All job postings are created with one goal in mind: to be viewed by potential candidates. The more prospective candidates that view your job openings, the higher the chance top-notch candidates will apply.
While you always want to value quality over quantity, there are ways to promote a job opening to a large yet niche group. How do you do this, you might wonder? The answer is simple: SEO for job posting.
Whether you are individually posting on job boards or streamlining the process with an ATS (Applicant Tracking System), Search Engine Optimization will help your job openings rank higher in search results.
It might sound mysterious and untouchable, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here at Recruitee, we have helped our users attract more candidates by making their job openings searchable with SEO.
With the implementation of keywords and backlinks, we will show you exactly how to optimize your job posting for search engines.
Keywords in SEO for job posting
1 — Relevant keywords
Have you posted a vacancy stating that you are looking for a “Blogging Superstar” or a “Social Media Wizard”? Don’t worry. We’ve all been there. There’s still time to get your SEO in check.
You want to avoid gimmicky “buzzwords” that appear to have become popular in job descriptions.
Some examples you want to avoid:
- Black belt
- Guru
- Ninja
- Jedi
- Rockstar
- Wizard
- Evangelist
- Prophet
- Entrepreneurial.
On the surface, these quirky additions to a job description may seem like a good idea. However, candidates see them as outdated and desperate.
Buzzwords like this can make it seem like you are trying to mask a grueling job with “fun times ahead!” They can also be downright offensive or a turnoff to candidates.
In terms of SEO for job posting, most job seekers search for a specific title and are not looking to be your new wizard.
Useful tip:
Useful tip:
By choosing the right keyword, you will get more experienced professionals to apply while also increasing the visibility of your job description.
Find relevant keywords by brainstorming keywords pertinent to your job openings. You can use multiple free sources, including Keyword Tool, Answer The Public, and Google Keyword Planner.
These tools will allow you to create a keyword list with your job title, synonyms, relevant searches, plus how many people a month search for a specific keyword in your location.
Once you have your keyword list, try to put them and their synonyms into your job description. This is one of the most effective ways to maximize your chance of being indexed by search engines without being censored for keyword stuffing. Always keep in mind what your target candidate might be searching for and include keywords organically into your text.
An excellent place to start is job description templates (keywords optimized), but make sure that you edit them to reflect your own hiring needs and company culture.
Ultimately, there are two keywords that you should always include in your job description:
- The job title (avoid abbreviations!)
- The location
It may seem simple, but it’s super effective for local SEO purposes when you put the job title and location in:
- The job title
- The first paragraph
- URL
- Meta title
- Meta description
Then if someone searches for “x job in x location,” your job opening will be one of the first to pop up. (If it’s remote work, you can put “remote” as the location.)
You might already know what to do with the first two bullet points, but not sure about the last three? Don’t worry; we tackle them head-on below.
2 — Your job opening’s URL
It’s important to have a searchable URL and make the most of SEO for job posting. Here are the best practices for creating a job opening’s URL that does well in searches, as well as guides potential candidates to your careers site:
- Keep it relevant and straightforward (include your keywords)
- Don’t use numbers or special characters (unless it’s in your product or job description)
- Avoid using too many hyphens, it’ll make the URL too long.
Search engines and page viewers alike appreciate it when your URL is self-explanatory. This can improve your ranking and allow the anchor text (the text you embed a link in) to be similar to the actual URL. Keeping it short gives your job opening more chances of being indexed.
3 — Your job opening’s meta titles and meta descriptions
Meta titles and meta descriptions are the two fields that show up on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
The meta title must be simple and straight to the point, allowing job seekers to know the job opening once they are interested in it. The meta description is the caption underneath the title, describing the web page’s content in more detail.
It is essential to make a custom meta title and meta description for your job opening. If you’re a Recruitee user, you can do this with Recruitee’s Careers Site editor.
With meta tags, you want to be as clear and concise as possible. Meta titles should be under 65 characters, and meta descriptions should be under 155.
