SEO is a bit of a lost art today among new job board owners. They understand little about how it works and how long it takes to rank for keywords. I hope to shed some light on it in this member only post.
To me job board SEO comes down to mainly 4 activities: On Page SEO, Google for Jobs, Content Creation and Backlinks.
On Page SEO
This is the easiest to master, namely because the existing cloud based software solutions are already setup to be SEO friendly. I’m talking about the job description template page. It needs to have a big H1 title with the job title and then have it properly described in the browser title and URL string. Here’s an example of job posting from a Smart Job Board site of mine.
You’ll notice the URL string mimics the on page header. If your site does not use this same structure change it asap! These keywords are critical for google ranking it.
The Browser title, seen on the HTML code below shows the exact same H1 description. They should mirror each other.
Google for Jobs
Most job board software platforms are already integrated with G4J schema so just be sure to add your sitemap to their webmaster tools. If you have a custom built job board, I’d refer you to the instructions Google has in place for compliance and getting listed.
https://jobs.google.com/about/
Content Creation
New job boards need to be “content machines” for whatever niche you are targeting. You need to create keyword driven content for seekers and employers. Start blogging at least 2-3 times per week in the first six months of your launch.
I leverage keyword research tools like Moz and UberSuggest to figure out what to write. For example if you run a sales job board, a good post to write would be “How to Create a Sales Resume”;
The phrase “sales resume” gets over 4400 monthly searches on Google. Use the volume column to see how often searches are made. Target anything with over 50 searches per month.
Backlinks
Getting other related sites to link back you is also a critical piece of SEO. But its also time consuming. You can buy links like in directories for example which may or may not be Do Follow links. I sell backlinks ($150 each) at times from sites like JBS because it has a solid domain authority. Good content will help to attract links but you should have an outreach strategy as well.
Find relevant pages and blogs that talk about your niche and write the author to ask for inclusion in that page. Here’s an example of a backlink request I got recently;
If you’re still wondering how to go about building links, check out this training on link building. You can also find a link-building email outreach template here that you can adjust to your needs.
