Among the biggest benefits a career website content management system (CMS) affords is the ability for recruiters to act immediately on shifting hiring demands, whether that means adding content about a new office location to support the associated hiring push or developing a landing page that highlights a functional area that represents a critical talent need.
Alongside the ability to make content updates quickly or build web pages in response to recruiting priorities is the responsibility to ensure that the career site delivers the best possible experiences to all visitors on a continual basis. Analyzing available metrics should always be part of this process, as they offer valuable insights regarding how talent acquisition can improve career website performance through enhanced content and functionality.
More specifically, here are three key metrics to focus on when conducting a career website review:
- Page view performance
- Device tracking
- Bounce rates
Page View Performance: Prioritize Topics
A mainstay of career website metrics, top pages provide immediate insight into the content that is of greatest interest to visitors based on traffic volume. But make sure you assess more than just total visitors or user sessions. Look at day-over-day graphs so that you can correlate spikes in visits to the drivers of the surges in traffic. While recruitment marketing activities, such a talent community email campaign, are common drivers of site visits, take time to consider other things that might be contributing to the spikes but that may not show up in your source report. For example, can you attribute increased traffic to major company news that made media headlines or a corporate social campaign that attracted significant attention and engagement? Taking a broader view of the messages that influence interest in working at your organization can lead to creative ideas for how to leverage content in order to convert more visitors into applicants.
Looking closely at the time spent on individual pages offers helpful guidance, too. A page may be effective in attracting a high number of visitors, but if visitors aren’t spending much time on the page that may be an indication that the existing content needs to be overhauled. Perhaps it’s not the topic but the format of the content. If the current page is littered with long copy blocks consider revising the format. Try setting the page up as an FAQ and then monitor changes in time on page to evaluate success.
Device Tracking: Image Selection and Visual Presentation
Device tracking, which reveals the percentage of visitors viewing your site from specific devices, is another important metric to consider when assessing content and functionality effectiveness. While your career website CMS should be both mobile ready for the apply process and responsive for all content, this doesn’t mean that talent acquisition shouldn’t be thinking about ways to optimize the career site for devices.
Look at how the images you’ve selected for each page display when viewed across different devices. You will likely see patterns in terms of the types of photos and imagery that look best regardless of whether they’re viewed on a desktop or a smartphone. Assess copy from this standpoint, too. Bulleted text is always easier to scan, but even more so when viewed on smaller devices. Once you’ve identified what works best, create general guidelines for image selection and copy so that everyone involved with career website updates can make choices that represent best practices for content optimization.
Bounce Rates: Focus at the Job Level
Another standard website metric, bounce rates allow TA teams to quickly see how many people are leaving a page without completing the desired activity, such as following an embedded call to action or moving through the intended site path by visiting subsequent pages. While it’s essential to review bounce rates across all site pages, don’t overlook bounce rates at the job posting level. You can create a meaningful career website experience—one rich with personalized information and insights—but if visitors drop off at high rates when viewing a job opening, the result is a lost conversion.
Avoid this by regularly scanning the bounce rates for open jobs and then assessing the quality of open jobs that have higher than average bounce rates. Is the content light on relevant and compelling details? Is the posting nothing more than a laundry list of qualifications that are highly unlikely to be found in a single candidate? Taking time to review and update job posting content will have a positive impact on conversion rates, so make sure it’s part of your ongoing assessment process.
Finally, use your metrics to guide other efforts that can provide additional insight regarding the effectiveness of your career website content and functionality. This can include everything from identifying the most common questions asked of a career website chatbot to gathering feedback during the interview process regarding the information candidates gleaned from the career website and what they would have liked to have seen but couldn’t find. Marrying your metrics with insights from other sources will uncover even more opportunities for career website enhancements that produce the best possible recruiting outcomes.