Google Launches Jobs Service In The UK

After a successful launch in the US, Google has finally brought its ‘Google Jobs’ service across the pond. We discuss what this means for the recruitment industry and some of the possible implications of the new service…

See below for the full video transcription.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

Lee: So, the third thing we’re going to talk about is Google introducing job search listings directly into the search results. This is something that’s been rumoured for a long time. This is something that, I think, rolled out in America. But, basically, Google are now showing, or now have their own little ecosystem for jobs. So you type in ‘PHP Developer in Leeds’, for example, and it will bring up a load of job listings from a lot of relevant sources. 

They’ve partnered with all the big guys, so Reed, Guardian, Haymarket, Totaljobs. The only one real big player that they haven’t managed to get on board yet is Indeed. I suspect because Indeed have got their own paid ad platform that they use, that is self-serve, that they allow companies to advertise through. So I think if they move to this, it will be…it could take a big hit from their revenue from the ad platform that they’ve got. 

Google are touting this as sort of ‘backed by search’, so bringing things like maps data to allow you to search by commute distance from home and things like that, which I think is pretty cool. And they’ve also said that it’s not yet a paid platform, which means it will be a paid platform at some point. So, these bigger recruiters, like your Indeeds, that aren’t yet on here, are probably frantically trying to figure out how to get a good deal out of it. I’m sure they’re talking to Google in some way. 

Chris: So, where does the product list…? Where does the job listing go? Is it just deep-linked to the listing on the site?

Lee: Well, yeah. You can go to the site that’s advertised it, but you can do pretty much everything, read everything about the results, and you can save them. So if you’re logged in, you can create a bank of ones that you want to apply for and just then go back in and figure them all out.

Chris: Yeah, I guess it’s the user experience thing as well, isn’t it?

Lee: Yeah.

Chris: Like Indeed, they’ll want their own user experience, people to have call to actions, no doubt, all over the website. So that’s probably why they don’t want to be part of that. I’m sure there’s more reasons as well, and they’re probably waiting for the moment where Google starts to monetize it as well to jump on that. Because they do a lot of PPC anyway, don’t they?

Lee: It is a better user experience, in my opinion. I think that’s nicer than going to an Indeed or anywhere else, really.

Jamie: You can’t see a lot of actual jobs considering how high res your screen is. You can see, like, four in that pane on the left-hand side.

Chris: Yeah.

Lee: Yeah.

Chris: They could slim it down a little bit.

Lee: But then you have saved. So, without having to create an account, I’ve already…because I’ve got a Google account, I’m logged in, I’ve already got the ability to save jobs. I’ve got the ability to create alerts for new jobs that match my search. They will make suggestions based on different levels of seniority, distance, commuting distance, local, cities.

Jamie: It seems like Google is just making the same interface over and over again for any taxonomy, doesn’t it, really?

Chris: Yeah.

Lee: Yeah.

Jamie: We’ve just talked about hotels, and we’ve already got flights. And it’s not a million miles away from the maps interface, either. It’s just filter and refine, isn’t it?

Chris: They’re just trying to acquire data as well. They’ll be using so much data to back this and to, probably, propel the next product that they’ll introduce. I always think that when they’re doing something, or they’re doing a partnership like this with people, what are they trying to…what insights are they trying to gather, then what kind of data are they really trying to gather behind the scene, to…and what are they using it for. Because it works to nobody else’s advantage. If anything, they’re taking up real estate where PPC ads could be shown, and where they could make more money. 

Lee: Well, that’s what it will become, where it’s like answer boxes in organic SERPs.

Chris: Yeah, there’ll probably be a higher cost, I would imagine, to participate in those kind of programs, as well. Like the hotels, the one that we’ve just talked about. I would have thought that the pricing will probably be higher to participate on that kind of program than it would in normal text ads. So it’s a way to incrementally grow your ad revenue as well, I guess. Because when new products come out, obviously, all the big advertisers want to be on it, and give it a go, and test it. 

Lee: But how do you maximize your revenue when you’ve got an ad platform? You take the verticals that are the most expensive and you create an ad format specific to that vertical, that’s a better user experience than everyone else, and charge people for it. That’s what they’re doing. Like this thing here, typical types of pay. They’re bringing in salary comparisons from three different really sort of relevant sources in a couple of other job sites and Glassdoor. So they’re doing everything, basically, that everybody else is doing. 

Chris: It will just turn into an ad platform. They’ve got to test it first, don’t they, before they roll it out and build a, you know, an integration for, like, AdWords or something like that. That is, like, the basic thing and let’s figure out how people use it. If they use it well and it works, then let’s introduce, like, a new campaign type in AdWords or something like that.

Lee: So, Indeed, have come out and said that they’re refusing to share any data at all. And, Indeed, get about 200 million unique visits a month. 

Jamie: I wonder how quickly that will nosedive if Google put pressure on them.

Chris: Yeah.

Lee: Google will just buy Indeed. Yeah.