A nonprofit whose clicks were sliding all summer. 860% more clicks in August.
From May 2025 I ran SEO for a US education nonprofit working with K-12 pupils, parents and schools. That first summer its clicks were falling and the site averaged a page-three position. In August 2026 it earned 860% more Google clicks than in August 2025, and every month from October 2025 averaged a top-10 position.
Results
Google clicks
Google impressions
Page three, and slipping
The nonprofit runs tutoring and enrichment for younger pupils, a college-readiness programme for older ones, a parents' network, plus training for teachers and after-school staff, across three US states. It speaks to districts, principals and parents. The website was managed on the same account, a blog already existed, and another agency had handled the site before me. The team described itself as new to SEO.
June 2025, my first complete month, brought clicks in the low hundreds from roughly 29,000 impressions, averaging a position near 23, a click-through rate below 1%. Clicks then slid month by month, down about 20% by August.
Writing for two calendars
The questionnaire the client filled in at the start is my record here. It does not date individual tasks, and I do not credit particular pages to particular months.
- 01
Map every programme and audience
The questionnaire listed each strand of the work, from enrichment and college access to parent and educator training, cultural events, workshops and a placement scheme for college students. District leaders and principals search in very different terms from parents, so content had to serve both sets of readers without blurring them together.
- 02
Write in a voice families trust
The client asked for a friendly, conversational voice that teaches step by step, in simple language with no jargon. They also wanted the content to follow the habits of the strongest publishers in education rather than tired tactics, which set a clear quality bar for every article.
- 03
Plan around two calendars
Families look at programmes, mostly college access and readiness, between August and October. School districts settle contracts between January and April. Those two windows defined what the content needed to cover and when demand from each audience should be expected to rise.
Summer against summer
Summer 2026 produced 440% more clicks than summer 2025, despite a two-week dip in June 2026 that recovered from the 23rd. A year earlier, not one day had hit 20 clicks; this time more than 60 days did. August 2026 was the best month since January.
Since October 2025 the monthly average position has stayed between about 5 and 9, while monthly impressions grew 230% by August. Two explainer articles, one ranking K-12 education by state and one on listing honours in a college application, each out-earned the homepage by between 300% and 600% across the record.
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