Google updates often feel like they come out of nowhere and they can often throw huge wrenches into your strategy. Sudden changes in rankings, tumultuous traffic, and general confusion are not uncommon when it comes to Google updates.
So far in 2020, Google has launched a number of new features and updates that have significant effects on optimization and ranking of webpages, Google job postings, and more.
We want to help clear a few things up for you so you can not only understand this Google update but also use it to your advantage for recruitment and job post optimization.
One of these Google updates in 2020 was a few adjustments to their activity card feature.
Activity cards aren’t a brand new addition — they were initially released in 2019. However, Google’s most recent update makes activity cards much more relevant to recruitment strategies and job listings, not just for website SEO.
Here, we’re going to go over what Google activity cards are, their new features, and how these features affect Google for Jobs & recruitment strategy. Let’s get started.
What Are Google Activity Cards?
Google activity cards were originally launched in 2019. These activity cards, also called related activity cards, work to make a SERP more tailored to each user based on that user’s past searches.
Activity cards appear at the top of your search results and are visible only to you. This card will show your past activity related to your current search, usually showcasing other related queries you made along with webpages that you’ve already visited in relation to that search.
Activity Cards’ Google Update 2020
When these cards initially launched, they only displayed activity related to general search queries. The most recent Google update in 2020 has now included functionality for shopping, recipes, and, as what we’re most focused on, jobs.
With this new update, new and relevant job listings that were posted since you last searched for a job search term will appear at the top of the page. This helps job seekers by making it much easier to see what listings are new and which ones they’ve already seen before.
Here’s what that looks like:
Why This Is Important for Recruitment Strategies
Now that we’ve established what these activity cards are, let’s look at how they could affect recruitment strategy.
Google Is Focused on Jobs
First of all, this activity card Google update shows that Google is putting time and energy into their Google for Jobs platform… making now the perfect time for recruiters to start getting on the Google for Jobs train.
This increased effort into improving the Google for Jobs platform tells us that it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Google is planning to remain a big player in the jobs market, as is evidenced by other jobs related launches like the Kormo Jobs app, for example.
With Google making it easier and more streamlined for job seekers on their platform, we predict that more and more people are going to be starting (and continuing) their job search right on Google.
And with 73 percent of job seekers starting their job search on the platform, that’s a significant candidate source that recruiters can no longer ignore.
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Partner with Jobiak — we’ll use our AI-powered technology to get your Google job postings optimized perfectly for GFJ.
Other Job Boards
Another thing to consider is how this update will affect how job seekers and employers alike will use job boards.
In our post on the battle between Google for Jobs vs Indeed, we discussed how the Google for Jobs widget physically pushes down Indeed (and other job boards’) listings & search results much lower on the SERP, reducing traffic to those sites. See an example below:
Makes sense, right? Why would job seekers scroll down when they have all they need from Google, right at the top of the page?
This will be even more pronounced with the appearance of these Google activity cards for jobs. The activity card takes up space at the top of the page along with the GFJ widget, pushing other search results out of sight as you can see below:
With the physical space GFJ widget & activity cards take up, many job seekers see everything they want to know right on the GFJ platform with a single search. And since other sites’ listings and search results out of sight below GFJ, visibility and traffic on other sites could be significantly reduced.
That’s why it’s crucial to add Google for Jobs ranking and optimization as key parts of your recruitment strategy.
Google will likely the first platform your target candidates see, and, with these new updates, it could be the only platform they use — get your jobs on the platform and optimized to ensure that your listings are the ones they see.
Getting your jobs on GFJ is great. Learning to post on Google Jobs with proper optimization & Google schema is even better.
Learn how to post a job on Google effectively here.
Alerts and Bookmarking
Most job boards offer alerts & bookmarking abilities to help job seekers save jobs they’re interested in as well as notify them of new postings.
Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Ziprecruiter, and more all offer job alerts & bookmarking options.
This new Google activity card update will also allow for alerts and bookmarking on GFJ, putting Google for Jobs on an even playing field with the other job boards.
Because many top job sites integrate their listings with Google for Jobs, the new jobs activity card feature will be able to tell job seekers how many new listings there are across platforms with a single search.
Thus, the Google update 2020 brought us makes it unnecessary for job seekers to visit all other sites individually to set up alerts or check for new listings — GFJ does it all.
Google Update 2020: Bottom Line
Bottom line here?
Google’s new features are making the GFJ platform much more relevant in the recruitment world. Google is also making it easier to keep job seekers engaged on a single platform — Google’s platform.
All that being said, if you want your job listings to stay relevant and in front of your target audience, getting them on Google for Jobs is a must. Getting those listings optimized for Google for Jobs will help them rank well and get in front of your next candidate.
Jobiak can help you get your listings optimized for Google for Jobs and help your jobs get in front of millions of job seekers. Learn more about our recruitment technology here, and don’t hesitate to reach out for more information.
