5 Actionable SEO Recruitment Strategies to Generate Leads

In the old days of recruitment, you could build a client list by making cold calls over the phone.

However, this is a lead generation method that is becoming obsolete.

People now screen their calls and prefer to communicate through emails and texts.

Even sending a voicemail is unlikely to get a response.

While cold calls may still deliver a measure of success, many recruiters are aware of the need to devise new lead generation tactics.

Without question, one of the best places to generate leads is online.

One essential strategy you need to master in order to succeed in this area is: search engine optimisation (SEO).  

Understanding SEO 

You may mistakenly assume that SEO is not relevant to your recruitment business. In reality, it is a critical component of your online lead generation strategy. SEO is a tool that will attract people to your job posts while building your reputation among candidates and clients.

If you want to boost your website’s visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing, you will need to use SEO. If you are unfamiliar with what it involves, there’s no need to worry. These SEO tips explain the basic concepts that will enable you to bring in new clients and candidates.

a) Keywords – Your SEO process primarily relies on you using the correct keywords. Start by making a list of the search terms that your potential candidates and clients will use in their search for a recruitment agency. One of the best tools that can help with this task is Google’s Keyword Planner.

b) Onsite optimisation – There are numerous tasks involved here, such as:

• => Including keywords in the URLs, meta titles and descriptions
• => Ensuring that the website is easy to use and navigate with a fast loading time
• => Providing excellent user experience

c) Content – Well-crafted, useful and relevant content can boost your recruitment website’s ranking in the search engine results. To cultivate your reputation as an expert recruiter, you should publish content regularly but also add variety. For example, you could use various platforms such as blogs, videos or infographics.

d) Backlinks – Search engines like backlinks as they make your website look authoritative. However, always prioritise quality over quantity. It’s better to have a handful of links from reputable sites than a host of unreliable ones.

SEO action plan for recruiters

Here are the five areas that will boost your SEO and help you obtain more high-quality candidates for your job offers.

1) Careers page

Make sure that your careers page is easy to navigate and provides a strong user experience. It should contain all the valuable job information that a candidate would like to know. Organise each posting and category to make it easy for visitors to browse through. If possible, include videos and images to showcase your client’s team and work environment.

2) Meta titles and descriptions

It takes effort, but it is vital that you use precise meta titles and descriptions for every web page. These are the page titles and descriptions that appear in the search engine results.

For instance, if you want to create a landing page that describes an accountant’s responsibilities and skills, the page should also direct the readers to every job opportunity for accountants. You could write the meta title and description like this:

Meta title: ‘Accountant jobs in [location] from [company name]’.

Meta description: ‘Find accountant jobs in [location] and apply now. New job offers are available daily’.

Remember, both the meta title and description are critical to search engines and your audience. They inform the search engine about your page’s content. Meanwhile, people will click on your link once they decide that it is relevant.

3) Social media posts

Content shared on social media improves the overall SEO. Therefore, you should make it easy for people to share your job posts and content on a variety of social media platforms, such as:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Your web pages should include social media buttons to enable readers to share your content without the need to copy and paste the links.

4) Mobile device optimisation

The number of candidates using their mobile phones to search for job opportunities is increasing every year. Even Google recognises this growing trend and provides higher rankings to mobile-friendly websites. If your recruitment website is not yet optimised for smartphones, you’d better do something about it now.

5) Recruitment videos 

Video content is now a major factor in any SEO strategy. Posting engaging recruitment videos can convince your target audience to spend more time on your website. Remember, your page rankings tend to go up when people stay longer on your site. In addition, visitors are more likely to share entertaining videos through social media, which is another boost to your SEO.

Conclusion

This article has examined some of the tactics that can optimise your recruitment website and increase its search engine ranking. However, the improvements won’t happen overnight. It will take some time before you can see dramatic changes in the SERPs. Think of SEO as a marathon, not a sprint. Keep updating your web pages with new and valuable content. Before you know it, your recruitment site will be at the top of the search engine results.

Author’s bio

Written by Chris Anderson, Head of Recruitment Traffic.

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Establishing websites and then selling them can prove quite profitable. However, in order to obtain the highest fee possible, you need to convince buyers that they are purchasing a valuable product. You cannot expect to receive huge offers for an empty website with zero traffic.

Therefore, you should take time and effort to increase your site’s value.

To do this, you will need to follow the advice below.

SEO Guide No1 Tip: Use reliable software tools

There are numerous software tools you can use, but the largest search engine has two of the best:

• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console

As the name implies, Google Analytics provides vital information on how people perceive your site and how you can improve these perceptions.

Meanwhile, you can submit a sitemap through Google’s Search Console. This will let Google and other search engines know about your site. It can also detect alert errors so you can fix them without delay.

