Website (CMS) Performance and UX Playbook

So what does high-performing actually mean? Here, it means users are unencumbered to accomplish the goal they had upon arriving. Your website needs to be technically, structurally, and verbally clear — with options and pathways for users and bots alike to find information and act. Multiple pathways does not mean a site cluttered with CTAs. It means understanding your visitors’ entry points and where they are in their relationship with your organization, then building appropriate flows and CTAs within each page.

To successfully craft these experiences, this playbook walks through five lenses you can use for evaluating (and improving) your website. Each section includes practical considerations and an audit checklist you can use to grade where you are today:

A word on AI: you’re going to hear a lot about it, and there’s merit to be sure. But at the end of the day, what AI products want is for their users to be happy with the results they’re given. Users are happy when they experience value — finding the answer, being right, feeling understood. Designing your website to deliver real value to real humans in clear, accessible ways is exactly what makes it findable for AEO. The best thing you can do for AI visibility is build an excellent website for real humans. This playbook helps you do that.

~ Wynn Hawker-Boehnke (they/them), Director of Strategy

TL;DR

Table of Contents

Can People Find Us? | Findability

Do People Trust Us | Trust

Can People Use the Site | Usability

Does Your Site Inspire Action | Activation

How do we get better? | Optimize

Can People Find Us? | Findability

Information Architecture and Taxonomy

Defaults guide behavior. A logical Information Architecture (IA) ensures content is categorized correctly and is discoverable through multiple paths (navigation, search, internal links). Information Architecture is how your website is organized and directly impacts the findability of information. Information Architecture (IA) includes your navigation system, technical site structure, on-page content hierarchy and more.

If Information Architecture is the structural framework, Taxonomy is the classifying and labeling. IA defines that a house has 5 rooms, location of doors & windows, and the house’s general shape. Taxonomy defines the bedrooms versus bathroom versus great room using classification. Within classification, Taxonomy is broken down further with labels–an example would be defining that within the great room is the kitchen vs dining area vs. living room (for us ‘open-concept’ fans).

When you look at your website, the strength of your Information Architecture and Taxonomy immediately affects the ease of which users navigate and find information and immediately affects how your content is found & indexed by SEO/AEO tools.

A common element within IA that is often talked about is nesting (foldering) and pages being “top level”. Not every page needs to be a “top level” page–today’s internet left that requirement in the past.

 The SEO industry has since learned that appropriately nesting (or folders) related pages communicates what content relates to each other.  For instance, you want to communicate which pages are about donating so that SEO/AEO prioritizes these pages when looking to answer user questions about donating. You likely have a /donate/ page with other donate-topic pages nested under (/donate/fundraise/, /donate/ways-to-give/, /donate/donor-faq/). WWF is a great example of valuable nesting to communicate relationship with folders like /places/ and /species/. This structure leads to pages like /places/congo-basin/ and /species/elephants/african-elephants/. 

Page depth and orphaned pages are two of the most common and invisible IA problems. A page that takes 3+ clicks to reach isn’t necessarily a problem — old blog posts and archived content can live deep. But if key task pages are buried that deep, your internal linking structure needs attention. Similarly, orphaned pages — those not linked to from anywhere in your CMS — are effectively invisible. Users can’t stumble onto them through navigation, and SEO/AEO bots may never find them either. Neither problem shows up until you go looking, which is why both belong in a regular IA audit.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Agent Engine Optimization (AEO)

The world is increasingly finding information not by typing into google search, but by chatting with Copilot or ChatGPT. This is similar to the growth of people searching through auditory prompts with Siri. The great thing about findability via SEO & AEO is that the same steps that provide a quality user experience and makes your website accessible to users benefits your SEO/AEO findability. In fact, a few days before Google announced they were going to remove their familiar ‘search’ engine and replace with a chat bot, they updated their developer documentation to clearly state that following recommended SEO practices benefit AEO performance.

The companies behind SEO and AEO want to promote websites that people have positive experiences with. This means that in order for your website to rank & show for SEO/AEO, you need to invest in a website experience that your visitors enjoy. In this section, we want you to focus on the technical aspects that improve your website’s SEO/AEO performance. This looks like ensuring you have an H1 on every page, that redirects are put in place to avoid 4XX errors, and regularly updating content across the website.

Bonus: if you have an event every year or there is a “day of the year” tied to your mission, instead of creating a new page every year to promote it, update it. This allows the page to gain long term SEO/AEO credibility, demonstrates your investment in your website, gives visitors url consistency, and reduces chances of users being sent to a previous year’s version.

