Why are keywords important in your job description?
Keywords in job descriptions are important for 2 reasons.
Firstly because users of our site use our specially developed onsite search engine to find jobs. Generally, they can only find your job if the content of your job has some match with the keywords for their search.
Secondly, because a lot of jobseekers in Ireland find our site using Google. Google operates in a similar way to our own onsite search engine, matching their users’ search keywords with our site content.
So, whether candidates are coming to your job on IrishJobs.ie via a search engine or already on the site looking for their next opportunity, using good keywords in your job description will ensure they find your vacancy.
What is the best way to use keywords in your job description?
When creating a job post the first thing that you should do is to consider what standard job title is the closest match to your vacancy.
You might have internal job titles that are not based on standard job titles and, while this may make a lot of sense within your organisation, bear in mind your goal is to have your job to be seen by as many candidates as possible outside your business. The vast majority of these jobseekers will search for vacancies using standard job titles.
We have found that people using search engines are increasingly looking for other aspects of a job, including the location of the job, hours and specific benefits.
One characteristic of your ideal candidate could be somebody who lives locally, so make sure you use words related to the location of your job at a level lower than city or county. So, by adding your town or city locality you will improve your chances of finding really local employees.
Finally, keywords can help with hard to fill jobs, for example, including perks and mentioning benefits, can help people who are searching for specific offerings.
So, if you offer the opportunity to work from home for part of the month, for example, adding this to your job description will enable people searching for this benefit to find your job first.
John Lawson is the Head of SEO for IrishJobs.ie