PPC / PAY PER CLICK FOR RECRUITING

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”  (John Wanamaker). Imagine this: If Pay Per Click advertisements existed back in the 1920’s, Mr. Wanamaker could easily have measured which half he was wasting.

REACH CANDIDATES WITH PAY PER CLICK (PPC)

How many people saw your last help wanted ad, heard your recruiting radio commercial or saw your billboard? If your company is seeking out new ways to connect with qualified candidates, you may want to seriously consider Pay Per Click for recruiting, also known as PPC.

WHAT IS PAY PER CLICK?

PPC is short for Pay Per Click and that’s exactly what it is. With PPC ads, you only pay when someone clicks or taps on an ad that they see on a search engine page. Although most people associate Google or Bing with Pay Per Click, Indeed and many other job boards can be considered PPC for job searches.

One of the biggest benefits of Pay Per Click ads is that the person who clicks on the ad is looking for a product or service right now. In sales, it’s referred to as “bottom of the funnel”. In recruiting, it would be called someone who is ready to change jobs right now and is very interested in yours.

Advertising on job boards such as Monster and Indeed is a good way to attract active job seekers. But what about those elusive passive candidates? Pay Per Click for recruiting, social media ads and retargeting Google ads will allow you reach passive candidates. They may not be actively searching, but they often respond to great opportunities and may submit a resume or application.

At some point, the majority of job seekers will use Google during their job hunt, but job boards seem to dominate the search results. PPC allows a recruiter to own that prime real estate in the top 3 positions for searches in their location + job type/industry.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEO

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for your company’s website or career’s page to be noticed in search results, and harder still to rank near the top of page 1 in the search engine results without a really strong SEO (Search Engine Optimization) program in place. And as you can see, Google’s own product- known as Google Jobs – pushes the organic search results down even further.

PAY PER CLICK = FREE MARKETING

Let’s say you can expect 1-3% to click on your ads, and then some of those people will go on to complete a landing page or fill out an application. That 1-3% might not seem like a lot, but remember this: advertisers / recruiters only pay when the ads are tapped or clicked. That means the other 97% is free marketing & career branding (at the top of the page!) to candidates who are currently “just looking”.

KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL PAY PER CLICK FOR RECRUITING CAMPAIGN

There are 2 key parts to a successful PPC campaign: one is a well-designed, optimized landing page and the other is a relevant and key word rich ad.

1. Landing page. When someone taps or clicks on your PPC ad, be sure to send them to a well-designed landing page. Google experts agree that a landing page with relevant content will increase your Google relevancy score, making your ads less expensive with higher conversions and higher impressions.
2. Keywords. Do some good keyword research and consider what your audience might be typing into a search bar in order to find your open positions. To use PPC effectively, you’ll want to focus on the specific keywords for your job with special attention to long tail keywords. For example, “nursing jobs” is probably too broad and you will likely get clicks from people who want to know more about requirements for different kinds of nursing jobs. A more effective keyword plan would be “NICU Nurse jobs” or “PeriOp Nurse positions near me”. These keywords indicate a strong desire to find a specific position in a specific location.
3. Analytics. Don’t forget the analytics! How will you track the effectiveness of your campaign? If you want potential candidates to call you from the ad, you may want to include a call tracking number. This is a phone number that is unique to each particular campaign. A unique phone number for PPC ads and another for your billboards will allow you to quickly evaluate the effectiveness of each platform.

RETARGETING ADS

You may also want to include retargeting ads to those who come to your careers page on your website or application but then don’t apply. These people are even one step closer than the ones who are doing searches. These are your best prospects as they have already been to your website and have shown interest in working for your company. You can continue to deliver ads to this group of people, reminding them that you’re still hiring if they are still interested. All it takes is a single line of code on your website.

GEO TARGETED SOCIAL MEDIA ADS

The vast amount of 3rd party data available from platforms such as Google and Facebook makes geo fencing and geo targeting the demographics, behaviors and interests of specific audiences easier than ever. You can include display ads, carousel ads and video ads to connect and engage with your audience. And, don’t forget the vast referral market – those people who see your ads and “tag” their friends or family members. Some people will even “share” an ad so that everyone they are connected with can see it.

LET PURPLEGATOR DO IT FOR YOU

Targeting searches and people with specific skill sets will result in a better quality candidate. If you don’t have the time or resources to do pay per click, social media or mobile advertising yourself, contact us here at Purplegator. This is what we do best – get your geo targeted, key word rich recruiting message in front of passive candidates and then send those candidates to you.

Here are a few more reasons to work with us on your Pay Per Click for recruiting:

Purplegator’s knowledge of the PPC landscape ensures that campaigns can be set up effectively to help support the many parts of the sales funnel and the path that your potential candidates take from awareness to a job offer

Results are easy to measure and track –  Unlike traditional offline advertising, pay per click is easily measured and tracked; Purplegator offers the rare ability to test different strategies and tactics simultaneously across multiple digital platforms. 

Works well with other marketing channels – When combining search with other digital marketing services, Purplegator can provide a clearer picture of your online presence, offering a complete digital recommendation for a truly robust marketing program.

If you’d like to learn more, please click HERE