Google Ads for Recruiters: Creating Google Ads that Score with Job Seekers

Google now processes over 40,000 searches every second, which equals 3.5 billion searches per day. Industry experts believe there are 3-4 million businesses implementing Google AdWords into their recruitment marketing efforts. Are you one of them?

In a prior post, I outline the many great reasons for using a Google AdWords campaign for recruiting. Basically, our clients employ Google AdWords for advertising positions where they know they will have an ongoing need (restaurant, call center) or positions that can be hard to fill (nursing, IT). The goal is to drive traffic on a consistent basis to the relevant page (landing page, job page, etc.), creating a cost-effective way to keep candidates flowing and to build a pipeline of talent.

Google ads work like this; ads are served to viewers based on the keywords they type into the engine. If a nurse types “nursing jobs in Dallas” into Google and your ad is relevant, your ad will be served up to her. However, it’s a little trickier than that, as Google has a complicated way to decide what “relevant” means to seekers, based on several factors.

Using Google Display Network

Posting Google ads using the Google Display Network allows you to target the right audience and show your ads to consumers (or active job seekers) at the most convenient times. Targeting using display ads can help you find new customers (prospective candidates) or existing customers (current employees) using audience segments. Google Display Network can also help you drive more conversions (or receive more job applications) by finding high-performing segments based on your existing audiences and your landing page.

The Candidate Experience is what Counts

An underrated fact about advertising with Google AdWords is the way that Google incentivizes those who provide users with a great experience. In order to encourage advertisers to provide a seamless visit, Google created the Quality Score, a system that grades each ad in every campaign according to how effectively the content is providing users with exactly the right search terms.

It’s up to you – or your agency partner – to create highly relevant Google ads with the right keywords that offer a great experience. When you do so, you get:

• Lower costs
• Higher rankings in the competition for clicks

Understanding the Google Quality Score

Here are the five main components that contribute to a higher score:

Key indicators under your control that can help improve your Quality Score include:

1. Campaign keywords, ad groups, ad text and ad extensions.

Make sure your ad is specific and targeted, and try to think in terms of what your ideal candidate would be typing into the search engine while you are developing your creative. When creating Google ads for recruitment marketing, do some keyword research and use search engine optimization (SEO) to discover what the appropriate keywords are to have your ads shown to job seekers when they do a google search. Keep in mind: ad relevance makes up 22% of your visible score. 

2. Landing page content in relation to what is being advertised.

Often, we’re asked to do a Google Ad campaign without a specific and relevant landing page. It does no good to serve up a targeted ad, but then send the candidate to a generic page that is not directly related to the information they were seeking. Google rates you on this. Campaigns with relevant, optimized landing pages and a great user experience get higher scores, show more often and cost a lot less for better results.

3. Run and Refine for Best Results

Google Ads are not a good fit for filling a single position or running a brief marketing campaign. You get the best results when you continue to run and refine your Google ads. As your ad campaign progresses, Google notices all five of the score components and begins to spread your ads in a more and more targeted fashion. It notices what keywords get the best click-through and targets individuals who also use those words.

You can also add new keywords as you monitor the campaign, as well as tweak creative elements or even do testing of various messages to see what creates better response. You’ll also get residual value on your landing page or career site, with better SEO based on the fact that you are driving the right people there.

We’ve found that our clients really appreciate the fact that they are continually using their employer brand to build a pipeline, driving ever-more targeted candidates to their site and getting greater value from their budget as their Quality Score increases.

Using Google Search Results & SEO to Enhance Your Employer Brand

Enhancing your employer branding is no easy feat, but with the help of Google search results, you can make sure that active and passive candidates alike recognize your company. Your employer brand should be helping you receive job applications and achieve your recruitment goals.

Use keyword exclusion, or negative keywords, to get more targeted search results and prevent your ad from appearing if the search terms include one of the negative keywords. You can also use exact matching to produce more tailored results, that way your ads don’t get lost in the sea of search results.

Track your click-through rate (CTR) and your conversion rate (CR) and make changes to your ad so that you can get better reach your target audience. Be sure to create include a clear call to action and take advantage of the use of keywords and phrases in your job descriptions and on your landing page.

When posting content on your website, be sure to utilize internal links to help search engines crawl your website and index the pages that they’re able to find. This will bring in more traffic, bringing in more opportunity for qualified candidates to contact you.

The Bottom Line

A well-crafted, extremely relevant campaign that offers a great user experience will score highly with Google, be seen by the right people and drive the traffic you desire to the landing page of your choice.

It takes experience to execute an effective Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign, so consider partnering with an established agency like NAS to manage the process. As a fully certified Google Partner agency, we have the knowledge and creative capabilities to construct the ideal recruitment campaign that will yield impressive results.

Contact NAS  to discuss how we can help you put the power of Google to work for you.

• The 2 most important analytics for HR professionals
• The Challenges of Multi-location Recruiting: A “Quick Chat” with William Poynter of HealthSouth