Job Board SEO Tips and Tricks Recruiters Should Know

Did you know that SEO is the biggest source of converted traffic for recruitment sites? This means that a significant number of job seekers start their journey by using a search engine. Therefore, if you want to attract more traffic to your job board and increase your chances of finding highly qualified candidates, you should know how to optimise your site for search engines. 

To help you achieve your goals, at Recruitment Traffic we are sharing several job board SEO tips and tricks with you. Consider these pointers to boost the performance of your job board. 

1. Identify the search terms candidates are using

Your SEO strategy hinges on the keywords you want to target. However, identifying the ones you should use is not a guessing game. You need to conduct proper keyword research to determine the search terms job seekers are using to find job boards similar to yours. 

One way to start your research is by visiting forums and question/answer websites, such as Reddit and Quora. These sites can help you identify the specific words job seekers are typing into search engines to find the employment opportunities they are looking for. List down the words you see on a spreadsheet. 

Make sure to narrow down your list to get the best results. You can use tools, such as Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner, to identify the best and most relevant keywords. 

2. Use relevant keywords to optimise your site

Once you have identified the keywords you want to target, the next step is to optimise crucial parts of your job board with them. 

a. Home page

Your home page is the first thing visitors will see when they land on your site. Therefore, it should contain relevant keywords to assure candidates that they are in the right place. Ensure that the following areas have your target keywords:

• Page title
• Meta description
• Heading
• Main body

b. Job category pages

In these pages, you can use keywords that are relevant to a specific job opening. Besides adding keywords to the areas mentioned above, make sure to:

• Incorporate main keywords in the job category URLs. For instance, the URL for engineering jobs should look like this: https://abcrecruitment.co.uk/engineering-jobs/.
• Add the category name in your page titles and meta descriptions.
• Include geotags in job category keywords if you have location-specific pages. For example, if you’re looking to recruit engineers in Northampton, you should use the keyword “Northampton engineer” and its variations. 

c. Job posting pages

When optimising job posting pages, consider the following job board SEO tips:

• Similar to the job category pages, their URLs should contain relevant job titles. If possible, they should also have the location. For example, let’s say you’re looking for a sanitation engineer in Northampton. The URL should look like this: https://abcrecruitment.co.uk/engineering-jobs/sanitation-engineer-in-northampton/.
• Add relevant keywords to the page title, heading, and meta description.
• Ensure that the page will become unavailable when the job vacancy has been filled in. However, instead of displaying a 404 page, consider redirecting visitors to search results pages showing similar job vacancies. 

3. Look for site errors

How your job board loads and appears on internet browsers and mobile devices can have an impact on your search ranking. This is why you need to look for bugs and site errors that may prevent candidates from visiting and staying on your site. 

a. Mobile-friendliness

There are two main reasons why you should optimise your job board for mobile devices. First, mobile-friendliness is a key Google ranking factor. Second, a growing number of candidates are using mobile devices to look for employment opportunities. Failing to optimise your site for mobile means you’re likely to miss out on a significant portion of your target audience. 

b. Page loading speed

Besides mobile friendliness, page speed is also a crucial search ranking factor. Also, studies showed that visitors are more likely to leave if it takes your site more than five seconds to load. Fortunately, you can use Google’s Page Speed Insights to determine your job board’s loading speed. If it needs improvement, you can optimise your code, compress files, and tweak your site to boost its loading speed. 

4. Build backlinks to your job board

Also known as offsite SEO, link building is the process of convincing other websites to link to yours. Backlinks are crucial elements of job board SEO. They give you site authority and they increase your chances of receiving a better search ranking from Google. 

However, building backlinks is not as simple as asking websites to link to yours. To get the best results, you should take note of the following: 

• Ensure that the websites that are linking to your job board are relevant to your topic and purpose.
• Link only to industry-related sites with excellent reputation and authority.
• You should never pay someone to create backlinks for you. Otherwise, you might face a penalty from Google.
• The best way to convince authority sites to link to yours is to create quality content that people would want to use as a reference. 

Make Your Job Boards Search Engine-Friendly

Similar to business websites, job boards need to be optimised for search engines. As more and more candidates rely on search engines to find job vacancies, being familiar with job board optimisation strategies can greatly benefit recruiters like you. As such, consider the tips discussed above to give your job board’s SEO a boost. 

If you don’t have time to optimise your job board, we at Recruitment Traffic are happy to take this task off your hands. We can offer you award-winning SEO solutions to help you generate more traffic and leads to your job board. Please speak with us today.