Social media is an important tool in finding homes for pets, but that’s no reason to forget that most people head for Google and other search engines when they want to get information about anything, including adopting a pet.

One way to make sure your organization’s website is easy to find by search — part of what’s known as “search engine optimization,” or SEO — is to have a blog that’s updated at least weekly.

That’s because search engines such as Google prefer to give results from sites that are being updated frequently, and there’s no easier or faster way to freshen up your site’s content than with a blog.

What should you blog about? Your adoption events, fundraising, rewards of fostering, cute stories about pets, health and behavior tips, staff and volunteer profiles… there’s no shortage of topics that your supporters will find interesting. Anything you’re currently posting to social media could be a blog post first!

Once you’ve written your post, be sure to give it a great, SEO-friendly headline — tips on how to do that here — and then share it on your social media channels.

One note: To get the SEO benefit of your blog, it needs to be on the same domain as your website. Just linking to a blog on another domain, like Typepad or Blogger, won’t work.

Most web platforms, such as WordPress, have blog capabilities, and your website probably does, too. If you’re not sure, contact your site manager or web designer and ask.