Conduct keyword research 

Using the same words or phrases used by online searchers can help improve your standing in the search engine results pages. According to this advice, you should consider the value of the keywords based on user intent. For example, you should work out the most popular terms searchers will use when they are:

• Simply browsing
• Looking for good deals
• Comparing the prices of various sellers
• Buying

Once you understand their search queries, you can incorporate them as keywords for your site’s content. If you want to run ads, you can use Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner.

Perform page optimisation

To optimise your website and all its pages, you should:

• Use only one H1 tag per page – They denote the main headline and they often include the main keyword for that page.
• Ensure that the page title uses fewer than 60 characters – In this way, readers will be able to see the entire title in their searches. Also, as Google often displays the first 50 to 60 characters, the primary keyword should be placed at the start of the page title. Furthermore, instead of creating titles that resemble a complete sentence or even an editorial, why not make them look like a listing? You could use special characters, such as brackets or dashes, to focus on the essential information.
• Ensure your meta descriptions are accurate with fewer than 155 characters – Moz research discovered that Google removes meta descriptions once they go over 155–160 characters. Therefore, make sure you include your best pitch and main keywords at the beginning while keeping it under 155 characters.
• Make the page titles engaging and easy to read – The title should be enticing, understandable and appealing to your readers.
• Always include keywords in the URL page – Remember, page titles automatically become the URL so keep it short and understandable, and remove any filler words.

Build links

Links on your website can increase your ranking factor. Think of links as proof of trustworthiness among search engines. You should think about building links by partnering with publishers or other sites within your industry. You could even share valuable content. For example, you could introduce yourself to a blogger who reviews your products. After the introduction, you could help each other by sharing the benefits of your goods.

You may also wish to check the competition to see how they strategise their link building. There are tools you can use for your analysis, such as Ahref’s Site Explorer. You can use this tool to discover your competitors’ websites and web page links. It can also provide you with insight into how your site can earn links and mentions.

Create relevant content

A comprehensive content strategy can take months to plan and execute. However, there are simple but effective ways of filling your site:

• Find out what questions your prospective customers are likely to ask – For example, although they may be aware of your products (e.g., soap), they may not understand why some are more expensive than others. It’s up to you to answer this type of query.
• Provide more product value to your customers – If you sell food products, consider posting a few simple recipes on your website. This approach can open the eyes of your buyers to the various ways your products can be used.
• Find out which keywords often match a customer’s search queries – Once you incorporate these keywords into the search terms, users are more likely to find your website.

If you decide to write a blog post or an informational page, consider limiting the content to 500 words. Most readers want to obtain information quickly, so make sure your articles are short but clear. However, there are exceptions. You can go over the word limit if the question requires an answer that will be more than 500 words long.

Build your reputation

Similar to any other business, you must protect your website’s reputation. If possible, establish your site on social media platforms, including:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• Twitter

If you want to create a well-known brand, you should register its name on suitable social media platforms. This can help protect your brand and its identity while making it easy for people to locate the site online. You can even link the social accounts to your store. However, remember to focus on the channels that can guarantee you maximum customer reach.

Other factors worth considering

Your website needs to look good on mobile devices as many people prefer to use their smartphones for browsing these days. If your content is not readable on a mobile phone, make sure you create a mobile version immediately.

Loading speed is another ranking criterion that you should never ignore. Consider using tools such as PageSpeed Insights to find out how to speed up your site’s desktop and mobile versions.

SEO Guide – Conclusion

Creating a website is relatively straightforward. However, selling it for a hefty profit may take some time and effort. Remember, most people will pay the price you set if they think your website is worth that amount. SEO strategies should be your first port of call in terms of adding value to your website. Begin by using appropriate tools that can assist you in keyword research, page optimisation and content creation. Make sure you explore every possible avenue that could help your site reach the top of the search engine results pages. You may also consider consulting a knowledgeable SEO expert for help.

Author’s bio

Chris Anderson is an online marketing expert with 15 years’ experience in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Google Ads campaigns. As the founder of Springhill Marketing, he has helped various companies drive up their website traffic via increased sales and enquiries. His company is also a Google Partner, specialising in SEO and Google Ads Services.

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=> Tips for people who think they can’t write.

Is Digg.com for sale? Rumours suggest that the social media giant may be hitting the market very soon. If so, what will it sell for? Who will buy it? What is it really worth?

This is not the first time that rumours of Digg being sold have surfaced, but VentureBeat recently claimed that Digg is getting serious about a possible sale, and what’s more, they have hired Allen & Company to sell the site for $300 million.

The curious thing about this company is that it doesn’t seem to like publicity, so much so that it doesn’t even have a websites. Weird!

Anyway, the million dollar question is: what will Digg sell for?

According to industry gossip, this is in fact a $300 million dollar question. Yes, you heard correctly, Digg is being valued by some at $300 million. Not a bad chunk of change.

