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Terms of endearment: An SEO primer
Make your words count and your job descriptions truly impactful.
These days, people drop the acronym “SEO” as if it’s as familiar as “FBI” or “PETA.” That’s because it is.
Search engine optimization – part art, part science, part Google voodoo – is the practice of developing online content that helps people in your target demographic find you via search engines. And it’s a fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar industry.
The right SEO strategy can be the difference between superstar job seekers finding your jobs today, or three weeks after they’ve already started with a competitor. Don’t worry; SEO is scary in name only. You don’t need to hire a new IT tech—you can supercharge your existing recruitment strategy for your small or medium-sized business all by yourself with these easy tips:
1. Nose through the neighbors’ trash.
Before you make any big decisions about your SEO strategy, see how you measure up with the competition – or don’t measure up. It’s as easy as typing in your targeted keywords into search engines and seeing where your job postings perform vs. the competition. You may be surprised to see that you’re already ranking especially high for some valued keywords and phrases without a dedicated focus on SEO. One reason is that, according to a widely held SEO belief, simply writing about your business in a natural manner is like a pheromone for search engines, so log on and start typing.
2. DIY solutions.
If you don’t have in-house SEO resources, there’s an ever-expanding number of third-party outfits that will help streamline your content. But there is a lot you can do on your own before you stroke any checks. Have you worded your job descriptions for the benefit of your applicants – or yourselves? In other words, while you may really want to call your employees “associates,” that’s not a very SEO friendly term. Be specific and state whether you’re hiring for “cook jobs” or “cashier jobs.” That’s how job seekers are looking for your jobs in search engines. Also, don’t be bashful about mixing in the location for which you’re hiring.
3. Partner up!
If you already partner with a general or niche job board, it’s likely they’re supplying added fuel to your SEO efforts. Since these businesses depend on high traffic, they’ll have built-in SEO tractor beams to pull in relevant traffic. For example, if you’re posting jobs in the restaurant industry, the website should have a comprehensive content library comprising restaurant job keywords, in addition to including these words and phrases in prime locations throughout the site. These sites should also have SEO incorporated into their basic infrastructure. Partner up with niche job boards in your industry or region and you’ll receive an even more targeted SEO boost. Be sure to ask your recruitment partners what they’re doing to attract search engine traffic, and check out for yourself how they fare by performing some basic search engine requests.
These are just SEO building blocks. You might be surprised to learn just how expansive an SEO strategy can get, and how cost-effective a recruitment tool it can be. For small and medium-sized businesses, this is great way to increase name recognition, drive traffic to your company website and attract job seekers to apply to open positions.