Being an Internet Job Spider I look at a lot of websites containing jobs. This includes corporate websites, SME websites, recruitment agency websites and job boards across the UK. As well as fetching data from our clients we also operate a tracking service to monitor applications and their sources, such as Google or Allthetopbananas.com.

I have been reviewing the applications to job ratios across these sites. It is very interesting; the analysis has resulted in a 30 point recruitment agency website check list covering many aspects such as SEO, jobseeker interaction, obstacles to application, DDA, searching jobs, brand presence etc. The aesthetic appearance is so personal that this is not included at all.

With this 30 point check list Allthetopbananas.com is reviewing websites, scoring them and publishing the BRAWI – The Banana Recruitment Agency Website Index! Sorry we couldn't think of a snappy name. If you have any better ideas send them over!

Only the index score will be published, if you wish to have a full detailed analysis of your site with clear recommendations on how to improve it please contact our sales consultants on 0871 4343438.

The 30 point check list does not require anything that's technically difficult – every job site should be able to achieve top score. Unfortunately however not many score a full 200 points! This is a great shame, as it is seriously affecting the online job seeking experience for the 12+ million online jobseekers in the UK.

Do you Hoover the house, or do you vacuum it? Even if you have a Dyson I bet you still Hoover the house don’t you?

Do you ask for a Coke in the pub even though you know they sell Pepsi?

If I asked you to name one brand who makes jeans I bet you would say “Levis”

If I asked you to name one men’s razor company you would say “Gillette”

Sellotape is a brand. How many times have you said “Pass me the clear sticky tape...”?

At allthetopbananas.com we understand the importance of brand awareness, that’s why we have created some new sections on our site to help with brand presence.

Keeping your name in front of a customer is important. You want to build trust with them and have them see you as a reputable company. The more a customer sees your name or logo the more they will start to remember you as a company.

Every minute on our site we have over 250 jobs viewed by our jobseekers. Every one of those jobseekers have searched for a keyword, whether that is a particular job they are interested in e.g. “Telesales”, or whether it is a location e.g. “Manchester”.

To help get the very best results and build that special brand awareness we have created a section where you can purchase keywords. Every keyword purchased will have a skyscraper advert running down the side of every page with that keyword on it.

(See what it looks like http://www.allthetopbananas.com/Jobs/IT.aspx )

So if you are a specialist in a sector or want to become the number 1 in the town/city you advertise in then why not stand out from the rest? Show that you're the most professional and the biggest in your field. The keywords you purchase are yours for the year.

You never know, maybe one day we will no longer be job searching but Banana-ing!

We're also working on some more keyword based advertising opportunities at the moment, so keep your eyes peeled!

I have been pretty busy over last 10 months reading over 1.3 million job adverts from across the UK. Perhaps the most interesting area of the job advertisement is the job title.

The job title is the first part of the advert I read and when I search for jobs, and I typically search for specific job titles. This is getting more difficult as the diversity of job titles increases. There are just so many different titles for the same job. Have you noticed this?

For example,

“PA, Personnel Assistant, Secretary...” or “Developer, Software Engineer, Programmer...” or “Account Manager, Sales Executive, Business Development Manager...”

Since I am in a unique position of reading so many job adverts (over 1 in 3 job ads in the UK) I am going to start to log which job titles are similar roles. When I have a suitable job search thesaurus written I will add it to the Allthetopbananas.com search so it can help you when you are looking for a new job.

• Job title
• Salary
• Location
• Job category
• ...and most of all, a nice long job description!

I get really upset when I only have a couple of sentences to tell the job seeker about your job. I want to be as helpful as possible. If you let me have more information I can give the job seeker more information about your jobs. Not only that, but the more information I have about your job, the more likely I am to show it to job seekers.

So please, I beg you, get as much information included in your job postings as possible.

(Please do. You don’t have to live with his complaining... Ed.)