Google has started offering valuable information to website owners to encourage the use of good SEO practices. Google’s comprehensive Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide is a resource that stands out when it comes to offering valuable information. However, it is a long read. The good news is that in this article, Attrax summarize the top 7 valuable points to save you time. Here are those points:
1. The Page Titles You Create Should
Describe the content of your page in an accurate manner
Unique by page
Brief but Descriptive
Sample job page title: Front End Web Developer Job. The page title describes the job in an accurate manner using relevant keywords.
Common job page mistake: Careers at MyCompany.com: The page title does not reference the job and is usually repeated on each page of the site.
2. Use Descriptive Meta Tags
Description meta tags are very important as they provide search engines such as Google a summary of what a certain page is about. While the content isn’t usually used for ranking purposes, it is usually displayed as a descriptive snippet of a site in search results.
You should:
Summarize the content of your page in an accurate manner
Use unique descriptions for each page
Attract the online job seeker to your page
3. Structure Your URLs Properly
It is very important to structure your URLs properly because it enables search engines to understand your page’s context. In addition, they enable people to know whether or not a page is worth checking out as they are able to know the content of a certain page.
Your URLs should:
Include keywords such as job titles
Relate to the content of your page
Be easy to read i.e. has proper sentence structure
Be concise as shorter is usually better
Exclude dynamic parameters when possible e.g. “type=blog&id=44”).
4. Improve Your Website Navigation
Good website navigation enables search engine bots to index your site in an efficient way when they crawl your pages. It also makes it easier for users to find your content.
Providing users with ‘breadcrumb lists e.g. “Home> Resources> Articles> Blog”
Make it possible to remove part of the URL i.e. for a URL such as mycompany.com/jobs/atlanta/softwarejob1 you can get rid of the last part and the result needs to return a real page at mycompany.com/jobs/atlanta (the page will list all the job openings in Atlanta).
Create two sitemaps: one for search engines and the other for users.
Create a hierarchy that flows naturally
Instead of complex javascript menus or image links, use mostly text for navigation.
5. Create High-Quality Content
If you offer high-quality content, you are likely to achieve a high search engine ranking. Keep in mind that online users will understand your content differently. Offer original and informative content. For a career site, such content includes information about the work environment, employment videos, and culture.
High-quality content is:
Unique and doesn’t replicate content from other sites
Useful and valuable
Informative and useful (think 5W’s, answer questions)
Engaging (has widgets, images, and interactive features)
Credible (has things like testimonials)
Error-free (does not have spelling errors or grammatical errors)
6. Create Good Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the readable text of a link as it appears on a page like, “view our available jobs.” Good anchor text is important as it makes it easy for you to convey content that is linked.
Use descriptive text instead of “click here.”
Be concise
Make anchor text easy to spot by formatting it i.e. underline anchor text and make the font blue
Also, consider anchor text for internal links
For instance, if you have a list of open jobs and each of the links to the job description page, the anchor text needs to be the title of each of the open jobs.
7. Consider Image Optimization
Using the “alt” attribute in the HTML can help you provide image-related information. So, if you want to provide information about any image, use it.
The file names and alt text you use should be concise but descriptive
Supply an Image Sitemap file
When you use images as links, supply alt text