In addition to the steps below, remember that the steps you take in subsequent sections (Reduce Friction, Information Architecture and Taxonomy, Accessibility (WCAG Compliance), and Performance and Reliability) will help your SEO/AEO performance.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Do People Trust Us | Trust

Trust and Security (Foundation)

Trust is built across every page and at every scale — from the technical infrastructure your visitors never see to the micro-moments where they decide whether to hand over their information.

At the foundation, trust is technical. Your entire domain should run on HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate, your CMS and plugins should be kept current, and you should be asking for consent before tracking how people use your site. If your organization works with vulnerable populations, go further — publish a clear safeguarding policy so visitors understand how you protect the people you serve.

Trust is also relational. Don’t ask supporters for information you already have. If you have their name and email, don’t make them re-enter it on every form. Only ask for data you will actually use. These small acts of respect compound over time and directly affect whether someone completes a form or abandons it.

Finally, trust is contextual. Place reassurance where doubt is most likely to occur — near forms collecting personally identifiable information, a simple visual cue like a lock icon communicates that appropriate safeguards are in place. Your Privacy Policy should be written in plain language, clearly stating what is collected, how it is used, and how it can be deleted.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Content and Mission Proposition

Ask yourself whether a first-time visitor to your website would feel confident enough to donate, sign up, or share their information. Trust is built across every page and at every scale — from the technical infrastructure your visitors never see, to the moment someone decides whether your organization is worth engaging with. For nonprofits, that trust is foundational. Lose it and you lose the relationship — and that trust extends beyond security to how your website communicates your mission and impact.

Across pages, lead with the outcome of your mission, not an organizational chart. On your homepage, a specific impact-focused headline in your hero anchors a visitor’s attention. Two to three tight impact statements then answer the Why You and Why Now — and those answers build trust and confidence in your organization.

As people continue to interact with your organization across your website, how you write and how you display your copy builds or erodes trust. Scannable body copy builds trust because people can read, understand, and believe in your organization’s work. Scannable body copy is built using titles, subtitles, paragraph breaks, and content modules to break up information.

What builds relationships digitally is the same as in person — be authentic. If you’re an organization of scientists, lean into data points; if you’re an organization of social scientists, lean into stories. Thread these proof points through pages across the website to underscore each page’s topic. And take the time to cite your sources. In the era of AI, people are increasingly uncertain about what’s real — communicate your credibility, in part, through transparent citation of statistics and information.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Can People Use the Site | Usability

Accessibility (WCAG Compliance)

Accessibility is a progressive value, a legal tenet, and — frankly — a direct investment in your visitors’ success, which in turn improves your performance in other areas. It does not mean stale or dated. It means making decisions that allow all of your visitors to successfully navigate and act on behalf of your organization. The more people you can enable to engage, the further your organization can take its mission.

Your website should strive to meet or exceed WCAG AA 2.2 recommendations. Common friction points are around text and button contrast, clear form labels, keyboard navigation, reading level, heading level usage, and alternative text for images. Text contrast is critical for user comprehension — each instance of hard to read text creates friction and can lead to visitors not following through on your desired action. Contrast is created through a combination of color and text size.

Clear labels, sensible headings, and predictable behavior lower cognitive load for all users and improve overall site quality. On forms, ensure you clearly mark what fields are required, form labels are outside of the field, and error messages are clear and specific. Every image on your site should either have descriptive alt text that communicates what the image conveys, or be marked as decorative so assistive technology can skip it — these descriptions are also used by SEO/AEO bots to understand your content. Keyboard navigation is a common way people navigate a website without mobile or a mouse — and checking it yourself gives you a valuable window into how those visitors experience your site.

Reading level is not formally part of WCAG, however it is a critical access need. Over 50% of adults in the United States read at a 6th grade or lower reading level. Confirm the reading level of your copy is appropriate for your audience. Regardless of reading level, simpler copy tends to correlate with higher conversion — and using heading levels effectively often leads to lower reading levels and improves scannability.

Free online tools like WAVE can help you identify opportunities to improve your website on common issues like heading levels, color contrast, and missing alternative text. Treat accessibility as core UX, not compliance. Accessible pages convert better for everyone.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Mobile UX and Responsiveness

Many supporters will experience your site on a phone. This means every design decision — layout, navigation, spacing, and interaction — needs to work for a thumb on a small screen as well as for a cursor on a large one.

