Job website Indeed is rolling out new advertising tools to help companies find potential employees across the web.
Indeed has long had an ad business that allows companies to buy search ads on Indeed’s website. Those ads can now run on publishers’ websites that target specific pools of job candidates — like tech workers.
The first ad network Indeed is launching is called the Tech Network, which companies can use to place display ads on 50 tech websites — including The Next Web and developer-focused Stack Overflow — that claim to reach more than 500 million monthly visits combined. Job seekers who click on the ads are redirected to Indeed’s website to fill out a job application.
Indeed is pitching the ad networks as a way for companies to get hard-to-fill and competitive job listings in front of more people with the goal of increasing the number of qualified applicants. In early tests, advertisers including HR software firm Paylocity that ran ads on the Tech Network more than tripled their amount of job applicants, said Raj Mukherjee, executive vice president and general manager at Indeed.
He said that the current wave of tech layoffs from companies like Google is leading tech employees to look for job opportunities away from career websites and on websites that they already frequently visit. He said that the ad networks also reach people who might not be looking for a new job but see a role that interests them advertised.
“There’s a secular demand for tech workers, and tech workers aren’t in traditional spaces so we need to find them where they are,” he said.
Indeed plans to launch similar ad networks for healthcare professionals and transportation professionals and is testing targeting capabilities for the ads. In addition to the ad networks, Indeed is also launching tools that help hiring managers budget campaigns and prioritize job listings to advertise.
The market for advertising online jobs is big. Companies spent $36 billion globally in 2022 advertising online jobs, according to a 2023 report from the advisory firm Staffing Industry Analysts.
Indeed’s move to sell ads on other websites comes after parent company Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd reported in November a decline in free and sponsored job listings on Indeed during its fiscal second quarter.
Indeed faces big competition from Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, which has a similar product called the LinkedIn Audience Network. Advertisers can promote their LinkedIn campaigns to run on other publishers’ sites and apps. Microsoft does not regularly disclose LinkedIn’s ad revenue, but the platform’s US revenue reached nearly $4 billion in 2023, according to estimates from research firm Insider Intelligence, which is owned by Business Insider’s parent company.
To differentiate itself from LinkedIn, Mukherjee said Indeed’s ad network uses AI to find the publishers where potential job seekers are most likely to be. And the number of publishers in the ad network is capped to target specific groups.
“We know a lot about job seekers — using that data we can start to target the right type of job seeker and bring them back into our network,” he said.
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