In CareerBuilder Suffering from Tag Spam I posited, “…almost everyone is losing.” Yet, there are very good reasons why job advertisers use tag spam; and equally compelling reasons why job boards haven’t solved the problem. The solution, available today, turns this ‘problem’ into a moneymaker for job boards – and in the process, almost everyone wins.
First, the ‘drivers’ behind tag spam:
1) Imprecision of electronic ‘search’ motivates some advertisers to use tag spam to increase the odds that their ads will be seen by appropriate jobseekers;
2) Pricing for electronic job ads makes it cost efficient to place verbose ads, covering multiple positions or containing tag spam, as opposed to placing multiple targeted ads;
3) Hard-to-fill positions benefit from the increased exposure resulting from tag spam;
4) Job boards don’t want to interfere in the creative use of ad space; plus,
5) Traditional methods for policing spam remain prohibitively expensive for large job boards and job verticals.
The solution – automated occupational tag assignment – addresses all of the above drivers, benefits almost everyone, and generates additional revenue for job boards. Here’s how:
First, when occupational tags are accurately assigned to each job ad, search changes from less structured to more structured – a search of structured data is substantially more precise.
Second, when occupational tags are automatically assigned, job boards don’t have to impose restrictions on tag spam that might interfere in the creative use of ad space. In fact, system-assigned occupational tags can be displayed at the time of ad placement, allowing advertisers to refine their content prior to placement to ensure they receive the desired occupational tags.
Third, each occupational tag is provided with a ‘fit’ score, indicating how precisely an ad fits within the occupational category – this is key to eliminating the benefits of tag spam. The broader the ad, the lower the occupational fit scores. And lower scores lead to lower placement in the search results. Thus, tag spamming becomes counter productive for advertisers.
Finally, the price incentive to place verbose ads covering multiple positions is offset by lower fit scores and thus lower placement in search results. This substantially lowers the ROI of non-specific ads, and encourages advertisers to place focused ads for best results. Thus, by eliminating the advantages of tag spam and broad ads, job boards are rewarded with increased ad volume.
Sure, there will be winners and losers – but the gains far outweigh the losses.
Best of all, the occupational coding software is available today, delivers 90+% accuracy in a fully automated environment (nearly 100% in an interactive environment), and costs a penny, or less, per ad. Seems like a no-brainer to me. How about you?
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