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Getting good with Google for Jobs
Posted by Ashley Kauffman on October 18th, 2018 
As recruitment technology continues to evolve at warp speed, one simple truth remains: the job search is an information game, and Google is the clear winner. As the #1 ranked search engine in the world, Google is constantly optimizing and refining its features to deliver the best user
experience. It’s no secret that Google for Jobs can increase the sheer number of job seekers who will see your job listings. So, how do you optimize your job postings to appear in Google search results?There’s no trick to having your content displayed. Give Google what it wants, and it will deliver. In fact, Google wants to help you! There is a wealth of information on the topic, but this is a blog post, not a thesis. So let’s focus on the fundamentals:
What is Google for Jobs?
Google for Jobs has one job: to simplify the job search for candidates. Google for Jobs is simply an enhanced search tool that aggregates job postings from across the web and displays them in Google Search. Google for Jobs sources, indexes and displays job listings from various job boards and career site pages, thereby allowing job seekers to view job openings via a quick Google search.How do you get your job listings to appear on Google for Jobs?
While you can’t directly post your jobs on Google, there are two ways to get your jobs listed in Google for Jobs:1. Use third-party job sites that integrate with Google for JobsGoogle for Jobs is brilliant in its simplicity: it serves up job listings that are already published. If you’ve posted your job openings via platforms that are already integrated with Google (examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, Monster, Direct Employers and iCIMS, just to name a few), congratulations! Your work here is done and your listings are now eligible to appear in Google for Jobs. What the job boards, and NAS via ACTIVATE™, are doing is manually submitting a sitemap directly to Google for Jobs multiple times per day to ensure timeliness of content.2. Integrate directly with Google
ATS providers, job boards and employers can implement job posting structured data to directly integrate with Google. You can enhance and refine the job seeker experience by adding structured data to your job listing web pages. In order to do so, your job listings must allow for HTML editing.You may need to involve your IT team or webmasters to create the structured data markup. The process essentially involves pulling specified pieces of data from your ATS job posting and placing the content as structured data into your career site job description page in order to ensure that Google indexes your postings. The more fields you have filled out (job title, location, etc.), the more Google will be able to index it, assign relevancy and authority to it, and increase your exposure.
3. Submit a sitemap to get your jobs indexed by Google
You decide which pages on your site should be crawled by Google. That’s where the all-important sitemap comes in. A sitemap is a file that provides information about the content on your site. Google “reads” this file in order to more intelligently, logically crawl your site.A sitemap tells the crawler which files you think are important and also provides valuable information; for example, when a page was last updated and how often the page is changed. When you submit a sitemap to Google, it gets loaded into Google for Jobs thereby allowing for maximum exposure of your job listings. How do you do this? Google walks you through how to build and submit a sitemap.
When you keep your ATS updated, apply structured data to your job listings and make your content indexable with a sitemap, you’re giving Google what it needs to ensure that your job listings get the attention they deserve.
Need help? Contact NAS and learn how our proprietary, cloud-based job search platform, ACTIVATE™, is aligned with industry best practices – and Google search – to ensure an optimized, streamlined candidate experience.
Ashley Kauffman
As Director of Analytics with NAS Recruitment Innovation, Ashley works closely with our clients to help them strategize on recruiting A-level talent based on data intelligence. Ashley focuses on telling a story for our clients in a way that not only validates their current strategy, but also anticipates future opportunities. Whether your goal is delivering effective employment brands, career sites and social media strategies, or comprehensive online or traditional ad campaigns, Ashley leverages her ten plus years of industry experience to achieve success and exceed client expectations.
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