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Best Practices to Optimize Your Job Postings

September 27, 2018
 
iCIMS Staff
2 min read

Over the last decade, online job boards have been overloaded with poor search functionality and expired job posts. Google announced this summer that they are stepping into the ring of recruitment with Google for Jobs, changing the way job seekers find employment by improving their search experience. iCIMS is working directly with Google to stay ahead of these changes to determine best practices that will improve your job postings and candidate engagement. It’s no secret that optimizing job announcements on Google for Jobs is a critical factor in how your job postings appear in search results. Check out these three best practices that will help you avoid the pitfalls of a poor job posting.

1. Include All the Required Fields, or You Won’t Rank at All

Required fields allow Google to find the information you’ve added. If your post is missing essential information that the search engine is looking for, your post will get lost in a sea of data and remain unseen. Search engine optimized (SEO) keywords are used by the Google for Jobs search engine to bring your post higher in the list of results, ensuring higher engagement. Without this information, your post will be poorly ranked, if at all, resulting in a lack of engagement. Adding the required information will also ensure that your posts appear in rich cards, which is the new search result format that provides a more engaging and visual way to display jobs search results to the candidates that are best-fit for your organization.

2. Fill Out All Recommended Fields

Fill out as much information as possible and your organization will benefit from including additional data that isn’t required. Recommended fields will ensure that your site pages are optimized for search engine crawling and indexing, providing higher search results. It will also help your job listings appear in the enriched search results and increase your chance of discovery and conversion of job applicants. Not only does this improve the overall job search experience for applicants but can also reduce advertising costs by creating more organic traffic to your organization’s career site and ultimately reducing the cost-per-hire for your business.

3. Be Honest About the Job Description

Applicants are not only looking for a job, but an authentic, compelling summary of the position and the role within the company. Being truthful sets the tone for potential employees and conveys the values in which a company is founded. Misleading descriptions of the role and responsibilities could lead to employee turnover if your new hire’s experience doesn’t meet their expectations. Transparency goes a long way by simply mitigating the risk of wasted time and resources. The best type of engagement is when expectations are met and there are no surprises.

iCIMS partnership with Google for Jobs to improve the job search experience is just beginning. This development is a game changer for the old, black hole portals of resumes and expired job posts. Improving the applicant experience is a reliable way to gain the advantage in winning the war for talent. If your applicant engagement is low, start with these best practices when posting to Google for Jobs and get the engagement you’ve been looking for. For more tips on how you can stand out in search results, check out Three Steps to Delivering Competitive Job Postings.

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