How to Optimise your Job Site for Search Engines

We have been making ongoing improvements to our website service to give you greater control over your recruitment website in respect of search engines.

In a world of information overload, it is important that your website can attract traffic, get noticed and stand out from the crowd. Get it wrong, and your site could get lost in the search engine wilderness.

Unpaid Organic Search Engine Planning

This web page deals with what is described as unpaid organic search, otherwise known as the natural search engine results. The other type of search is paid search, or pay-per-click or sponsored search, whereby website owners pay money to have their websites prominently featured on the search results.

In contrast, organic search is free.

As a general rule, we believe the best approach to SEO is to describe each page in an honest and meaningful way. In particular, we believe it is best not to overload your web pages with search engine keywords, because if the search engines think you are trying to gain an unfair advantage, they can downgrade your ranking and push your web pages lower on the Search Engine Results Pages (these search results are often called the SERPs).

Everyone has an opinion on SEO and our opinions and guidance are based on many years of experience.

Focus on Real People, not Search Engines

It's ironic that we highlight this point, because perhaps you have come this page to discover cool tricks for SEO (and you will find cool stuff below). In reality, it can be argued that it is better to provide the human touch and make sure your website content is optimised for real people as a priority, and not search engines. Write your website content for the benefit of people using and reading your site, because nowadays it is believed that this approach can be beneficial when it comes to SEO.

In recent times, search engines and the algorithms with rank and sort the search results tend to favour websites with contain great content with descriptive and unique information, and which have no hidden wizardry to try to fool the search result listings.

At a glance, the key steps are:

Optimise your job site for search engines.
Next, submit your website to the search engines.
Monitor your SEO success using Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.

These steps are explained in more detail below:

Search Engine Optimisation Executive Summary

This collection of essential tips can help you plan your SEO campaign and try to get the best search engine results for your recruitment site.

Read Me First

If you are pushed for time, just read this executive summary page, even if you do not have time for anything else.

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I have No Time for SEO Planning

Even if you are very busy, just take a few minutes and follow the three simple steps we provide.

Now Here Comes the Good News

Many of the recruitment websites created at QuickontheNet.com perform extremely well on the search engines, successfully attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors through natural organic search, without any SEO planning.

Firstly, that is no accident, and secondly, we will explain why that can happen.

3 Simple Steps - Bare Minimum SEO for Beginners

OK, you don't have the time for SEO planning but each time you create a new web page, follow our simple guide and carry out the three steps we provide.

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Create High-quality Original Content for your Website

Recruitment is a very competitive business sector on the search engines and it is important that you create high-quality original content for your job site.

You can develop an effective content strategy to make sure you compete with the leading established job sites and we will cover 3 main topics:
1. The Importance of Creating Original Content.
2. Take Advantage of Your Niche Business Market.
3. Maximise Your Geographical Location Targeting.
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Meta Tags & Getting the Basics Right

Using our website service, you can edit the Meta Tags for each web page and each job description page on your recruitment website.

What are Meta Tags?

Meta Tags are the hidden code which is inserted into a web page. When you view a web page, the Meta Tags are not visible to the eye, but it is possible to view the source code if you wish to see the hidden tags behind the scenes.

In respect of SEO, when people refer to the Meta Tags they are usually referring to the Meta Title, the Meta Description tag and the Meta Keywords tag.

Nowadays, the Meta Keywords tag is not considered to be very important.

Although Meta Tags are not directly visible on a web page, they can influence how your web page looks on the Search Engine Results Pages (these search results are often called the SERPs).

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URL Filenames & How to Name your Page URLs

We have introduced an important new feature and we are pleased to announce that now it is possible to have greater control of your website URLs.

The URL Filename feature will allow you to create a URL on the back of your own domain name and if used correctly, it is believed these URLs can be beneficial for SEO (search engine optimisation) and attracting more visitor traffic, if you use search keywords in your website URLs.

URL Filenames should not be considered in isolation as part of your SEO plans (because they are not the only issue to consider), but they are considered to be one of the most important issues in SEO planning.

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How to Optimise Job Pages for Search Engines

Let's assume you have a 30 page recruitment site with 60 job description pages on your website. This means you could have 90 separate pages indexed on the search engines.

In other words, posting jobs on your website can widen the appeal of your job site on the search engines.

This website already contains a simple guide explaining how to post jobs on your website, so we will not duplicate that information here. Instead, we will focus on the important issues which can impact on SEO when you add job description pages to your recruitment site.

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Google Search Ranking for Mobile Phone Websites

Google has announced in public that it considers "mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal" and that it "will have a significant impact in Google Search results". This means websites which have been optimised for mobile browser screen display can benefit on the search engine results pages.

In addition to this, when using Google search on a mobile phone, the websites which have been optimised for mobile display are highlighted on the search results with the words "Mobile-friendly".

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How to Add your Job Site to the Search Engines

There is no charge for this service, but you must register with each service provider and have a relevant free account:

Submit Your URL to Google

Submit Your Site to Yahoo

Submit your Website to Bing

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Links to Your Recruitment Site from Other Websites

It is believed that having keyword links back to your website from other websites can have a positive effect on SEO (search engine optimisation). This type of external promotional activity is often called off-site SEO.

Good-quality inbound linking is still considered to be a valuable asset when it comes to SEO planning.

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How to use Social Media for Search Engine Optimisation

It is believed that there are hundreds of factors which can determine the ranking of your website on Google and the other search engines.

In recent years, social media has emerged as an important ranking factor and it is widely acknowledged that very often the highest ranking websites are also popular on social media.

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Google Analytics versus Google Webmaster Tools

Let's start by clearing up a myth. Using Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools will not boost your SEO ranking simply because you start using them.

Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools are both SEO monitoring tools and neither program will directly influence your performance on the search engines.

By the way, both programs are free and both are supported at QuickontheNet.com for your new job site.

Each program has something to offer, so let's explore and compare the benefits and differences between Analytics and Webmaster Tools in respect of SEO.

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How to Add Google Analytics to your Job Site

We provide a step-by-step guide on how to add Google Analytics to your recruitment website. Firstly, free of charge, please open a 'Google Analytics' account:

Google Analytics

Next, please follow the steps listed in our simple guide.

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How to Add Google Webmaster Tools

As soon as Analytics is installed and verified (as explained in the previous page), the process of adding Google Webmaster Tools is very quick and simple.

There is no need to install new tracking code on your website because the Analytics tracking code will also serve Webmaster Tools.

To set up Webmaster Tools after setting up Analytics, when you are still logged into Google, please start by going to:

Webmaster Tools

Next, follow the steps outlined in our guide.

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Getting it Wrong - Things You Should Not Do

We have provided important tips on how to avoid some of the most common SEO mistakes that can damage your search engine ranking performance.

It is recommended that you create content for people visiting, reading and using your website and not for search engines. In other words, design and build your website for real people and not for search engine robots.

As a general point, we believe it is best not to over-do the SEO treatment of your website because search engines tend not to like it if you are trying to gain an unfair advantage on the search rankings.

SEO Mistakes to Avoid with your Recruitment Site

We have outlined a collection of handy tips on the next page.

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Search Engine Optimisation is a Moving Target

This phenomenon is controlled by the algorithm concept which is used by Google Search and the other search engines to rank websites on the search engine results.

The Google algorithm is always changing and this means the search results will vary over time. This also means that even if you made no changes whatsoever to your website, your search ranking will often change due to modifications to the Google algorithm.

Another important factor is that the ranking signals which influence the algorithm will also change over time.

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