Indeed.com is kicking off job boards

Indeed.com used to take jobs from other job boards because this valuable content helps it get higher in the search engines. (They called themselves ‘Google for Jobs’ but were technically known as an ‘aggregator’).

When a job seeker clicked on a job they were redirected to the appropriate job board. Initially this was free of charge, but then Indeed started charging because they were adding value. Job boards didn’t mind paying Indeed because it would have otherwise been spent on search engine optimisation.

Unfortunately, Indeed took it upon themselves to start calling the job boards customers. This upset the job boards who felt Indeed had used their data against them – like a Trojan horse. But the job boards had created a giant and Indeed became a ‘necessary evil’.

But now the tides have turned as Google is penalising Indeed for too much duplicate content. Therefore, Indeed had no other option than to kick off all the job boards in January 2018, leaving far fewer direct customers.

Now Indeed are just a job board and focused on supplementing their income. For example, they have just increased the price of their CV database by 250%. Additionally, Indeed are starting to charge for users that view a job, in addition to clicking on it. According to reviews on Glassdoor employees working at Indeed are as frustrated as their customers stating a “greed based culture” (to provide some balance there are lots of positive reviews as well).

Whilst the job board community re-groups, other Trojan horses keep coming.

Indeed is dead, long-live Indeed.