If you’re new to SEO, the wide and deep world of what it can do for your website might seem overwhelming. In short, SEO is what gets your content to rank high on search engine result pages, which can lead to more targeted traffic and sales.

In this post, we will go over what SEO is, how it can help you grow your recruiting business, what mistakes people often make with their SEO strategy, and what you need to do in order to get started. Let’s dive right in!

What is SEO? The Beginner’s Guide To SEO

SEO is short for search engine optimization. It is a process that can be used on any website to improve site visibility amongst search engines. When someone performs a search, the goal of SEO is to have your website show up as one of the top results. This often means optimizing your website and its content so that it ranks higher in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).

There are no shortcuts to having high rankings in search engines. While it is true that there are more methods than ever before for achieving search engine success, quality content that earns genuine links from reputable and/or authoritative sites remains the gold standard.

However, what does “high-quality” content imply? Here are some ideas:

Create unique and useful content.

Google is constantly updating its algorithm with the goal of providing users with high-quality search results. If you want your website to rank higher in Google’s SERPs, then make sure that your site provides value through original materials such as blog posts or infographics.

Sharing other people’s articles without providing any added insight could actually result in a lower ranking because it signals to Google that you have nothing valuable to add!

Post frequently but don’t overstuff keywords.

How Can SEO Help My Recruiting Business?

Now that we’ve answered what SEO is, let’s look at how it specifically relates to recruiting businesses. There are two main ways in which SEO can benefit your business: by driving more traffic to your site and improving lead conversion rates.  When it comes to traffic, SEO is one of the most cost-effective ways to generate leads. A recent study by BrightEdge study found that organic search was responsible for 51% of all visits to B2B and B2C websites, compared to just 10% from paid search ads.

In addition to traffic, good SEO can also help improve your lead conversion rates. This happens in two ways: first, by increasing the number of visitors who click through to your site from SERPs; and second, by helping you attract more qualified leads (candidates) once they’re on your site.

Quality content (job descriptions) that’s well-optimized for keywords will help potential recruits find your business when they’re searching online, increasing the chances that they’ll become actual customers.

Remember, placing a job ad on your company’s website or public job boards (ZipRecruiter, Indeed, Glassdoor, etc.) does not guarantee immediate hires. You still need to optimize your job description content with the appropriate SEO keywords and phrases, as well as create a thorough description for potential employees to find the job listing.

Job descriptions that utilize the correct SEO keywords have a greater chance of reaching the right people, not just for potential employees to find particular positions within an organization, but also for increased exposure on important channels like LinkedIn, where candidates typically start their searches.

SEO Tips for Beginners

If you’re just starting out in SEO, here are 15 actionable steps to improve your job description content for your website and public job boards.

01. Do your research

Keyword research is essential for any effective SEO strategy. Chances are you already have a good idea of what keywords you want to target, but it’s important to do some additional digging to make sure you’re targeting the right ones.

Use tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner and semrush.com/semrush-pro/search-engine-marketing to find related keywords, competitor data, and other information that will help you optimize your site for maximum impact.

02. Optimize your title tags and meta descriptions

Once you’ve identified what keywords you want to target, it’s time to optimize your site. Title tags and meta descriptions are what people see when they search for something on Google or other major search engines.

They should be concise but also communicate what the user is looking for so that they click through to your website (and hopefully convert into a lead).

03. Write unique content about each page of your site

You wouldn’t write multiple blog posts with the same title, would you? Well, there’s no reason why you’d do this either…unless one of them ranks higher than another in SEO rankings – which means more clicks!

But every post should stand alone as its own entity regardless of whether it gets viewed by someone who has never heard of you before or one of your current customers.

04. Keyword placements

Include keywords in the titles, meta descriptions, and throughout each page on your website – but don’t go overboard! You still want to write for humans, not search engines. So if it sounds awkward or forced, it’s likely too stuffed with keywords and might get penalized by Google.

A good rule of thumb is to use keyword research to determine what terms people are actually searching for related to what you sell or offer as services; then sprinkle those same words throughout your site content (but naturally!).

05. Image Optimization

Optimize images for SEO by naming them descriptively and including keywords where possible. Not only does this help potential customers understand what they’re looking at when they see your images in search results, but it also helps Google better understand what they’re about and what you might be trying to sell.

