SEO myths abound online. This is a classic one that I spotted on a well read recruitment forum recently. In fact, last week I was in a conversation with a recruiter who was suffering from a classic case of SEO gobbledegook… Is that a word? It seems to be appropriate in this particular scenario.
I used to get frustrated by all the SEO mythology and misinformation that is communicated. Over the years, I have become quite calm and serene about the whole thing! When it comes to investing in marketing to grow your recruitment company it is useful to know what truth is and what is fiction. This is fiction by the way:
SEO Does Not Work Anymore In Recruitment
Now that is like saying hairdryers don’t dry hair… In my case maybe not. For Pete’s sake take a look at the evidence. People who want ‘things’ search online. That includes new careers, jobs and recruitment companies. Just before I decided to write this article, I checked the latest figure on Google. These are just three different search terms. They are all based in the UK.
- Recruitment companies ……………..2.4 million searches a year
- Sales recruitment companies……….288,000 searches a year
- Jobs in marketing……………………1.3 million searches a year
Imagine being in front of just a small percentage of that traffic. Do you think it might help with your candidate and client acquisition? Here are a few more things to chew on, which you may or might not know.
85% of people search online for service providers (this includes recruitment companies and agencies). This trend is still rising as more and more consumers have the expectation that they can find anything they want online. Add into this the phenomenon of local search i.e. recruitment companies in Cumbria and it becomes quite clear that this figure is only set to increase.
90% of people will validate a ‘buying’ decision online before they commit (in other words check you out online). Who hasn’t done this? Last week I checked out a new employee and the best price and reviews on an Outback BBQ. This validation process is also where people can come a cropper. Your brand and communication needs to be linked. Let’s use an example that recruiters can relate to. As recruitment business owners and recruiters there are two places you have to be online. One is your website and the other is LinkedIn.
Taking this one stage further it is great to have a LinkedIn profile yet if your website is a ‘shocker’, or worse still can’t be found it will delay your conversion of visitors from interested to invested. Why? Because something is off to the surfer. They are looking for evidence that you are genuine and everything is in sync.
Now here is a big one for you. In 2010 23% of the world’s population were online. In 2020 this is predicted to be 64%. This means about another 3 billion people are surfing around. You might well be reading this and yet still wondering will make a difference when it comes to cash in the bank. Here is some appropriate research for you.
In 2012 marketing Sherpa, a well-known research agency in the US conducted a survey of over 3000 business owners. Though this was not specific to the recruitment industry it is an indicator of exactly what is happening for most business owners. The number one marketing strategy that resulted in consistent effectiveness was SEO (search engine optimisation).
In fact in the top 10 most effective marketing strategies, ‘online’ channels took 8 of the spots. We sent this out in a document to our subscribers a few months ago and you can download it here. Click Here To Download
What can you do? Take some action. Get your website assessed through a website audit. Find out what is working and what is not. Then put in place the activities that will change it. That could be:
- Identifying relevant keywords
- On page optimisation
- Off page optimisation and a content strategy
The key thing is to take action, because if you don’t your competitors will.
Tweetables:
Click To Tweet: [inlinetweet prefix=”null” tweeter=”null” suffix=”null”]Does SEO still work in recruitment?[/inlinetweet]
Click To Tweet: [inlinetweet prefix=”null” tweeter=”null” suffix=”null”]In 2020 64% of the world’s population will be online.[/inlinetweet]
Follow us on Google+!
Important
As an ambitious recruitment organisation, THE marketing strategy to master is email marketing. It will consistently deliver both candidates and clients.
In a special complimentary training Webinar, we give you the template for writing emails we use for our clients and the exact 4 campaigns that are working now.
You can register here.
