People in Massachusetts, Delaware, and Michigan are more likely than those elsewhere to search online for places to donate their money and time, according to a new study of Google search trends. Other states that made the top 10 were New Hampshire, Virginia, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Connecticut.
The analysis was conducted by Digital Third Coast, a marketing company. Jenny Lake, the firm’s digital marketing coordinator, said the report was based on average searches per search term on a monthly basis from November 2017 to November 2018. The company’s analysis took population into account so, for instance, Rhode Island’s volume could be fairly compared to a more populous state.
Some of the states toward the bottom of the list were in the southern portion of the country, Lake said. She attributed the gap between the East and the South to the larger financial centers on the coast.
“Maybe there are more people getting sent more ads [asking them to donate],” she said.
The Power of Search
The key phrases people Googled were “volunteer opportunities near me,” “best charities to donate to,” “best nonprofits to donate to,” “places to donate near me,” and “what percentage of my income should be donated to charity.”
The most popular search term by far was “volunteer opportunities near me,” which had 33,100 total monthly searches. The second most popular was “best charities to donate to,” which had 6,600. The other three search terms all had fewer than 1,000.
Lake said nonprofits in the states with lower search trends should try to get more attention on search engines by using the key phrases.
“I would say even if you’re trying to get donations from your local city, you can go after these larger keywords,” she said. “When people are looking that up, they can find a smaller nonprofit, one that’s not necessarily near them, but it could strike a nerve and make them say, ‘Oh, this is a cause I want to get behind.’ "
Tips for Nonprofits
Lyndsey Maddox, director of business development at Digital Third Coast, provided some extra tips about how nonprofits can boost their visibility online.
Use Google Ad’s Keyword Planner tool to identify keywords that will attract attention, she said. Make those words visible on the website and in headlines, text, and web addresses. Put them in image tags, too. “Ensuring your site is well structured and easy to navigate is important for both [search-engine optimization] purposes and your user.”
Maddox said nonprofits can get more attention from search engines by getting others to link to them. “Encourage your corporate sponsors and partners to share a link to your site from theirs as a benefit to both of you.”
She added that Google Ad campaigns can also affect overall visibility. Google donates up to $10,000 a month in free advertising to qualified charities. “Make sure you take advantage of Google Grants dollars to promote your offerings to your community.”
This article was updated on December 30 to correct the sum that Google provides each month to nonprofits.
