The PN Digital team is still buzzing from the absolute privilege of sponsoring WTSFest Melbourne recently.
It was the first time this global conference landed in Australia, and the energy in the room was electric. We spent the day surrounded by some of the brightest minds in SEO and digital marketing, and our notebooks are full, our brains are firing on all cylinders, and we are ready to get to work for our clients.
We know resources are often tight and teams are lean in the NFP sector. You don’t always have the luxury of a massive data team or an unlimited marketing budget. So, we’ve distilled the day’s massive knowledge drop into the core insights that matter most for Not-for-Profit organisations.
The “Messy Middle” is Where You Win
If there was one theme that dominated the day, it was that the old way of searching – type a keyword, click a blue link – is effectively dead.
Jes Scholz and Nik Ranger blew us away with their deep dives into how search is evolving. Jes highlighted how “organic clicks are in decline” as AI thrives in covering search, discovery, and entertainment, while Nik introduced us to the concept of the “Agentic Layer” – the backend decision-making process where AI decides which sources to trust.
For NFPs, this is actually good news. People don’t just search “donate to charity.” They search for stories, look for impact, and ask complex questions. It’s apparent that we can’t just optimise for a click anymore; we have to optimise for visibility across an omnichannel landscape. We need to be the answer wherever your potential donor is asking the question – whether that’s in a Google search, a social platform, or an AI chat.
Brand is Your Safety Net
In a world where generative AI creates a “sea of sameness,” trust becomes the ultimate currency. Gabriela Damaceno and Georgia Tan drove this point home, emphasising that a strong brand is your best strategy to rank and earn the click.
For our NFP partners, your brand is your biggest asset. Search engines (and AI models) are prioritising entities – real, verifiable organisations with a strong reputation. Georgia discussed the concept of SXO (Search Experience Optimisation), identifying it as the framework for building a defensible brand online.
This means your “About Us” page, your transparency reports, and your real human stories are more important than ever. Technical SEO gets you to the table, but your brand is what keeps you there.
Work Smarter, Not Harder (The Data Nerd Stuff!)
We admit, we geeked out a bit during the technical sessions. Helen Han, Sarah Crooke, and Natalie Slater showed us how to use data to save time and reduce risk.
For NFPs, efficiency is key. Helen showcased how to move from “manual pain to automated SEO gains” using tools to scale high-quality content without burning out resources. Sarah demonstrated how to elevate analysis using BigQuery to handle data limitations in Google Search Console.
Natalie gave us a crucial blueprint for website migrations, reminding us that traffic loss isn’t a given if you have the right risk assessment and strategy in place. This validates the work we do at PN Digital to protect your traffic – we don’t just “hope” a redesign works; we use data to ensure it does.
So, What Now?
We left WTSFest with a clear vision: The future of search isn’t about “tricking” an algorithm. It’s about building a robust, trustworthy ecosystem around your cause.
It’s about making sure that when someone asks, “Who is helping with [your cause]?” – whether they ask Google, Siri, or ChatGPT – the answer is YOU.
We are already integrating these learnings into our strategies for our NFP clients. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the speed of change, don’t worry. That’s what we’re here for.
