A Recruiter's Guide to SEO: Making a Website your No.1 Consultant (Part Two)

In this second Installment of a Recruiters Guide to SEO: Making a Website your No.1 Consultant  we are going to focus on the context of a candidates search and your consultancy, your location. This is a how-to-guide in creating a Local Presence.

According to Google 20% of all searches are attached to a location. Not in recruitment. A figure much higher is more realistic. Think about it. Unless a candidate was searching for a high end salary, somewhere in the region of £80k+, they generally wouldn’t look to work “anywhere”, and at that point the candidate would probably be headhunted.

A local presence, where you source candidates and vacancies, is crucial. This means taking advantage of SEO on a local level, and this means taking advantage of Google + Local. When a location is added to a search Google can identify this and changes its results to Google + Local. Who is the most relevant and popular recruitment agency in Leeds? Type “recruitment agencies in Leeds” and on the the L of Leeds the format changes to Google + Local (try it!).

Google + Local picks up on your local number, (so 0845 or mobiles won’t help) to index your business. Local postcodes, opening hours, pictures, along with local meta-data of course, are all attractive features to Google + Local.

Testimonials and Reviews

You can add Reviews within Google + Places and these reviews add weight to your ranking!

What better advert for your consultancy than a set of reviews from candidates who you have placed in their perfect role. Free advertising and amazing customer service, Win Win. A large number of businesses still haven’t took advantage of this free service which is remarkably, if you sell any service or product locally, as Testimonials and Reviews are a great tool to minimise risk for your customers, the candidates.

• According to comScore, 60% of local searchers take advantage of offers. Apply this to Recruitment by offering a referral fee for a successful hire.

If you haven’t got this done already, get it done! As a matter of urgency. If you do not have the time speak to an SEO services company – Either way, get it done! A Local emphasis ties in with your Social Media strategy that we will discuss in the final blog of this series.

In our next post – A recruiters greatest tool when used correctly= The Job Vacancy Post.