New Google for Jobs design delivers an uplift in traffic & applications for UK employers

Google for Jobs click through rates have risen by an average of +75% after the search engine rolled out a new design in July 2024. This has greatly boosted applications for employers with pages optimised for Google’s in-built jobs portal.

Our team measured the impact of the change for a range of leading UK employers. The data confirmed our hopes that Google’s remodel would result in a big rise in clicks to careers sites.

This uplift in clicks resulted in our clients receiving many more applications from Google for Jobs, despite a minor decrease in the conversion rate.

What did the design change look like?

Google for Jobs is a job portal that appears highly in search results. When set up correctly, your job ads can be listed there for free at the very top of the page, often above the likes of LinkedIn and Indeed.

Earlier in 2024, Google changed the look and functionality of its job box for candidates in other European countries.

The new design was more integrated within Google’s search results, with job details opening in a side pop-up panel within the same page instead of the separate job portal.

This new look Google for Jobs was rolled out for UK searchers on July 24^th 2024 and since then, we’ve been closely watching the results.

How did we measure the impact?

It was important to collect enough data, before assessing the impact of the new design — especially as employers generally see a drop off in candidate demand during August.

Because of this, it was a fairer test to compare the first 21 days of July (prior to the rollout of the new Google for Jobs design) with the first 21 days of September (post design change and after the summer holidays).

What were the results?

Click through rates

• The average employer saw a +75% increase in their job details click through rate in Google for Jobs.
• All employers saw a minimum +30% increase.
• For two clients, the click through rate more than doubled.
• For job boards there was a similar +80% rise in the click through rate.
• The graph below shows how the rate of clicks increased for one employer, after the new design was released.

Conversion rates

• We assumed that the rollout of the new GFJ design would cause a decrease in conversion rates.
• This was because a greater number of candidates could now be inclined to read job descriptions by clicking into careers sites, instead of within the Google for Jobs portal itself.
• However, the difference was much smaller than we anticipated with a minor -10% change in the conversion rate for the average employer.
• Some employers even saw an increase in the ratio of GFJ referred visitors who chose to click “apply” on their careers site.

Key findings

• Regardless of a minor change in the conversion rate, employers and job boards are now recording a greater number of applications from Google for Jobs.
• This is because of a +75% increase (+80% for job boards) in the click through rate, caused by the rollout of the new design.
• The table below shows an example of how applications would increase for the average employer who receives 1,000 views of their job details within Google for Jobs.

Are more changes around the corner?

We’ve long predicted that Google intends to monetise Google for Jobs by introducing sponsored job adverts on the platform. Although there’s no sign of an imminent launch, this move would undoubtedly make Google for Jobs an even more vital and powerful tool for recruiters.

The 2024 remodelling of the GFJ box looks to be another stepping stone towards that development — and more refinements are just around the corner.

It’s likely that Google will replicate the “More about this job on…” call to action that we see in the EU Google for Jobs, replacing the existing “apply directly on” buttons. This also means that “job descriptions” would become the more concise “job previews” within the Google for Jobs details box.

Click through rates are then likely to see another increase as candidates visit the careers site to read the full job description.

Another feature that’s currently being tested by Google is a “NEW” flag for job listings. This would act as another visual aid for candidates to highlight the most recently posted jobs that are relevant to their search.

What actions should UK employers take?

1) Optimise your job listings for Google for Jobs — employers with advanced job details pages that are well optimised for GFJ stand to reap greater benefits than ever before.
2) Frontload the benefits in job descriptions — the likely switch to job previews in Google for Jobs means employers must place greater importance on the wording of their job ads. They must ensure that the first sentences are engaging and entice candidates to click to read the full job description.
3) Repost expired jobs and use the indexing API — we work closely with our clients to post, remove and repost job vacancies as efficiently as possible using Google’s dedicated indexing API. Job recency is key, especially with a potential “NEW” flag feature in GFJ on the horizon.

Take your Google for Jobs listings to the next level

Our recruitment marketing experts have been helping employers to benefit from Google for Jobs, ever since its UK launch in 2018.

This game changing job board has become an ever more valuable talent attraction source for recruiters.

To find out more about how we can help your team, take a look at our Google for Jobs page or contact our friendly experts today to discuss your requirements.