Single-column layouts are the default for mobile content pages. They reduce horizontal scrolling, keep reading flow natural, and make CTAs easy to reach. Your primary header and navigation should scale cleanly to smaller screens without overwhelming the viewport — a cluttered mobile nav is one of the most common reasons visitors abandon a site before engaging.

Touch targets must be large and obvious with generous spacing between navigation items. Focus order should be logical and focus states visible throughout — these matter both for accessibility and for users navigating with assistive technology on mobile devices.

Prevent Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) by explicitly defining image sizes and container heights so the page doesn’t jump as elements load. The best mobile pages feel effortless and fast from first tap to conversion.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Performance and Reliability (Core Web Vitals)

Speed is a user experience and SEO/AEO issue. Optimize images and fonts, inline critical CSS, and defer non-essential scripts. Keep third-party code on a short leash and monitor their impact continuously. Your Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS, TTFB) are a direct measure of your success here.

Plan for peak traffic with uptime monitoring, alerts, and a documented rollback that your team can execute quickly. Visitors will quit trying to interact with your website if they experience too much friction while trying to load or complete steps.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Reduce Friction

Friction compounds–in fact, taking the time to address each section within this playbook will reduce friction. Unfortunately, every extra click, slow load time, or unnecessary step raises abandonment risk. Optimize your Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, CLS) to keep the site fast. Ask only for the information or clicks you absolutely need to guide users to their goal.

Keep users in your brand environment and remove micro-frictions with clear navigation paths, breadcrumbs, and fast internal linking. Speed is a UX feature, so optimize like engagement depends on it.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Does Your Site Inspire Action | Activation

Homepage Hierarchy and Navigation

Your homepage is increasingly not the door your users come in through — rarely is it the first impression a person has of your organization. Your navigation, however, is present everywhere. Your homepage is still one of the most visited pages because when a person doesn’t know where to go, they return to it to understand who you are, what you do, and what you want from them. Your homepage needs to simply and clearly answer those questions.

Address the most common off-ramps first so most visitors don’t need to scroll far. Consistent spacing, concise descriptive labels, and a clear visual style guide eyes to what matters most and signal to visitors where they are and where they can go next.

Your navigation is the one constant across every page. Limit top-level navigation to 4-7 labels that reflect how your visitors think about your organization, not how your organization thinks about itself. Clear, user-language labels reduce cognitive load and get people where they need to go faster.

Reserve a single distinctive color and style exclusively for your primary action button — Donate, Make an Appointment, Take Action — and place it prominently in the header. This style should appear nowhere else on the page. When everything competes for attention, nothing wins. The restraint of a single dominant CTA is what makes it work.

Break homepage content into clear visual sections with subheads and short paragraphs that introduce each topic and off-ramp visitors to where they need to go. Use H2s and H3s consistently to communicate content hierarchy — these heading levels are the structural underpinning that assistive technology and SEO/AEO bots use to understand your page, not just your human visitors.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Primary CTAs and Findability

Primary CTAs are a visual designation to call out the #1 (sometimes #2) action you want a person to take on a given page. Limiting the visual design to that one CTA can often be the biggest challenge. However, this act of restraint improves your visitor’s success in actually taking the action because your ask is clear and you’ve communicated a clear hierarchy of what’s most influential or valuable for the person to do.

Depending on your nonprofit, your primary CTAs for organization success will vary. For Rights, Wildlife/Animal Welfare, Environmental, your primary CTA for organizational success is for the visitor to Donate with common secondary CTAs of Take Action, Sign Up. Your secondary CTAs serve one of two goals: 1) grow the level of engagement with your organization; 2) complete a specific action for a specific audience segment, make a planned gift. For a Health organization, your primary CTA is ‘Make an Appointment’ for most pages, but on some pages it should be ‘Donate’. For Cultural organizations, the primary CTA is likely ‘Attend’ or ‘Buy a Ticket’ on most pages, while other pages have ‘Donate’. Visually, your primary CTA should be consistent, but what you’re inviting–the specific action–should reflect who the page is for and what you need this person to do.

When crafting your CTAs, be clear, concise, and descriptive. Phrases like ‘Read more’ or ‘RSVP’ do not convert people as well as “Donate $100” or “Get Our Newsletter”. Additionally, this specificity improves accessibility and SEO/AEO findability.

