Optimizing your job postings for search engines, also known as “SEO,” is crucial in making sure that candidates can easily find your job opportunities online. To increase the number of applicants, it’s essential to ensure that your job postings are fully optimized for SEO. You don’t have to be an expert in SEO, but understanding the basics is a great starting point.
SEO is important for job posts because it helps make sure that they are easily discoverable by job seekers who are actively searching for job opportunities online. When a job posting is optimized for search engines, it is more likely to appear at the top of search engine results when relevant keywords are used. This increases the visibility of the job posting and therefore the likelihood that it will be seen and applied to by potential candidates. Additionally, SEO can also help to improve the user experience on the company’s career page, making it easier for candidates to navigate and find the information they need.
I’ve included 7 tips to fully optimize your next job description postings:
1. Target Job Titles
Avoid posting a non-researched job title. Search Indeed for different job title examples that are similar to what you are looking for. Make sure that you’re targeting the applicant you want with the title you choose. Avoid using commas, parenthesis, and other unnecessary key terms.
2. Include all the details
Put the full job title and location in the posting title, you can even post the zip code in the summary. This will improve local search rankings and help when people are searching for listings in their area. For example including Greater Minneapolis or Twin Cities will expand your search results.
3. Do not repeat keywords!?!
Repeating your keywords will have a negative impact on search engine results. Do not duplicate keywords or add additional keywords in the job description at the bottom. Don’t spam or use unnecessary words within or below the post.
4. Vary on keywords
While we don’t want repeated keywords, we do want variation. Try to include the same keywords you used in your post title as well as a few of the synonyms. This will help you show up in results when people are searching different terms. Think about the variations that would make sense for your posting and don’t be afraid to use a Thesaurus or Google.
5. Use plain English
Do not use internal company jargon especially when describing niche skill sets. Most people will have no idea what you are talking about. Keep it crystal clear so you don’t miss out on a great candidate.
6. Use Google Jobs
If you haven’t yet heard of Google jobs, you are not alone but you need to become educated. This is the next big thing in the job search. To get in on the wave, make sure your site is optimized for Google Jobs. You can directly integrated your website with Google Jobs by following this link.
7. Including shareable links
People love to share links on social media. Make it easy for your team and others to share your postings by using a generator like bitly. You may also want to consider adding social media buttons to your posting for example: addthis.
HubSpot has a pretty comprehensive guide on how to add them or you can check with your template to see if there is an easy option. If you use Squarespace, its super easy to add a social media block. In WordPress you can add a plugin to easily feature your social media accounts and make sharing super easy.
8. Make sure to Structure your Website Correctly
- Ensure that Googlebot can crawl your job posting web pages, and they are not protected by a robots.txt file or robots meta tag.
- Make sure to use a login like Seo Yoast to optimize every meta tag.
- Add a JobPosting element for each job posting that you want to advertise. Google explains the schema and tags that job postings must have to show up in Google for Jobs.
- Submit your website to SITEMAP on Google for better results.
SEO is necessary to get the most views on your job posting. To get the best applicants for your posting, you need them to read it. SEO is the way to make that happen. Try out the tips in this post to increase the traffic to your next post.
Recommended Reading:
How to Become a Professional Recruiter?
How to Find Sourcer & Recruiter Jobs Online
How are Recruiters and Sourcers Different?