06. Internal Page Linking

Include links that readers can use to leave the site — for example, a link at the end of your blog post or an invitation within a webinar landing page.

Because visitors want what is best for their business as well as themselves personally, especially those who are new to online marketing; including calls-to-action with relevant offers will help you build trust and establish yourself as an authority on what matters most: providing value and helping others succeed.

07. Make sure there’s enough text throughout each page so Google knows what it contains before crawling through its content/code – Google has had issues with what they call “thin content” which is just a page where the text itself doesn’t have enough value to be considered important.

08. Website Structure

Ensure your site structure and URLs are logical, clean, and SEO-friendly – A URL or web address on its own isn’t going to help you rank better in search engines but it’s how Google sees what each of those pages contain that can make a big difference on whether or not you get crawled over others who may offer more relevant information from what comes up first based off of their title tag alone.

There was even an article published by Google about this very topic! In short: if users prefer one piece of content above another then chances are good google will as well because users are more likely to click on what is most relevant to what they’re searching for.

09. Create Quality Job Description (Content)

Develop unique, high-quality content – When you think about what’s needed in order for Google or job boards to rank your site (or page) higher than another it all comes down to how useful the information being offered by each individual piece of content actually is!

This implies that if two job advertisements are identical, but one has well-structured SEO content and the other does not, the one with better guidance will be ranked higher than its competition since the candidates were able to find what they were looking for when searching which, in turn, makes your job posting more relevant.

Remember, before clicking on a result, job seekers often type keywords into search engines or job board searches. The quality of the content is important, but so is having the appropriate keywords within it. As you might guess, including keywords in your job ad aids in the identification of suitable individuals.

10. Optimize your images and videos

If you want people who find your site through a Google Image search or YouTube to stick around, you need to make sure your visuals are optimized for SEO. This means using the right file name (including keywords), providing an alt tag and title for each image, and adding structured data markup where appropriate.

11. Publish long-form content

The days of stuffing your blog posts with keywords in order to rank higher are long gone. In fact, recent research has shown that longer-form content is more likely to rank high than shorter pieces. So go ahead and write those epic 3000-word guides!

Remember that while it may be tempting to give up quality for the sake of a more vocal article, you should fight the urge. Your readers will not appreciate an essay full of “fluff” just to fulfill a word count.

12. Use keyword research

Keyword research is still one of the most important aspects of SEO, so don’t neglect it! Start by finding out what people are searching for in your industry, and then use those keywords throughout your content.

13. Optimize for voice search

With the advent of virtual assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, more people are using voice search to find information online. Make sure your site is optimized for these queries by including long-tail keywords and answering questions directly on your pages.

14. Monitor your website’s performance

Use a tool like Google Analytics to track how well your website is performing from an SEO standpoint. This will help you identify any areas that need improvement and make necessary adjustments.

15. Build backlinks

One of the best ways to improve your site’s ranking is to build links from other websites. There are a number of ways you can do this, such as:

• Guest blogging on other sites in your industry
• Creating and sharing infographics with a link back to your site
• Linking out to relevant articles from within yours (this is what Google calls “contextual” or “editorial” links)

Bonus: Get social

Today, social recruiting is becoming the newest recruitment fad. As businesses have begun to seek for new skill sets and talents, they are utilizing social media platforms to attract and convert talent. According to a Jobvite survey conducted in 2020, companies are using social media to find new recruits:

• 72% uses LinkedIn to recruit
• 60% uses Facebook to recruit
• 38% uses Twitter to recruit
• 37% uses Instagram to recruit
• 27% uses YouTube to recruit
• 36% uses Glassdoor to recruit

Make sure that the content you publish on your company website includes share buttons so users can easily spread the word about what they find helpful. Some social media platforms will also allow for more complex integration through hashtags, mentions of specific accounts, etc.

This will make it easier for people who follow certain influencers in your niche to find what you have published online and help grow awareness about what you offer.

Key Takeaways

The most important points are that regardless of whether you’re promoting traffic to your website, selling items, or offering a job, high-quality content is king. Focus on quality content with quality keywords and you’ll have a much better chance of being one step ahead of the competition.

Good luck!