As a recruitment or HR professional, you might be wondering what is “Google For Jobs” and how can I use it to find the best talent?
With over 11 million job-related searches in Australia via Google already, knowing how to tap into Google For Jobs when it launches is essential for recruiters and HR professionals looking to get ahead.
So, in short, if you want that first-mover advantage for volume and top talent, you will need to be Google For Jobs ready.
Let’s get started!
Why is Google For Jobs Important to Me?
- Google For Jobs will feature prominently on the Google search result page, so those who are visible at the top will get first access to job seekers against competitors.
- With the ability to tap into organic rankings and visibility through Google For Jobs, you can rely less on job advertising boards and save on recruitment advertising budgets.
- Greater search precision and filtering with job searches means the right talent can find you easily. Ultimately, you could lower cost and time resources in the recruitment process.
- Your career site, if optimised properly for Google For Jobs, could see a 20% increase in organic traffic and improve your employer brand reach while strengthening your employee value proposition messaging.
- You’ll enjoy an increased application rate, with Madgex reporting that the average application rate has risen by 47% since the advent of Google For Jobs. Top performers have seen a massive 100% increase in applications.
- Lastly, building your SEO capabilities and job board visibility means you will have a continuous long term strategy for generating organic job applications.
How Google For Jobs will appear in Google Australia across desktop and mobile.
Image Source: https://jobs.google.com/about/
Okay I'm Interested, But What Exactly is Google For Jobs?
Sometimes referred to as the Google job search engine, Google For Jobs is actually an aggregator of relevant job listings from all available job boards and career sites. These listings are then prominently displayed in the Google Search Result Pages (SERPs), allowing jobseekers to find highly relevant information fast in an easy to use interface.
Google For Jobs interface from Google search result page to a specific job (desktop).
Image Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/job-posting
Being the world’s biggest data hub and having its most powerful algorithm certainly makes for an effective tool.
Users can enter general searches like “jobs near me”, or something as precise as “full stack developer Melbourne eastern suburbs” for targeted results. This means jobseekers no longer have to sign up to a bunch of job alerts, or check multiple different sites a day to find the right opportunity. Google For Jobs sources everything from job aggregate boards, recruitment agencies and the businesses themselves.
Google For Jobs also pulls in other data to help jobseekers make an informed decision, such as salaries, commute times, employee reviews and other opportunities from the source employer. Google For Jobs is set to become incredibly powerful, rumoured to be partnering with job search sites like Seek and LinkedIn Jobs.
Google’s machine learning capabilities are now powering smarter job searching, while also representing opportunities for HR professionals to benefit.
What is The Current Impact of Google For Jobs Globally?
While Google For Jobs has not yet launched in Australia, job-related searches are already massive in Australia. There are already 11,147,450 monthly career-related Google searches within Australia – imagine how these searches can be harnessed using a job board aggregator like Google For Jobs.
We can already see some of the impacts of Google For Jobs in other markets, giving a glimpse into what Australian HR professionals and recruiters can expect. Here are some findings:
- Recruitment companies and industry observers noted that Google For Jobs impacted the online recruitment market within 1 month. For example, an average increase in traffic by 90% directly to the job detail page.
- In some cases, organisations saw a conversion rate increase of 4.5x for new job applicants.
- Those who optimised for Google For Jobs saw an increase of organic traffic related to job searches increase up to 20%, while those who did not saw a drop of up to 40%.
- Job posting with appropriate schema markup for Google is now essential.
So Google For Jobs is Essential - How Do I Use It?
Because you can’t post jobs directly to Google For Jobs, you’ll need to either optimise your listings on your job boards that have partnered with Google (like LinkedIn Jobs or Seek when the time comes) or make your own career pages indexable (able to be found and indexed by Google). Here’s how to do it:
- Firstly, you need set up job specific schema markup on your individual job details page. We recommend using a friendly schema markup tool and getting your web team to implement it correctly.
Use a schema markup tool to easily generate job schema data.
Image Source: https://technicalseo.com/tools/schema-markup-generator/
- For the exact steps to follow, you can check out Google’s own guidelines for job postings, and preview your schema markup using the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to ensure you have implemented it correctly.
- Secondly, in your schema markup include precise and succinct information about the job title, location, salary, company name, employment type and job description. Avoid jargon, improper capitalisation and excessive exclamation marks (no more ‘Social Media Gun’ or ‘Account Manager Rockstar’).
- Thirdly, use relevant keywords and phrases in the job title and description. A minimum of 500 words is recommended for the job description, with 1 – 2% keyword density (that is how many times the keyword shows in the copy i.e. Digital Marketer in 500 words should show a maximum of 10 times).
On a more technical note to show for Google For Jobs:
- Make sure your web pages are indexable. We recommend it’s best to consult your developer team or SEO agency to ensure your website is indexable for Google to read.
- Update and use sitemaps to notify Google about the changes to your job listings or implement the Google Indexing API.
- Set up Google Search Console for your website to ensure you accurately measure the impact of search traffic via Google For Jobs.
A general note on SEO best practices to assist with Google For Jobs visibility:
- At the core of Google’s products and services is the user experience. Thus, to maximise both your potential to show in Google For Jobs as well as improve the job search experience for candidates, always be thinking – how can I present information that is valuable and succinct to a potential target employee?
- How people find relevant information in Google is to use keywords. For example, someone searching for a recruitment consultant position in Sydney would match with a job that highlights those keywords in the job listing. So always be thinking about the most concise and relevant keywords for your positions.
Get Yourself Ready For Google For Jobs in Australia
Google For Jobs could launch in Australia at any time, meaning forward-thinking recruiters and HR professionals need to start preparing now.
A basic understanding of SEO is now a necessity to make the most of Google For Jobs when it launches – is your organisation ready to be an early adopter?
If you’re worried, don’t stress – SIXGUN has a Google For Jobs ready SEO solution that we can tailor for your needs specifically.
So no matter what, when Google For Jobs hits Australia, you will have first-mover advantage on top talent in Australia.
Book in a consultation with SIXGUN today using this link.
Hero Image Source: Pixabay
