Google for Jobs – How to use the search engine for your job offers

Many job seekers start their search for new job openings with a Google search. Since 2019, Google for Jobs has been available in Germany and offers a new job search experience that makes it easier for applicants to find jobs, while companies can find applicants. This is a feature within Google Search that aggregates job postings from various job boards, platforms, and career sites. This gives job listings the opportunity to be more visible in search results and reach potential applicants. To be listed on Google for Jobs, job ads on the website must be enriched with structured data. What benefits can staffing (also known as recruiting) gain from this? How does the implementation work? And how do you optimize your job postings for Google search?
We’ll get to the answers in this post.

What are the benefits of Google for Jobs for recruiters, entrepreneurs and job seekers?
How does Google for Jobs work?
What are some of the existing challenges in using Google for Jobs and how can they be solved?
Google for Jobs setup – How to implement the structured data on your own website and what structured data should be at least in the ad?
Conclusion

What are the benefits of Google for Jobs for recruiters, entrepreneurs and job seekers?

There are several reasons why recruiters or companies should use Google for Jobs for their digital job listings.

First and foremost, recruiters improve the presence of job ads in Google search results (SERPs). The job ads match the search query, even if a job title varies. By targeting them, recruiters achieve greater reach among potential employees, even internationally. To do this, Google for Jobs uses structured data to determine the relevance of job listings for specific search terms. This allows a company to better place its job offers in the SERPs and make them known to a broader audience of applicants. It reduces dependency on job boards, as companies can more easily manage the focus of their job ads on their own platform. Google for Jobs is also free to use. In conjunction with Google Search Console, the direct interaction of job seekers with the job ad can additionally be better monitored and controlled.

For applicants, too, the job search becomes user-friendly and less tedious, as users no longer have to search through hundreds of job boards and platforms. Job postings from the company’s own websites and job ads from third-party job boards such as Indeed or Xing, for example, are displayed in bundled form in the Google for Job box. Relevant job ads in the Google for Job overview can also be filtered by location, distance, employer, language and type of employment. Important information such as company information, requirements and job description can also be extracted directly from the job offer.

All in all, using Google for Jobs offers you an easy way to gain more visibility for your job offer and reach a larger target audience. In doing so, you save costs and get a relief in your administration. In addition, job seekers will find it easier to find the right job offer through the relevant job ads.

How does Google for Jobs work?

Google for Jobs is a Google feature that makes it easier for users to find suitable job offers directly in Google search results. The system aggregates job ads from various sources, including company websites, job portals and career sites, and presents them in a special job box above the organic search results.

The way Google for Jobs works is based on structured data provided by the job ads. You can tag your job ads with specific structured data tags to tell Google information like the and other relevant details.

When you perform a job search on Google, Google searches the structured data and presents you with relevant job ads in the job box. You can filter the ads by different criteria, such as location, industry or working hours.
Google for Jobs also offers applicants additional features, such as the ability to set up job alerts to be notified of new job openings, or direct access to company career pages to get more information and apply.
The integration of Google for Jobs makes it easier for companies and recruiters to make job offers accessible to a wider target group and increase the visibility of open positions. For job seekers, it offers a convenient way to find relevant job openings without having to search through various job portals or career sites.

There are two ways to ensure that jobs appear on Google.

1. Publication on own website with the help of structured data

2. Publication via third-party providers (job boards)

What are some of the existing challenges in using Google for Jobs and how can they be solved?

Although Google for Jobs can benefit many businesses, there are some challenges that businesses must overcome in order to successfully benefit from this feature. One of the biggest challenges with Google for Jobs is the need to optimize job descriptions so that they can be found more easily by Google. Companies need to ensure that relevant keywords are in the title of job descriptions so that Google can display them. In addition, the timeliness of job ads is very important. Google for Jobs prefers current and relevant job ads and displays them higher in the search results. This means that a job ad that is not current will decrease in visibility. In addition, outdated jobs or jobs that have already been filled lead to dissatisfaction among applicants. As a company, you should therefore regularly update the job ads and make sure that they match the actual open positions.

