Crafting a captivating (yet descriptive) job posting is a vital part of attracting the right candidates to your position. But what about optimizing its search performance? We want to make sure not just any professional finds on your job posting, but, instead, the right one does. To help you and your team get ahead in attracting these tech professionals, we've put together a few guidelines that will optimize your job postings' search results.
1. Use a clear, concise job title.
The job title should be the most commonly used version, such as “Software Engineer.” Including a seniority level also helps elevate the job in search results. If you know the one most important skill, list that as well—e.g., “Software Engineer (Java)”. Avoid using abbreviations and terms specific to your company (e.g., “Engineer III”); this makes it harder to find the job posting on a search. You don’t need to repeat keywords in the title, either. Make every word count.
2. Focus on relevant skills.
Clearly listing the must-have skills for the job in the “Skills” field is the best way to appear high in relevant candidates’ search results. Remember, you want to list skills and phrases that tech candidates will search for. At the same time, avoid keyword-stuffing for skills that aren’t relevant to your position. Candidates tend to disregard such posts, and over time, machine learning will identify job postings that see poor response levels, and those jobs will eventually drop in search results.
3. Include an exact job location.
The more precise your location—all the way to street address—the more preference search engines will show to your job. This is especially valuable for mobile results when candidates search “jobs near me.”
4. Begin your job posting with a precise summary.
Start with a job summary of 1-3 sentences. The summary should include the 2-3 most important skills to the role. You also want to avoid too much background information on your company. Stick to the necessary facts about the role. Ask yourself: What are my ideal candidates looking for? Find out what else encourages job seekers here.
5. List a salary range.
This is a key item that search engines identify. Additionally, since candidates are more likely to click and apply to jobs with listed salaries, these posts tend to be more popular, and machine learning will show preference to them over time.
6. Consider a Premium Post.
Dice’s Premium Posts are an add-on product designed to help clients gain exposure for your job postings, which is especially helpful in competitive markets with many results for common search terms. When your job posting is relevant to their search criteria, it gets elevated to the top of search results for maximum exposure.
