How Nonprofits Should Write Blog Posts and Website Content to Get Found in Traditional Search, AI Search, and Generative Engines

According to a study of 17 nonprofit organizations from M+R, after Google rolled out AI Overviews widely in in March 2025, organic traffic dropped every month compared to the previous year and hit a 13% year-over-year decline by August. The twist? Searches for those same organizations' brand names rose by nearly 19% during the same period. More people were searching, but fewer were clicking through because they found their answers from the AI-generated summaries on the first page of the search results.

This is called the "AI search cliff," and it is reshaping how supporters discover and engage with nonprofits. The organizations in M+R's sample saw web-based donations up about 3% despite the traffic plunge. This is likely due to motivated donors looking for the donation page.  

But the broader implication is significant: rather than learning about your mission from your carefully crafted website, a growing share of potential supporters are encountering your brand through AI-generated summaries you do not control.

The response is not to abandon search optimization. It is to expand it. Today, nonprofits need to optimize simultaneously for traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and AI search visibility. The organizations that adapt now will build a compounding advantage that latecomers will struggle to match.

SEO Foundations Still Matter

Organic search still accounts for roughly 38% of all nonprofit website visits, making it the single largest traffic driver for most organizations And 98% of searchers only look at first-page results. Traditional SEO is still the main driver.

Only 37% of nonprofits currently implement an SEO strategy, according to NonProfit PRO, so the competitive bar remains low for organizations willing to invest effort. How do nonprofits start an SEO strategy?

• Write for search intent, not just keywords. Someone searching "how to support animal shelters" wants information. Someone searching "donate to animal shelter" wants to give. Map your blog content to both stages. Educational posts serve information seekers, while optimized donation and campaign pages serve those ready to act.

• Use long-tail keywords. Instead of competing for "education nonprofit," target phrases like "STEM education programs for underserved youth" or "literacy volunteer opportunities in [your city]." Less competition, more aligned visitors.

• Build internal links intentionally. Every blog post should link to related content: donation pages, volunteer signups, program pages, other educational posts. This keeps visitors engaged and helps search engines understand your site's depth.

• Earn backlinks through partnerships. When credible sites link to your content, search engines read it as a trust signal. Pitch impact stories to local media, collaborate on guest posts with partner organizations, and publish original data that others want to reference. Even small nonprofits can pursue this through local news relationships and community partnerships.

• Prioritize mobile speed. More than 60% of nonprofit-related searches happen on mobile. Nonprofit Tech for Good reports that 94% of nonprofits now have mobile-optimized sites, but if yours takes more than four seconds to load, a quarter of visitors will leave immediately.

Generative Engine Optimization: Becoming the Answer

GEO is the practice of structuring content so AI systems can find, understand, and cite it. As Elevation Web frames it, "SEO gets you on the list, while GEO makes you the answer."

According to industry data, AI systems only cite two to seven sources per response on average. That is far fewer than the ten blue links on a traditional results page. How can you account for these changes with your website and blog?

• Answer real questions directly. Think about what supporters would type into ChatGPT: "How can I help homeless veterans in my city?" "What percentage of food bank donations go to program services?" Create content that answers those questions thoroughly in the first sentence or two of each section. AI systems often extract those opening sentences as answer snippets.

• Add Q&A sections to blog posts and key pages. GoFundMe Pro recommends embedding short question-and-answer sections wherever they fit naturally. This format aligns directly with how AI assistants retrieve and present information.

• Build topical authority. AI systems favor sites that demonstrate expertise across a subject area. One post about donor retention is good. A series covering retention metrics, lapsed donor reactivation, stewardship timelines, and technology tools signals that your site is a definitive resource on the topic.

• Include specific data and cite your sources. AI systems weight content higher when it contains statistics and references to authoritative sources. A post saying "donor retention has been declining" is far less likely to be cited than one referencing the Fundraising Effectiveness Project's specific retention rate data with methodology details.

Structured Data: Making Your Content Machine-Readable

Schema markup has evolved from an SEO bonus into core infrastructure for AI search. In March 2025, both Google and Microsoft publicly stated they use structured data for their generative AI features. ChatGPT confirmed it uses structured data to determine which content surfaces in results. How can you add structured data to your website?

• Implement Article schema on every blog post. This tells AI systems who wrote the content, when it was published, and what organization published it, strengthening the E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) signals that AI systems use to select sources per Search Engine Land.

• Add Organization schema to your main pages. This helps AI systems recognize your nonprofit as an entity with a defined mission, location, and area of expertise.

• Use FAQ schema where appropriate. It provides direct question-and-answer pairs that AI systems can extract with minimal processing according to SEOptimer. Most WordPress sites can implement this through plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.

Content Strategies That Serve Both SEO and GEO

• Structure content with clear, specific headings. Vague headings like "Our Approach" are less useful to AI systems than "How We Measure Program Impact Through Annual Surveys." Use descriptive H2 and H3 tags throughout.

• Refresh existing content regularly. Both traditional search and AI systems favor current information. Revisit your most important posts quarterly to update statistics and fix outdated references.

• Create original research and proprietary data. Research found that AI search systems exhibit a systematic bias toward earned media over brand-owned content. Your annual reports, impact data, and benchmarking studies have enormous citation value. Publish them on your website with clear methodology.

• Diversify your content formats. Blog posts are essential, but videos, infographics, and downloadable guides expand your reach. A short YouTube video explaining your cause can rank in both traditional and AI search results. Infographics with compelling statistics are more likely to be shared and linked to, building the backlink profile that strengthens both SEO and GEO.

• Audit what AI is already saying about you. M+R's recommendation is practical and urgent: search for your organization in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews today. That annual report buried on a subpage or the "Ways to Give" page you haven't updated in years may already be what AI is surfacing to people searching for you. Make sure those pages tell the story you want told.

Measuring Success in the AI Search Era

Traditional metrics still matter like organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates. But add these metrics to your analytics to monitor:

• Monitor your AI visibility. Periodically ask cause-area questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Note whether your organization gets mentioned or cited.

• Track AI referral traffic. Google Analytics can identify visits from AI-powered search tools. Watch the trends even if the numbers are small today.

• Expect lower click-through rates. As GoFundMe Pro notes, it is normal for clicks to drop when AI answers appear in results. The question is whether total engagement, including donations, signups, and email list growth, stays healthy.

• Focus on being cited, not just ranked. In the AI era, success means being the source that an AI system trusts enough to reference when constructing an answer.

Start Small, Start Now

Audit your five most important web pages. Are they answering real questions clearly? Do they include specific data? Are the headings descriptive?

1. Add basic schema markup through your CMS or a plugin.

2. Write one new blog post per month that directly answers a question your supporters commonly ask, structured with clear headings, data citations, and internal links.

The M+R data makes the stakes clear: people are searching for you more than ever, but they may never reach your website. The nonprofits that structure their content for both human readers and AI systems now are the ones that will remain visible, cited, and trusted as the search landscape continues to evolve. AI systems tend to reinforce their source preferences over time, so the organizations that establish themselves as trusted sources early will benefit from a compounding advantage. The window to act is open.