You want a potential candidate to be able to quickly glance at your job opening and know it’s what they are looking for.
Don’t make the first words your company name unless you are sure that people will be searching for you, specifically. A clear and concise title and description should do the trick in most cases.
If you are struggling to start, recreate the candidate journey by searching the job title on Google and look at what shows up in the first position.
What title are competitors using? How much information do they include in the meta description?
This will help you understand what candidates are looking for and guide the creation of your meta title and description.
Backlinks in SEO for job posting
Backlinking is the process of placing your link on other reputable sites, therefore “linking back” to your original site. This helps with SEO for job posting as it will increase your domain authority and show Google you are a trustworthy website and source.
Below are some easy steps you can take to increase your backlink profile.
4 — Share your job opening on social media
Search engines look into traffic and shares to generate an algorithm for search results. Hence, the more the job opening is shared, the better it will rank in relevant searches.
Just remember, there are always rules to each social media platform. Here is a quick overview of SEO for job posting best practices on social media:
- Share the job’s URL consistently across platforms
- Make the content more shareable by writing valuable or entertaining copy
- Include visuals in your social media posts (they get way more engagement than any other types of posts). To vary the visuals, Recruitee allows you to specify different photos for each vacancy. Use this when sharing on social media to keep it consistent!
Social media allows you not only to target an innovative, (generally) younger audience but also allows your job opening to be viewed by a potentially massive number of professionals in your extended network. This allows them to share your job opening with like-minded professionals.
Useful tip:
Useful tip:
LinkedIn, for instance, has a high domain authority and is a great way to connect candidates and hiring managers.
The more social sharing, the higher the ranking and the better your SEO for job postings will become.
5 — Post your job opening on high-traffic job boards
Job boards like Indeed and Monster, for example, rank high and are deemed a reputable source by Google.
Posting your job listing on them will lead to more traffic and a strong backlink profile, increasing the possibility of higher ranking for your job description. There are hundreds of job boards, so we created a list for you to help choose where to post!
6 — Share your job opening in popular forums
Make sure to stay relevant and informative. This way, you can link back to your job opening without appearing “spammy.” Reddit is an example of a popular forum to look into. It is a vast community of “Redditors” with niche “subreddits” to peruse. Find one relevant to your job listing, such as the r/humanresources or r/recruitment subreddits.
Other popular forums include Slack and Quora. You can also join Facebook groups where recruiters and hiring managers share insights and job opportunities to make your job page more visible.
7 — Write a blog about your hiring process with a link to your job opening
Share and write about your hiring process on your blog or guest blog on other, higher-ranked websites to gain some backlinking.
Like this Recruitee’s page, you can describe the process, answer frequently asked questions and link back to your careers site.
You can also include an infographic with the steps in your article to easily help candidates understand your process.
Pictures with a description (or alt text) can also appear on Google searches and lead to a higher ranking. Just make sure to use a relevant keyword in the alt text.
Infographics are also easier to share on social media, giving your page more backlinks and visibility.
8 — Put a link to your careers site on your own website
If your website gains a lot of traffic, not only will job seekers know you are looking, but it will give your careers site one more credible backlink for SEO, as well.
9 - Get featured on Google for Jobs
Google for Jobs can be a great tool to increase visibility for your job opening. Google is working with job boards, showing jobs that meet candidates’ search criteria.
It will display your company’s name, job title, job description, location, and salary (if included). This way, eligible candidates can quickly decide whether your opening is relevant for them.
To be visible on Google for Jobs, you need to include specific HTML tags that make your page easier to scan for search engines.
If you use Recruitee, these tags will be implemented automatically. Plus, your page needs to be indexable and follow the SEO practices mentioned above to show on Google for Jobs.
Conclusion
Combine all of these tips and tricks for SEO for job posting to become more searchable and appear on the first page of Google. This will ensure suitable candidates want to check out your job openings and become a valuable part of your team.
While you still want passive candidates, it’s comforting to know that if the right candidate is seeking you out, they can find you.
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