We take a more thorough look at keywords and explain how they can help make sure your job posting attracts great people. Keywords are the words or phrases that job seekers use to look for jobs. By typing specific keywords regarding a role, skill, or field, a candidate’s job search is automatically narrowed, and relevant results are shown. When hiring managers and recruiters use specific phrases and keywords that are important to a role, it’s more likely that the right people will find the job ad.

Using keywords with assurance

When writing a job ad, hiring managers and agents should try to put themselves in the shoes of the people they want to hire and think about what would make them want the job.

Ask yourself if candidates will search for jobs using terms that are specific to your business. For example, does the job, company, or industry have any acronyms that are important? Are there other job names that people could use to look for the exact job you’re advertising?

How to add keywords to job ads

Use keywords all throughout your job ad to show applicants that your job is a good match for what they are searching for. Coutts says that the best way to make a compelling job ad for relevant keywords is to begin with a job title, the position and description, whether the position is full-time or part-time, and any perks (like flexible working hours).

 Coutts says that keywords are an important part of a job ad, but they constitute only one piece of the puzzle.

Know your keywords

It’s an excellent idea to read your job ad out loud to see if you’ve used the same keywords too many times. If it’s hard to comprehend or you notice you’ve used the same word or phrase too many times, go back and fix it.

 It’s also important to avoid keyword stuffing, which is when you put a lot of phrases in your job posting or repeat the same keywords multiple times so that it’s hard for people to read. At the end of the day, it’s necessary to create a job description that will appeal to the applicants you hope to recruit.

Use keywords properly in the description

Search engines only care about text, so the best way to get your job posting to show up in the search results is to include keyword words in your job description.

Along with the title of the position you chose, choose three to five connected words to use in the copy to make the page more relevant. Do not overdo any keyword phrase in a job description. Read the title out loud to see if there are too many of them. If it sounds strange, cut down on the number of times that term is used.

 Here are some more tips to help you work your related keyword words into your writing:

• Make the text easy to read by using bullet points.
• A maximum of 150 words ought to be in the job description, but it shouldn’t be too long.
• Use phrases that are specific to your business, industry, or job.
• Avoid using jargon or phrases that only people in your company will understand.
• Do not put the location in the description field. Monster’s job listing designs are set to immediately show the place in the title as well as meta-tags.

Read more: How social media helps recruitment