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Simple SEO Hacks for Staffing and Recruiting Firms
Updated: Jan 17, 2022
Everybody uses Google for everything. For companies, it serves as a window of opportunities to get their products or services out to the people. However, a lot of small businesses struggle with search engine optimization (SEO). This is understandable because SEO is a tough nut to crack but, once open, its rewards will generate high-quality leads.
Other notable reasons why you should invest in SEO are listed below:
Google gets 3.5 billion searches per day.
75% of Google visitors browse only on the first page.
After skimming through and not finding what they want, they will most likely do another search than go to the next page.
SEO creates brand awareness.
It brings organic traffic and saves you the cost of putting up ads.
There are 30 million SMEs in the United States alone and it makes one wonder what it takes to get to the very first page of Google. Is it even possible considering the level of competition? The answer is, of course, YES!
SEO is a step-by-step process and, to help you begin your journey to Google’s top page, we’ve listed down SEO hacks for small businesses to improve their Google ranking. We’ve made this list easy to grasp and easy to execute just for you.
1. Do an automated SEO audit of your website and your competitors who rank higher than you.
SEO audits may sound technical but you shouldn’t worry because there are available SEO audits that are free and easy to do.
We have one that requires only your website’s URL and your email address where we can send the report to. In just a click, your result will be generated and you will have an instant comparison of your SEO and your competitor. You can easily see what works for them including their keywords and which areas you need to improve.
2. Develop a buyer persona.
If you set aside the technicalities of SEO, you will see that this marketing strategy is rooted in empathy. The way to begin the formulation of your techniques is to put yourself in the buyer’s perspective and be in their mindset. Creating a buyer persona will guide you towards a deeper understanding of your potential client’s wants, needs, and decision-making process which will help you formulate keywords and create valuable content to gain more website traffic.
3. Create content around long-tail keywords.
Before you list down keywords, you need to learn the 3 different types of keywords: short-tail, mid-tail, and long-tail. Each type attracts different kinds of prospects and applies to different parts of the sales funnel. Short-tail keywords have the most number of searches while long-tail keywords have the least but, if we want high-quality prospects, we need to focus on creating content around long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords consist of three words or more. These keywords are more specific and will be used by prospects in the deeper part of the sales funnel. To give you a better understanding, let’s use Adams, Evens, and Ross (AER) as an example.
AER collects debts exclusively for the staffing and recruitment industry thus, instead of just using “debt collection” as the keyword, AER uses the phrase “staffing debt collection.” The keyword “debt collection” has a higher search result but it is used by Google visitors who are looking for more general knowledge about debt collection. It’s not that these users don’t have potential but they are still at the top of the sales funnel and will take longer to avail the service. On the other hand, “staffing debt collection” has fewer searches but those who use this long-tail keyword are closer to signing up with Adams, Evens, and Ross.
4. Create long-tail keywords with Wikipedia and Google search suggestions.
We know what you’re thinking, Google suggestions seem plausible but what does Wikipedia have to do with keyword research? One thing that most business owners don’t know is Wikipedia is a free and easy-to-access website for keyword research. Combine that with Google suggestions and you can create very useful long-tail keywords.
Here’s how:
a. Enter a general category where your business falls under. In this case, let’s put in “employment agency.”
b. In the article that opens, browse through to see which words and phrases are related to your business. Most of the time, subtopics, hyperlinked texts, and topics in the “See also” section are the most useful (set of) words. List down everything that makes sense to your business.
In image 1.1, you can see the phrase “executive recruitment.” Let’s pick that one.
c. For each word you gather in Wikipedia, do an individual search in Google and select a suggestion that relates best to your needs.
In image 1.2, you can see the suggestion “executive recruitment agency.”
d. When you’ve selected the best suggestion, enter that phrase in Google and repeat the step of looking for the next best suggestion.
In image 1.3, you can see a variety of suggestions under the keyword “executive recruitment agency” like “executive recruitment agency UK” and others. Select the ones that you think match your buyer persona.
5. Create valuable content and NEVER do keyword stuffing.
Keyword stuffing is an SEO technique where keywords are loaded into a web page’s tags, content, and links. Google has an intelligent algorithm and keyword stuffing is considered web spamming. They will penalize, demote in the ranking, or worse, remove your website.
Therefore, only use keywords where it makes sense, and make your content worth reading. Valuable content will lead to more web visits thus, the better chance of Google to recommend you and mark you as relevant to the keywords you use.
6. Check your website speed and security using an automated audit.
Google prioritizes websites that deliver a good user experience. An average user spends their first 5 seconds to browse the website and build a judgment. If your website is slow and looks suspicious, your prospect will leave immediately. Thus, creating a high bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page on the website) that will affect your Google rankings.
Speed and security are two of the ranking factors that Google uses. You may check your website’s performance in our free website audit.
7. Apply local SEO techniques.
Google has localized the search engine for more relevant results which means that the results you see are different from what others see if they’re in a different city, state, or country.
Local SEO techniques may be done by applying the following strategies:
- Include your city or state in your long-tail keywords. (E.g.: medical staffing agency Atlanta)
- Localize your content – Create content that features the unique interests of your prospects in your community. The more your content speaks to them, the more distribution it gets. This increases your visibility and improves traffic by directing people back to your website.
- Build citations – Citation building for businesses means getting your business information on online directories. It is important to regularly check and update your company information, and include your website link.
- Create a profile in Google My Business. Google My Business is an easy-access, one-stop application where users can find local businesses, book, and read or leave reviews. In return, businesses can professionally interact with their clients, post, and display their business information. It compliments your website and adds more visibility to you in Google’s search results and Google Maps.
In this day and age, putting your business is not enough anymore. You need to rise above the competition and ranking on Google’s first page will surely make the difference in your revenue and branding.
To jumpstart your journey to Google’s first page, get a FREE website and SEO audit now. It will take only a few seconds to assess your website. For further questions, email me at wilson@rssmmarketing.com.
