Many nonprofits allow sponsorships on their websites, and those sponsor can get links back to their website.
In this video, we’ll explain some tactics to identify and use nonprofits as link-building targets for SEO. Let’s get started!
- Watch the Video
- Links and Resources (scroll down below the video)
Watch “How to Build Links Easily for SEO: Easy Ecosystem, Directory and Association Links” on YouTube!
Nonprofits and Links: Yum!
Many nonprofits allow sponsorships, and these website sponsors get links FROM the nonprofit TO their website. Even better, many nonprofits have a high Google PageRank / Domain Authority, meaning that their “link juice” is pretty good. Here are some examples –
- KCRW – matching gifts, notice the links FROM KCRW TO the sponsors.
- Bay Area Furry Friends – not just links, but keyword proximity! Yum!
Photo credit: GoonSquadSarah via Foter.com / CC BY-ND
- Lancaster Symphony Orchestra – images with Alt texts! Yum! Yum!
As you’re looking for nonprofit link opportunities –
- Use a tool like Open Link Profiler or Open Site Explorer and pay attention to the domain authority of the target website links that they are given. The more powerful / higher the score, the more valuable a link is!
Look at their listings of “sponsor” companies, and make sure that they do NOT use the NOFOLLOW attribute.
Identifying Relevant Nonprofits for Link-building
Link-building is all about domain authority and relevancy, so remember your keywords. Your best nonprofit links are “in” or “near” your keyword community, and have a strong domain authority. How can you identify relevant nonprofits?
- Do Google searches for your keywords but use the site:*.org command to get just the *.org’s, which are often nonprofits. For example, site:*.org photographers or site:*.org photography nonprofit. That can lead you to a website like First Exposures, and you can then reach out to them to inquire if you can become a sponsor and if, by doing so, you can have your logo (with your keyword in the in ALT attribute) in the link. In this way, you can use your sponsorship contribution as a way to get a link that is legitimate in your industry. Similarly, for a site like Project Exposure. Don’t forget to use your city targets (if you’re local), like site:*.org NYC nonprofit as well.
- Do even more specific Google searches such as site:*.org NYC nonprofit “link to your website” as this is a very efficient way to find out if nonprofits already have in place a system for rewarding sponsors with links.
- Use some of the large nonprofit directories such as GuideStar. These identify nonprofits by category, but be sure to check out their websites to make sure that the links are DOFOLLOW (not NOFOLLOW), and that the nonprofit has some Domain Authority vis-a-vis Google.
As you are soliciting links from nonprofits, do be aware that – technically speaking – this is a violation of Google terms of service, so please do this at your own risk! So I would advise to keep it within reasonable limits, and really position it that you are doing something you are already doing (sponsoring nonprofits for the good of humanity) and it “just so happens” that there is some link-building going on as well. It’s hard to see how Google can crack down against nonprofits for participating in this type of link-building; as Google’s brand image is of a lovable, huggable “do no evil” Silicon Valley website. How could Google possibly crack down against nonprofits that want to save the whales, stop global warming, and work against domestic violence?
Photo credit: GoonSquadSarah via Foter.com / CC BY-ND
