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Talroo's Search Algorithm

Simple systems often rank jobs primarily by keyword matches and bid price (CPC). That approach is straightforward, but it can overlook what matters to users and publishers: quality of job/user match and real-time changes in inventory. Talroo's proprietary algorithm uses a variety of signals to ensure the best jobs reach the best candidates.

Common Pitfalls that Talroo Addresses​

Using a simple semantic matching and/or reverse-CPC rank can lead to several pitfalls:

  • High CPC Domination: High-bidding jobs that are not relevant to the jobseeker's background are surfaced every time in a reverse-CPC ranking regime
  • Synonyms and Abbreviations: Matching "doctor" queries to doctor jobs works, but what about "physician" queries? "MD"?
  • Ignoring User Data: Matching purely on the query ignores information about the user that may be critical

Talroo addresses these pitfalls through advanced machine learning strategies.

Inventory Changes​

Real-time Status Changes​

Jobs are frequently refreshed to ensure limited expired content is shown to users. User clicks on expired jobs is considered a rare event and are handled differently.

Expired Click Billing​

Clicks made to expired jobs (jobs that are not live but still present in search) have a grace period where publisher payout is reduced and users are still taken to the application page.

Talroo passes on this reactive approach to inventory changes via XML or API access, with API being real-time and therefore having less expired click risk.

Highly Specific Phrase Matching (rank_by)​

For API users requiring jobs with title or description phrases that match the query term exactly, the &rank_by=ctrqs or &rank_by=ctr parameter can be added to the search.php URL. This overrides the default ranking to prioritize precise keyword alignment.

GET api.jobs2careers.com/api/search.php?id=...&pass=...&q=nurse&l=Austin,TX&rank_by=ctrqs
Warning

While this ensures high keyword specificity, it may reduce overall publisher CPM by prioritizing exact phrase matches over bid-optimized results and broader match opportunities.