We expect to hear a lot more about this over the coming weeks and months.

MidasCode

Let’s continue with our SEO myth busting campaign.

Today we move to part two of our SEO myths guide and our focus is on submitting to the search engines.

From what I have seen on many forums it seems that many webmasters still believe that you have to submit your site to Google etc to be ranked in the search engines.

What is worse is that some people seem to think that you have to re-submit regularly.

So let’s sort this once and for all… You do not need to submit your site to any of the search engines.

To get indexed in the search engines simply gain some respectable backlinks. It is that easy!

What is even worse than all of the above is the fact that many SEO companies charge to submit you to the search engines. I have seen adverts saying they will submit you to 50,000 search engines for $800. However, in reality there are only three search engines that are going to bring quality traffic, and there is no cost of any of them.

So next time you see a company charging for submission to search engines, send them this article.

Written by Dean

SEO Myths Part One – Guaranteed Rankings

There are hundreds of myths and theories regarding SEO. I once heard someone say that “being an SEO consultant is a far less honourable trade than a prostitute”. Whilst I have nothing against the fair buxom merchants of the night, I dare say that this shows a complete lack of understanding of what SEO actually is.

This leads us perfectly to SEO Myth number 1: SEO is a dark and seedy practice.

People are often afraid of something they don’t understand! it is much easier to dismiss or insult something than to actually do some research.

It doesn’t help that there actually is a dark side to the SEO world known as “Black Hat SEO”. But generally we don’t go around slaying virgins to gain rankings.

So why does the search engine optimisation business have this reputation with the general public?

Partly it is due to a lack of understanding, but it is mainly because of a handful of SEO companies that give a bad name to the industry. I have seen companies charge $500 to submit a site to Google, Yahoo and Msn. Yet simply gaining a couple of free backlinks would automatically get you indexed in all the major search engines for FREE.

There are also many SEO firms that make false promises that they simply can’t keep. Anyone in the SEO industry will have heard of at least one site that has claimed to guarantee a top 3 ranking etc…. but let me straighten this out once and for all….. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GUARANTEE ANY RANKINGS.

It doesn’t matter how much money you have, or how good your SEO expert claims to be, it is simply impossible to guarantee any form of rankings in the search engines!

For a start only a handful of people know the ACTUAL algorithms, and these people work for Google. So to guarantee any sort of ranking would be wrong and a lie.

Also, the search engines change the goal posts on an almost daily basis, so even if you are number 1 today, you may not even be top 10 tomorrow.

So to all the SEO “experts” and SEO companies who claim to guarantee a top 10 position, you are the dirt on the shoe of the SEO world and are causing the general public to lose trust for SEO as an effective and honourable practice.

Right, I am off to slay some virgins 😉

Written by Dean (SEO Consultant)

As a webmaster there will be many times when you will need to research backlinks.

*Looking at your own links
*Researching competitors backlinks
*Considering buying a website

However, most people just look at the PR, some look at PR and the amount of backlinks, but only a handful actually look at the quality of those links.

In a future article I will discuss the different types of links to be aware of (comment spam, buying links, topsites, links pages etc), but today I am going to focus on one area where most webmasters make a crucial error.

Quality v Quantity

Personally I would rather have a link on Google.com than on a million blogs. So you can’t go off PR and quantity of links alone.

The easiest way for the numbers to be dramatically altered is via sitewide or blogroll links.

What is a sitewide link = A link that is placed on a template of a website (often in the footer) and therefore features on EVERY page of a website.

Blogroll link = A link that is often placed in the sidebar/side menu of a blog and is shown on EVERY page of a blog.

So why do you need to be wary of these types of links?

Well mainly because the search engines only count a handful of links from a certain url. So if you have a link on 2,000 pages of a blog, then perhaps 1,500 of those links will show in the Yahoo backlink search (Linkdomain:yourdomain.com)
However, out of those 1,500 links that Yahoo has found, only a handful will actually count towards your rankings and pagerank.

From my research it is capped at roughly 5 pages.
Therefore approx 1,495 of those links are not of any benefit to you.

The same can apply to numerous links from the same C Class, but we will come to that another time.

Please note that some webmasters believe that sitewide links actually HARM your rankings. Personally I think that as long as you don’t go overboard you will be ok.

So why do you have to be aware of sitewide links when doing backlink research?

Well lets take an example:

Site A has 10,000 links according to Yahoo.com

Site B has 100 links

However, Site A has 5 sitewide links on 3 forums and 2 blogs. Site B has 100 main page links on unique URLS.

In this case site B would severely outrank site A. But most webmasters would think that site A is actually more powerful.

So next time you do some research on yours or competitiors sites, make sure you pay attention to the quality of the links, and don’t simply be dazzled by the big numbers.

Dean