Another challenge is the competition with other companies. Since Google for Jobs is a platform where several companies present their job ads, there is a risk that one’s own company’s ads will get lost in the crowd. To address this challenge, companies should ensure that their job ads are appealing and well-structured to attract the attention of applicants. In addition, it can be helpful to use relevant keywords and information in the ads to gain better visibility and stand out from the competition.

Capturing and indexing job ads: One challenge is ensuring that job ads are recognized and properly indexed by Google for Jobs. Employers should ensure that their job ads use structured data that meets the requirements of Google for Jobs. This allows Google to understand the information correctly and display it in search results.

In addition, the removal of awarded job ads presents another challenge. Since Google does not automatically remove these ads, employers must actively ensure that Google is kept up to date.

Last but not least, tracking and monitoring of job ads are a special task. Companies must be able to measure the performance of their job ads in order to determine further optimization measures, if necessary. Suitable tracking tools and analysis systems can be used for this purpose, such as Google Search Console or an analysis dashboard.

In Google Search Console, job descriptions can be displayed directly via the “Display in search” filter in the performance report.

Set up Google for Jobs – How to implement the structured data on your website and what structured data should be at least in the ad?

To successfully set up Google for Jobs on your own website, the following steps should be followed to implement the structured data:

1. Add markup:
   Add the structured data markup at the HTML level of your job posting page. You can do this either directly in the HTML code or using Schema.org tags. Also, many CMS systems now offer suitable plugins for implementation. In addition, mark-up generators for JobPosting, such as the tool provider technicalseo.com, help you to correctly mark-up the properties. Here, a ready JavaScript code is generated.
   
   
2. Validation of structured data:
   Check the correct implementation of your structured data by using the Google Structured Data Testing Tool or Schema Markup Validator. This will help you identify and fix any potential errors or problems.
   
   
3. Minimum required structured data:
   To ensure that your job ads are captured optimally by Google for Jobs, you should follow Google’s technical guidelines. At a minimum, use “title” (job title), “description” (job description), “hiringOrganization” (the company offering the job), “jobLocation” (job location), and “datePosted” (job posting date).
   
   
4. Check indexing:
   Make sure that the job ads are indexable by Google so that they appear in search results. To check this, you can use the Google Search Console or a crawling tool such as ScreamingFrog.
   
5. Submit and update sitemap:
   Make sure your job ads are included in a sitemap and that it is continuously kept up to date. Outdated or deleted job ad URLs should be removed from the sitemap.
   
   There are two options for this:

• Employers can use the Indexing API to notify Google to remove a URL for a job ad from the search index. This request allows Google to remove the outdated job ad from search results.
  
• If the Indexing API is not used, employers must submit an updated sitemap to Google Search Console that includes the current job postings. Google will then review the entire sitemap and re-crawl those pages whose last change is after the date they were last crawled. This allows outdated job ads to be removed.

With this implementation, your job ads will be listed as search results in Google Jobbox after a short time. By following these steps and providing the relevant structured data, you can improve the visibility and findability of your job ads on Google for Jobs.

You can use these attributes individually in your job posting and distinguish them via structured data.

You can get a first look at our Google for Jobs checklist here:

Conclusion

Overall, Google for Jobs offers you as a company, regardless of your size, industry, job description and budget, an easy and free way to make your job openings more visible and reach a larger target audience. With Google for Jobs, job seekers can conveniently find relevant jobs in one place without having to search multiple job portals. Implementing this feature is straightforward for you and can be done in just a few steps. Although the use is still underutilized by companies, it can lead to increased competition for visibility. This means that it can be more difficult to stand out from other competitors, especially for jobs that are in high demand. There is also some dependence on Google’s algorithms and policies. The limited customization options can limit how job ads are displayed. Companies must also take care to structure the information appropriately and keep the job ads up to date.

Despite some potential drawbacks, the benefits of using Google for Jobs to make job placement more efficient and successful in Google search results outweigh the drawbacks.