I’d liken this to a brickie not ‘getting’ what an architect does – or even trying to understand the process of architecture. A brickie could pretty easily build a house without an architect – so why would they need one?

This fascinating story on SEOMoz shows a web developer’s foray into the world of SEO – it’s a great read.

Not a ‘template’ as such, but some ‘new-starter’ guidelines for SEO copywriting and page architecture for recruitment websites:

Links to the job:

Make sure the job title is the anchor text of the link (not ‘click here‘ or ‘more info‘)

Jobs pages

Just make sure there is one page per job!

In-page factors

Your Keyword Rich areas should be:

• Meta Title Tag
• Meta Description
• Job Title

… then other important keywords – especially job / sector or geographical ones should feature prominantly on the page.

Job description copywriting

1. Try to make the job title a term people would search for in Google / Yahoo etc
2. Avoid ‘non-search’ terminology like “Opportunity” or “Seeking a “, … “My Client is “ etc.  You can use these terms, but they’re wasting valuable space up in the Title and the early part of a job description
3. Familiarise yourself with the different levels of headings (or <h> tags as developers call them).  Headings and sub-headings on a page should flow properly, so if you want to break your job description down, don’t use bold headings, use h3 or h4 (Heading 3 or Heading 4) tags – like ‘Job Description copywriting’ is, above.
4. Avoid, at all costs, pasting anything into a web site’s text editor using Microsoft Word or another similar program.  These are designed for print and can put all sorts of unnecessary code into your text that could – in some cases – mean that Google can’t properly index the content.
5. Repeat those search keywords  coming wherever possible and relevant (think of candidates searching and what they might type into Google – then keep thinking it – what candidates call their job may differ to what recruiters call it)
6. Use lists if needs be to increase keyword density.
7. Think about synonyms — e.g. “team leader” as well as “project manager” or “sales manager” as well as “business development manager”

For developers:

• Make the Title Tags work dynamically in the following format
  • Meta Title: Job: [Job Title] – [Location] – [Category-or-sector]
    
  • Make the Meta Description dynamically take the Job Title then first characters of the Job Description up to a max of 160 characters
• Place the Job Title in <h1> tags
• Place the Location and Category in <h2> tags
• Ensure that the job editor allows site admins to add <h3> headings within a job description and train them to use them.

I have seen sites come up very high in the rankings with longer title tags, so I would venture to say that Google doesn’t give demerits for title tags longer than 68 characters, though I would be wary of creating title tags much longer than 80 or 90 characters.

My own Title tag basics for Recruitment websites:

1. Jobs pages:
   • Get the word ‘Job’ in early- that’s what the page is about, first and foremost.
   • Job Title
   • Location
   • Sector or Discipline
2. Avoid repetition like the plague.  There is good eveidence that Google will treat this as keyword spamming.  Essentially, it is!
3. Read Google’s own guidelines.   If your jobs site has good jobs on it for people searching in Google, then Google are also here to help your candidates find jobs on your site, believe it or not.