Murdoch versus Google - the gloves are off!

According to recent reports Rupert Murdoch is considering blocking search engines from his sites as he gets ready to charge for content.

Of course there are many views and opinions on who will win the battle of content (paid or free) but some of Murdoch's points are quite interesting and have a baring on recruitment activities.

Murdoch has been quoted as saying:

"What's the point of having someone come occasionally. They're not going to become loyal readers," [We can say] hey we've got this many million's of visitors, you'd better advertise.

"The fact is there isn't enough advertising in the world to go around and make all the websites profitable. We'd rather have fewer people coming to our website and paying".

He has also recently described search engines as "content kleptomaniacs" and "parasites".

Now my point as far as recruitment is concerned is two-fold.

1. Search engines such as Google are critical to corporate recruiters and indeed agency recruiters.  With a well optimised career site you will get anywhere up to 60% (or more) of your traffic.

2. However, you may also consider some of the job aggregator sites in the same way that Murdoch does of Google et al.  They (job aggregators) are stealing your content, for free, to feather their own nests.

I'm not saying you should block anyone from indexing your site but, you do need to be thinking about it as part of your overall attraction strategy.  Is volume more important than quality?  Would you prefer someone who search in Google for "jobs at Your Company" OR "job in Your Industry", ends up at a job aggregator and then sees your job therefore your brand is a secondary consideration?  Of course it is all a bit unknown as you are not going to be measuring source-to-hire in a fully automated, fool proof manner (yet) so it will all be a bit hit and miss, but when you do have the kind of tracking you need, then you will be able to:

1. Monetise your content.

2. Block anything that doesn't give you cash or quality!

Until then, enjoy the game.