Indeed's traffic policy is changing on October 1, 2024. Discover how to adapt to this change and optimize your recruitment strategy.
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August 26, 2024
On October 1st, 2024, Indeed is ending organic traffic on job listings directly posted on the platform for employers that already have indexed jobs. Discover how to adapt to this change and optimize your recruitment strategy.
Indeed is the largest player in recruiting, with a 31.09% market share. LinkedIn (19.99%) and Glassdoor (10.08%) rank in second and third place. Additionally, Indeed houses over 200 million resumes in their database as compared to ZipRecruiter’s ~32 million resumes.
Given Indeed’s industry-leading status, especially for hourly recruiting, this change is significant for the hiring landscape of the restaurant and hospitality industry.
With sponsored job listings becoming the new normal, it’s crucial for employers to rethink their approach to recruitment.
In this article, we’ll dive into the implications of Indeed’s policy shift and share actionable strategies to keep ad spend low and quality results high.
And if you want to skip to the good part and learn how KFC, Burger King, and Jimmy John’s spend 87% less than an average franchise’s budget to drive the same results, click here.
Before we dive into the implications of Indeed’s policy change, you might be wondering:
“What is the difference between an organic job posting and a sponsored job posting on Indeed?”
At a high level, the biggest differences are traffic and cost.
Organic job postings are free but rely on candidate search for visibility. With 15 jobs added per second, these listings quickly lose visibility. This results in decreasing applicant volume over time. These listings also require constant maintenance, with recruiters needing to repost when a listing is swept to the bottom of the pile.
In contrast, sponsored job postings are paid, beginning at $5/day or $150/month. Recruiters set an ad duration and budget for each listing. These listings retain visibility, resulting in a higher volume of applicants over the post’s lifespan.
Another key piece to clarify is exactly what an indexed post is.
An indexed job on Indeed is one that comes from an external source, such as a career site or Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
It's important to note that eligible indexed jobs on Indeed will continue to receive organic traffic.
Indeed’s policy shift doesn’t come as a complete shock.
In April 2024, they announced a “Healthy Marketplace” initiative, which included the deprioritization of organic listings in favor of sponsored posts.
The “Healthy Marketplace” initiative included “changes [that] may lead to a decrease in the number of free outcomes previously received by clients. To maintain or enhance job post engagement, especially for hard-to-fill positions, employers might need to consider sponsoring jobs. The adjustments are part of an effort to make the marketplace more transparent and equitable,” writes Rodney Hess for RecruitmentMarketing.com.
Due to oversaturation, traffic to organic listings has naturally declined. Frequently refreshes, once a tactic to maintain visibility, have become less effective.
Small businesses with tight recruitment budgets are likely to utilize organic job listings. Large enterprises with robust recruitment budgets are likely to select the sponsored option. This state of imbalance affects listing traffic to the SMB sector, ultimately contributing to an inconsistent hiring flow.
As a result, Indeed is prioritizing sponsorships to improve the user experience, maintain listing quality, and level the playing field for businesses of all sizes. A clean pivot away from organic traffic could be seen as a natural extension of Indeed’s previous initiatives.
Sponsoring a job on Indeed is an effective way to get the highest volume of applicants and decrease traffic decay.
But, without proper use, sponsored job listings may result in overwhelming ad costs.
“In September, a $16,000 invoice from Indeed hit my desk and we weren’t managing it well,” says Jacob Leffel, Head of Human Resources at Front Range Holdings.
In light of Indeed’s policy change, here are four things you can do to optimize your recruitment strategy.
To drive down ad spend, you’ll have to make every sponsored job listing count.
Remember, high quality listings attract high quality candidates.
Vague job postings are more likely to receive applications that aren’t a good fit. Additionally, a lack of clarity may result in more back-and-forth with candidates.
Include clear requirements, salaries, and deadlines to filter out unqualified candidates and shorten communication timelines.
But what’s the best way to ensure that your listings are set up for success?
Examine data from previous job postings to determine recruitment strategy effectiveness.
Certain copy for a job description may receive more clicks. Or a salary difference of $5 may yield a larger volume of candidates than a sign on bonus of $100. These data points are key to creating an optimized job posting.
Analyzing previous data is a key way to determine your Indeed strategy – or even whether you should continue to use Indeed at all.
This leads us to…
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By exploring alternative job posting platforms that offer free or lower cost posting options, you can enhance your reach without increasing your recruitment budget.
Whether you’re looking to pivot fully to a different platform or to supplement your Indeed strategy, diversifying your recruitment strategy is a good way to keep costs low and volume high.
Alternatives with free options include LinkedIn, JobToday, and Culinary Agents. You can also integrate Google for Jobs with an existing career page.
Social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, can be used to post jobs without paid ads.
Shortening your ad life is a smart way to minimize how long you’ll have to spend. Decreasing the length of time that your ad is live means that you’ll have to fill the position as quickly as possible. But how?
One way to speed up the process is to respond to candidates as soon as possible. This means getting back to them within 2-4 hours of receiving their application.
In a competitive job market, the early bird really does catch the worm. In a world where a candidate applies to an average of 14 job postings per seating, speed is key to getting the talent you want within the shortest amount of time.
By catching candidates when your position is top of mind, you’ll beat out the competition and begin the vetting and interview scheduling process ahead of the game.
You might be thinking: That all sounds great, but my plate is full. I just don’t have time to do all of it at scale.
Good news: you don’t need to.
With a team of experts that have helped organizations like Front Range Holdings significantly drive down recruiting costs while ramping up the volume of quality candidates, LANDED is here to help you navigate your next steps.
Want to chat about how this shift will impact your business? Our team is here to help!
