In the age of the Great Resignation and quiet quitting, you need to attract the right talent–productive people who will stay. The good news is you can use search engine optimization (SEO) to do that.
We share the top SEO strategies for recruiters and business owners to help you find and attract the most qualified job candidates to open positions.
SEO-Friendly Techniques for Recruiters and Hiring Managers
Hiring is excruciating. In 2021, the average time to pick an employee was over 45 days.
So how do you speed up the process? One smart trick is to maximize the best SEO practices to bring brand awareness, build talent pipelines, and create a seamless recruiting process. Here are some tips:
Spend Time Choosing the Right Keywords
Digital Authority Partners says it is possible to develop the perfect recruitment SEO strategy. And it usually begins with choosing the right keywords. After all, these are the terms users type when looking for information, such as available jobs. Pick the right ones if you want your website to show up as a top result.
Here’s how:
- Define your intent. What’s the goal of your keywords? Do you want to create job ads? Attract top talent to your website? Think like a job seeker. What keywords would they use to find open jobs?
- Research your competition. What terms are they targeting? You can use Ahrefs Keywords Explorer to see what words and phrases they rank for.
- Don’t get too obsessed with search volume. A keyword with a high monthly search volume doesn’t mean it’s the right one for you. The competition could be too high, or the intent might not match your goals. Instead, diversify your options according to intent or SEO objective.
- Drive more targeted traffic with long-tail keywords. These are more specific phrases that get less search traffic but have a higher conversion rate since they’re more detailed.
Make Your Recruitment Website Mobile-Friendly
More applicants are aggressively looking for jobs while on the go. An industry study even revealed that nearly 70% of applicants submitted their resumes using their mobile devices in 2021. That’s more than ten percentage points higher than in 2019.
Clearly, to acquire top talent, you must make your website mobile-friendly today. And the best strategy for that is to improve user experience (UX) design. Here are a few ideas to try:
- Minimize scrolling. The farther users have to scroll, the less likely they are to stick around. So keep the most important information “above the fold” or visible on the screen without scrolling.
- Design buttons and links to be big enough to click. Make it easy for users to navigate your site, even with their fingers.
- Use legible fonts. Choose a font size and style that’s easy to read on small screens.
- Include multimedia. Beyond traditional text, use images, infographics, and videos to break up the content and make it more visually appealing.
- Develop a simple, efficient workflow. The application process should be as short and sweet as possible. For example, if you’re asking for a resume, let users upload it directly from their device instead of typing everything out.
Publish Targeted Content
When it comes to attracting top talent, content is still king. It’s a great way to show off your company culture, values, and mission—all the things that make your business unique and attractive to potential candidates. Further, targeted content helps you attract the right talents for the job.
Today, artificial intelligence can already help you craft audience-centric content. But you can go further with these ideas:
- Diversify your content. Create a mix of blog posts, infographics, images, and videos to appeal to different types of learners.
- Show some niche authority. Write about topics related to your industry, like the latest trends or news affecting your sector. It will show that you’re an expert in your field.
- Create an engaging About page. Your website’s About page is one of the most visited pages. Make a good impression. Include information about your company culture, values, mission, and history—anything that would give candidates a better sense of working at your business.
- Enhance the message of your content with visuals. Humans are visual creatures. Adding images, infographics, and videos to your content will make it more engaging and memorable.
Improve Site Speed
The post-pandemic future includes job seekers who won’t be happy with slow websites, especially when there are others they can check out anytime.
Harness technology to improve the overall recruitment experience. Aim to load the page in three seconds or less using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. It helps test your site speed and get actionable suggestions for improvement.
You can also consider the following:
- Reduce image file size. Large images take longer to load. Use image optimizers like TinyPNG to reduce the size without compromising quality.
- Minimize HTTP requests. Every time users visit a page; their browser sends an HTTP request to the server to fetch the files needed to render the page. So the more files your pages have, the longer they’ll take to load.
- Enable browser caching. When users visit your site, their browser stores certain files locally on their computer. That way, the next time they visit, their browser can load the page faster since it doesn’t have to fetch all the files from the server again.
- Use CSS. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are for formatting and styling HTML code. Including CSS files in your pages reduces your HTML code’s size and improves load times.
Implement Rich Snippets
Rich snippets are special markup tags that you can add to your website’s code to give search engines more information about your content. They help your listings stand out in the SERPs and attract clicks with additional details, like reviews, ratings, and prices.
And when it comes to recruiting, rich snippets can display job postings directly in the SERPs. In turn, job candidates can see your available positions without clicking through your website.
You can activate this feature by adding a few lines of code to your site. SEMRush has a helpful guide to get you started.
Optimize Your Job Listings
Your job postings are some of the most important pages on your website since they’re what candidates are looking for. Optimize them for both search engines and applicants:
- Use keyword-rich titles. Include relevant keywords in the title so your listing appears in searches. But don’t stuff them in there—keep it natural and readable.
- Include key details. In addition to the job title and description, include important information like the location, salary, and benefits. Candidates want to know as much as possible about the job before they apply.
- Make it scannable. Use short paragraphs, lists, and bullet points to make your postings easy to read. No one wants to sift through a wall of text.
- Add a call to action. Include a CTA at the end of each posting, like “Apply Now” or “Submit Your Resume.” Make it easy for candidates to take the next step.
Final Words
SEO is a powerful tool that can help you attract more job candidates to your website. Optimizing your site for search engines helps improve your visibility, reach a larger audience, and attract the best talent for your business.
But SEO isn’t a one-time task. It’s an ongoing process that requires regular maintenance and updates. So be sure to keep an eye on your site’s performance and adjust as needed. Collaborate with an online marketing agency to ensure your site is always up to par.
With these tips, you can ensure that your website works for you, attracting top talent and helping your business reach new heights.
