To find the best talent, recruiters need to follow the new trends and search engine optimization (SEO) is one of them. SEO consists of putting in place good practices to improve the positioning of a web page in the results of search engines such as Google or Bing. Thus, SEO brings visibility to the site and ensures a better targeting of traffic.
In recruitment, SEO consists of improving the job offer’s visibility by developing appropriate methods. While companies have all integrated SEO into their marketing strategy, the most experienced recruiters have also integrated it into their recruitment strategy. In this article we will look at the importance of SEO for recruitment and how to develop the right SEO strategy to optimise recruitment.
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The importance of referencing for recruitment
If you are not yet convinced that SEO can add value to your recruitment process, the following information will certainly change your mind.
Increased presence of candidates on the Internet
At present, few job seekers still look at the dedicated pages in newspapers to find suitable advertisements. They no longer listen to the radio or watch TV for this purpose. Today, they prefer online advertisements. It is up to you, as a recruiter, to take this new habit into account. They go to job boards, to the career pages of websites that interest them, to LinkedIn, to Google for Jobs, to Facebook job groups, etc. SEO allows you to expand your online presence and reach the right profiles.
Using Google by candidates
It is true that talent uses all the digital channels mentioned above. But before they land on them, they first do targeted searches on search engines and especially Google. At least, that's what most of them do. The proof: every month, 30% of the requests on Google are related to employment. (Source: Myrecruteo.fr). The expression "job offer" alone generates 10,000 to 100,000 searches per month. A good recruiter cannot ignore these figures. In order for the talent you are targeting to see your ad, you need to get a good position in the search results pages (SERP).
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The benefits of SEO in recruitment
A good SEO strategy can help you to find the right candidate for each position more easily and quickly.
Here's how!
Reach target candidates for free
One of the main goals of SEO is to generate good traffic by getting web content on the first page of search results. It turns out that 95% of Internet users never go further than the first page of the SERPs which contains 10 different links. If they are not satisfied with these links, they make a new query with a new keyword. This also applies to Google for Job Search. Only the first ones to show up have a chance to get traffic, and only those who work on their SEO properly manage to be among the first.
Finding candidates with niche skills
Just as the number of candidates responding to each job vacancy has increased exponentially, so the search for the right profile is becoming increasingly difficult. Recruiters and HR managers are finding it increasingly difficult to find talent with the required knowledge. With SEO, you increase your chances of finding applicants with niche skills. This way, the competition is less fierce and you have a better chance of being successful in your recruitment.
When a job seeker goes to a search engine such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu or DuckDuckGo, they type in a specific keyword according to their profile. This could be "secretary job in Nice", "accounting job in Lyon", "product manager in Ile-de-France" or other. This prevents you from coming across common skills that could waste your time unnecessarily.
Optimising the employer brand
The best candidates are very demanding on the employer brand. They may even choose a particular company based on this criteria. To do so, they check many parameters and the ranking of the job page in the SERPs is one of them. Indeed, appearing on the first page of Google results is considered, whether consciously or not, as a symbol of credibility. In the candidate's mind, it means that the company is reliable.
Reduce recruitment costs
If your job pages are well referenced, they will attract many qualified candidates organically. Therefore, you won't have to spend time and money on job boards and multi-posters. Just focus on SEO and the rest will happen almost automatically. What's more, SEO saves time. And as you probably already know, time really is money in the business world.
Improving the candidate experience
Since candidates are now on the web, it is important to make it easy for them to find jobs where they are looking for them. Developing a good SEO strategy allows you to achieve this goal. A good candidate experience is the best way to satisfy the most promising job seekers and attract them to your company. This candidate experience starts with the job search, so it should be a smooth and intuitive journey for the potential candidate.
How to work on referencing in recruitment?
Optimising job offers and all the pages that can attract potential candidates is a Herculean task. First, the competition has never been so fierce. Secondly, it is necessary to find the right techniques that allow the web pages concerned to gain an interesting position in the SERPs. To do this, you need to :
Choose the pages to be optimised for search engines
The first thing to do is to define all the web pages to be referenced. Naturally, your career site is at the top of the list. This is the page on your main site that is specifically created to publish your job offers. If each advert has a separate page, you can also reference it. In addition, you should not neglect the web pages that promote your employer brand, whether they are part of your showcase site, your e-commerce site, or your professional blog.
Implementing a keyword strategy
SEO and keywords are inseparable. The choice of terms to be optimised for search engines is the basis of all the work. To make this easier, there are keyword planning tools on the internet such as Google KeywordPlanner. You need to determine the words and phrases that your target candidates use when they search for the kind of job you are offering. Don't forget about long tail keywords (keywords consisting of at least three or four keywords that are very specific to the position) which attract more qualified talent that is more interested in your offer. You will integrate the selected keywords in the title, in the subtitles and in
Analyse traffic - Tracking
Traffic analysis helps to understand how to attract qualified candidates and avoid losing them. To do this, you need to do the famous tracking and identify the source of each visit generated. This can be a search engine, a job board, a social network, a partner site, etc. In addition to increasing the number of applications, this technique is an excellent way of optimising sourcing costs. It prevents you from processing unsuitable profiles.
GoogleAnalytics is one of the best tracking tools and it is free. It allows you to follow the candidate path in detail. If it shows, for example, that your website is qualitative, but that your volume of applications remains low, then you have made a mistake somewhere. In this case, you must quickly identify the reason why you are losing candidates and remedy it.
Provide good content
The editorial content of your career site is of paramount importance. It should be concise, attractive, and relevant. Firstly, you need to use keywords wisely so that Google and other search engines give you credibility. Secondly, the content should be consistent and attractive to keep the attention of potential candidates and encourage them to apply. Develop a content strategy that appeals to the right profiles. Remember that the goal is not only to generate traffic, but also to increase the volume of qualified applications.
Be present on social networks
Like most internet users, jobseekers have a strong presence on social networks. While LinkedIn is the preferred social platform for recruiters, you should not hesitate to tap into other popular networks such as Facebook and Instagram. They can indirectly influence the SEO of your career site and advertisements as you can use them to invite potential candidates to visit your job pages. Clearly, social networks are also important sources of traffic. The more visitors a piece of content generates, the more Google will improve its ranking in search results.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, it is entirely possible to use SEO to optimise your recruitment. At a time when potential candidates are looking for work on the internet, it has become indispensable. Moreover, they often use Google to do their searches. SEO is used to improve the positioning and visibility of your job pages in the SERPs. SEO helps you attract good profiles for free, optimise your employer brand, save time and money, and improve the candidate experience. To summarise, you first need to define the pages to be SEO'd, including the career site and the ads. Then you need to select the right keywords, perform effective tracking, create quality content, and stay close to your target talent on social media, especially through content sharing.
Recruitment itself is already a complex task, given the continuing shortage of talent in the labour market. The development of new technologies makes the task even more complicated. Recruiters now need to wear two hats and be comfortable with digital tools to optimise their recruitment strategy. This requires time and increased digital marketing skills. The right solution may be to outsource your recruitment. For this you can use Hunteed, a digital recruitment platform that connects companies with trusted recruitment agencies. Hunteed allows you to find consultants who will do their best to find the right profile for you. Your ad will gain visibility, as the job pages of agencies working with Hunteed are already well optimised for search engines.
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