The Internet Advertising Bureau has teamed up with Oxfam and Shelter to offer a search marketing toolkit designed to help charities and public sector organisations increase their visibility online.

The toolkit was prompted by recent research conducted by the IAB which found that 61 per cent of non-profit organisations think their website is underperforming against their marketing objectives.

In addition, 40 per cent of charity brands had not had training on advanced search marketing techniques such as the relationship between social media and search.

Benchmarking and planning

The toolkit includes tools for benchmarking and planning, tips on how to execute a successful search campaign including setting targets and planning, and steps to improve website landing pages.

One case study looks at how Oxfam worked with SEO experts LBi to ensure relevant areas of its website appeared in search rankings for high volume generic keywords.

The charity’s visibility for search phrases such as [climate change], [charity donation] and [disaster relief] all went from virtually zero to page one and two results within six weeks, while an exercise to optimise pages for the London Marrathon saw traffic increase ten-fold in the week following the event.

The toolkit also includes a look at new landing pages adopted by Shelter, which resulted in conversion rates rising 10 per cent and average donation levels increasing by an impressive 100 per cent.