity existed earlier in the awareness journey, where people were searching for information about social issues, support, participation and related topics without knowing the organisation’s name.
The website contained valuable information, but much of it had been developed primarily for existing supporters rather than around the questions and search behaviours of people discovering the organisation for the first time. This limited its ability to capture informational and educational searches beyond the brand itself.
Organic authority also needed greater depth. Rather than one major technical problem, several smaller opportunities across technical SEO, content, internal linking, topical coverage and ranking quality were collectively limiting performance.
The opportunity was therefore bigger than simply increasing traffic. SAAR® needed to transform the website into a consistently discoverable resource capable of reaching people throughout the awareness journey — from initial research and support searches through to volunteering and donation consideration.
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SAAR® approached SEO as an integrated organic growth system rather than a collection of disconnected optimisations. The strategy centred on four interconnected priorities designed to strengthen the website's technical foundation, relevance, authority and long-term discoverability.
THE STRATEGY
Add Your Heading Text Here
01
Technical Foundation
Improve site architecture, crawlability, indexing and page relevance so search engines could more effectively discover and understand the website’s most important content.
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Search Intent & Content Strategy
Align content with the questions and topics people were genuinely searching for, expanding visibility across educational, awareness, support and participation searches.
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Authority & Internal Architecture
Strengthen relationships between related pages through strategic internal linking and broader topical coverage, helping build authority across entire subject areas rather than isolated pages.
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External Trust Signals
Build relevant, high-quality backlinks from trusted external sources to reinforce the organisation’s credibility and strengthen the authority of priority content.
THE EXECUTION
Turning Strategy Into Sustainable Organic Growth
The SEO campaign was delivered progressively over 16 months, allowing improvements to compound rather than relying on isolated tactics or short-term traffic gains. Each phase was designed to strengthen both how search engines understood the website and how effectively users could discover useful information.
SAAR® first strengthened the website’s technical foundation and architecture, reviewing page hierarchy, internal navigation, page relevance and the topical signals communicated by priority pages. Once that foundation was established, the content strategy shifted towards genuine search behaviour, targeting educational resources, awareness topics, practical guidance, participation opportunities and donation-related information.
Related content was then strategically connected through improved internal linking, helping build stronger topic clusters and distribute authority throughout the website. Supporting articles reinforced cornerstone pages while priority resources received stronger internal support.
Finally, an ongoing outreach strategy focused on earning relevant, high-quality backlinks from trusted sources. Combined, these activities created a compounding organic growth system in which technical improvements, content, internal architecture and external authority reinforced one another over time.
Optional Campaign Focus List
Campaign duration: 16 months
Technical SEO
Search intent research
Content optimisation
Topical authority development
Internal linking
Site architecture
Keyword optimisation
Authority building / backlinks
Performance monitoring
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THE RESULTS
Organic visibility grew significantly — and increasingly reached people beyond branded search.
115%
YoY Organic Click Growth
Organic clicks increased substantially year-on-year as stronger rankings and broader search visibility brought more users to the website through Google. The improvement created more opportunities for the charity to educate, support and engage potential volunteers, donors and community members without increasing advertising spend.
+56%
Improvement in Average Rankings
Average Google ranking position improved from 25.6 to 11.3, moving the website considerably closer to the high-visibility positions where stronger organic click-through becomes possible.
+91%
Growth in Top 3 Rankings
The number of keywords ranking within Google's Top 3 positions increased by 91%, with 21 keywords reaching these highly competitive placements. This demonstrated that the campaign improved not simply the quantity of ranking keywords, but the quality and commercial value of those positions.
WHAT CHANGED
Organic search evolved from a channel largely serving people who already knew the charity into a sustainable awareness engine capable of introducing entirely new audiences to the organisation.
The value of the campaign extended beyond higher rankings and increased traffic. By the conclusion of the engagement, 35% of organic traffic was coming from non-branded searches — people searching for questions, problems and topics rather than the organisation's name. That meant the website was increasingly reaching people earlier in their journey: individuals researching the cause, looking for support, exploring ways to contribute or seeking trustworthy information before they had chosen an organisation to engage with. The result was a fundamental shift in the role of organic search. Instead of awareness depending primarily on existing brand recognition, fundraising campaigns and external promotion, SEO became an always-on discovery channel capable of introducing new audiences throughout the year and establishing a stronger foundation for future growth.
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