HR Management & Compliance, Recruiting

4 SEO Phrases You Need to Know for Job Postings

It’s no secret that jobseekers are turning to the Internet to look for jobs, but if your job postings aren’t up to snuff, search engines may be overlooking them entirely. In order to get your job ads out in the open, you should be adopting good search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.

SEO

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You know that SEO is important. But knowing its importance and knowing how to implement it are two different things. Anyone who’s ever obsessively checked his or her Google ratings understands the struggle to get listed, and because most jobseekers are going to be searching for your company before applying, it’s vital to be on the first page or two.
The first step to putting together a comprehensive SEO strategy is to understand the verbiage. Before dealing with search engine optimization, make sure you have these definitions down pat.
Here are four key SEO phrases you need to understand before trying to implement an effective strategy on your site.
Meta description: You know how when you Google something or share a link, a headline pops up with a few lines of descriptive text beneath it? That’s your meta description. If you don’t implement this properly, the first few lines of text on your website will show up, which aren’t often SEO-friendly descriptions of who you are and what your company does. Make sure your meta description is clear and concise.
Keywords: These are what people search for when they arrive at your site. So, if you’re a craft shop in Brooklyn, you want to make sure you have the phrases “craft shop” and “Brooklyn” woven throughout your site. When it comes to SEO, clever beats catchy—instead of making up phrases or trying to be unique, use keywords that it’s likely people will actually utilize.
When using keywords for your job descriptions, be sure to use job titles that candidates are actually searching for. Jobseekers aren’t searching for “People Gurus” they’re searching for the job titles they know, like HR Administrators.
Remember not to overuse keywords, however; Google is getting better and better at realizing when people are playing the “SEO game” and will punish your site if keywords are used unnaturally often. They should be used two or three times per page for best results.
Slug: A slug is the actual word you use for a link. So, if your website is ClarasCrafts.com, and your career’s page is ClarasCrafts.com/careers, the “/careers” is your slug. This should be short, to the point, and include a keyword if possible.
Tags: Tags are how you group your content. If you have a blog that covers a wide range of topics relating to your industry, the way you tag them within your data is important for SEO. If your metaphorical craft store has a blog that features everything from sewing to painting to pottery, by tagging blog posts with particular topics, readers will click around more and be able to see more of what they’re looking for. This becomes important when people search for things like “craft store sewing”—your website will have more opportunities to be featured on Google.
While the examples listed under each phrase are directly related to having your company website appear higher in search engine rankings, by utilizing these strategies in all aspects of your career website and job postings, you’ll be able to win the “SEO game” and attract the talent that is actually looking to work for your company.

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