When job seekers scroll through listings, your job title can be the reason they click — or the reason they move on. Even subtle details like length, word order, and capitalization shape their perception of the role and your company. Plus, search engines rely heavily on job titles to match openings with relevant searches. Extra words or unnecessary characters can hurt your ranking. Use these tips to craft a job title that gets noticed and gets results.
Tips for Writing a Great Job Title
1. Keep it short and sweet. Job titles with two or three words perform better than long job titles.- Good: Digital Marketing Coordinator
- Bad: Digital & Content Marketing Coordinator / Assistant - Full-Time - Great Benefits!
2. Avoid internal titles or jargon that candidates may not understand.
3. Remove special characters such as *&,!:;”(). These hurt search relevancy.
4. Use both the full word and the abbreviation, as relevant, as job seekers may be searching for either.
- Example: Certified Public Accountant CPA
5. Do not use the location in the job title, it's already captured in the location field.
6. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS. It is unprofessional.
7. Capitalize the first letter of each word, not just the first letter of the first word. Correct capitalization gives more polished look.
8. Structure the job title so it sounds natural and flows the way someone would say it out loud. Clear, easy-to-read titles are more attractive to job seekers.
9. Don't include benefits, requirements, or any other information that will make the title too long. This information is provided in the body of the job posting.
10. Finally, put yourself in the job seeker's shoes. What are they most likely to search for? Give your job the title that qualified candidates will be searching for.
Check out The Impact of Adding “COVID-19” into RN Job Titles: Case Study
Tools to Help Write Job Titles
Google Trends
A free tool for fine-tuning and comparing keywords for job titles is Google Trends. Using Google’s global search data, it provides insights into trends for search terms, making it ideal for comparing search volume by job title keywords.
In the below example comparing “Call Center Representative” to “Call Center Agent,” we see that, at one point in time, “Call Center Representative” receives more search queries and eventually the two terms become comparable. In this case, it may be wise to run an A/B test to see which term works best. Also, you have the ability to look at this trend by state and country, which is great for optimizing job titles by location for anywhere in the world.
Indeed Hiring Insights
As the job aggregator that receives the highest number of daily visits in the world, Indeed has a wealth of job search data that can be leaned on for job title optimization. Indeed’s Hiring Insights tool functions similar to Google Trends, but provides a more in-depth market analysis for job title and location.
For example, the below “Warehouse Worker” in Los Angeles, CA, shows the competition score, job seeker volume, average salary, and percentage of searches by device type. Perform searches using varied job titles and compare results to guide your job title optimization.
This tool is available to employers with Indeed Featured Employer. To learn more, reach out to your account representative or contact us here.
Writing a great job title is simple when you let job seeker behavior and search data guide you. Visit our blog for more helpful articles.
Feature Resources
- The Impact of Adding “COVID-19” into RN Job Titles: Case Study
- How to Write, Optimize, and Test Effective Job Postings
- The Dos and Don’ts of Writing Effective Job Titles
- A Checklist for Writing Effective Job Titles
We have a great deal of data on job titles and job postings and would love to share them with you. If you would like to connect for more best practices, we are one email away.