Findability is the success a person finds when looking on your website for specific information/action and how effectively a bot (for SEO/AEO) crawls your site & associates content within your site. Findability is impacted by your Main Navigation, your site’s technical structure (think the ‘folders’ in your site), and interlinking (including CTAs) between pages. Your goal is not to send every person to the same Donate page, but to know–based on the page–where a person most likely needs to go next in their relationship with your organization.

Even the best websites will have visitors who can’t find something. This is where the ability to search your website is critical. Your website search should be both visually easy to find and interact with as well as technically configured to find information successfully within the website. If this is your visitor’s ‘last-ditch-effort’ to find something, you want them to find it.

Consider

Audit Checklist

Personalization and Relevance

Respectful personalization increases comfort without adding steps. Geo-location cues (e.g., showing local chapter contact) or history-based content blocks (e.g., “Welcome Back, Donor”) tell returning visitors they are valued. Your taxonomy also creates opportunities for relevancy-driven personalization — on a page about the African Elephant, WWF surfaces articles specifically about the African Elephant. That kind of topical relevance keeps visitors engaged and moving deeper into your content rather than leaving to find answers elsewhere.

Social proof and momentum should be honest and timely. Show real progress (e.g., number of lives helped, advocates signed) when the data is trustworthy. Use clear, gentle visual cues to guide visitors based on their known interests.

Consider

Audit Checklist

How do we get better? | Optimize

Analytics and Measurement (Content)

Data without direction is just noise. The goal of analytics is not to track everything — it is to track the right things and let that data inform decisions. Additionally, what works for one organization really well may not work great for your organization. It’s not about applying “best practice,” it’s about finding the best practice for your supporters.

We recommend tying your metrics to the lenses we’ve covered in this playbook. Then if there’s an issue with Findability, you can start with these metrics to begin your investigation and optimization.

Findability — Are people arriving and finding what they came for? Track organic search traffic, entrance pages, AEO traffic, organic CTR, and user engagement rates. User engagement shows you if most people are arriving and interacting in a basic way with the page — a low engagement rate on a high traffic entrance page spells problems.

Trust — Are people staying and engaging? Track time on page, scroll depth, and return visitor rate. Low time on page on mission-critical pages suggests your content isn’t landing. 

Usability — Are people able to complete what they came to do? Track form completion rates, drop-off points in multi-step flows, mobile vs. desktop performance gaps, quick backs, and internal search queries. These metrics surface friction — the places where intent exists but execution fails. Internal search queries show you what people are looking for but not finding. Quick backs tell you where people are clicking and landing somewhere they did not want to be.

Persuasion — Are people converting? Track completions (donations, sign-ups, advocacy actions) and conversion rates. Preserve UTMs through to conversion and into your CRM so you can attribute revenue to the channels and content that earned it.

Optimize — Are your changes working? If metrics from the above sections are not meeting benchmarks, you will iterate and optimize. Select specific metrics to measure the impact of your changes and maintain a changelog that connects the edits you make to real outcomes.

This measurability is possible with free tools like Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity — a free behavioral analytics tool that records sessions, generates heatmaps, and surfaces where visitors are getting stuck. You can use additional tools to A/B test whether a change will have the effect you predict. Keeping a conversion rate test log for the KPI, the hypothesis, and tracking results will allow you to optimize with the same rigor as organizations with far larger teams.

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Audit Checklist

Experimentation and Roadmap

Testing is how good websites become great ones. The difference between organizations that improve steadily and those that plateau is a habit of proactive experimentation — forming a hypothesis about what will work better, testing it deliberately, and letting the data confirm or challenge your instincts.

Start with the elements that have the greatest influence on conversion. Change one major element at a time, define in advance how you will judge success, and set a guardrail — a secondary metric you will monitor to make sure improving one thing doesn’t quietly break another. Keep a living backlog of test ideas prioritized by expected impact and effort, with clear owners and target dates.

Based on our experience working with nonprofits, these three tests consistently move the needle on conversion:

Single-step vs. multi-step donation forms — The structure of your donation form is the highest-leverage test you can run. A single-step form keeps everything on one page; a multi-step form breaks the process into smaller commits. 

CTA language on the donation form — The specific words on your donation form’s primary submit button matter more than most organizations realize. Small wording shifts (“Donate” vs. “Give Now” vs. “Donate $50 Today”) consistently produce measurable differences in completion rates. 

Auto-population of known donor information — For returning supporters, pre-filling form fields with information you already have typically reduces friction and improves conversion rates. 

Consider

Audit Checklist

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