{"id":23545,"date":"2025-10-22T10:03:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T10:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=23545"},"modified":"2025-10-22T11:29:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T11:29:36","slug":"adzuna-tops-the-rankings-for-job-search-relevance-and-variety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/adzuna-tops-the-rankings-for-job-search-relevance-and-variety\/","title":{"rendered":"Adzuna tops the rankings for job search relevance and variety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you tired of bad job matches? Thousands of job opportunities appear at a click, yet only a handful are relevant. We get it. It\u2019s frustrating. At Adzuna, our mission has always been to make job search smarter, faster, and fairer for every jobseeker. To us, a good job search isn\u2019t about the number of results <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it\u2019s about showing jobseekers the right ones: the most relevant, high-quality opportunities that truly match what you\u2019re looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of our global launch of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/adzunas-new-ai-search\/\">our new AI search<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, our data science team created a Search Quality Index, analysing 4,500 search results across 50 popular job titles on Adzuna and eight leading UK job sites to reveal which platform delivers the most relevant, comprehensive search results for jobseekers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search Quality Index, explained<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Measuring search relevance<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Measuring search variety<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#4\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Calculating the final score<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"#5\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Best site for job search, revealed<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search Quality Index, explained<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To remain fair and unbiased, our data science team analysed over seven million job ads between January and October 2025 to identify the 50 most in-demand jobs in the UK. These included nationally trending roles <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> drawn from the same dataset that powers Adzuna\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/job-market-report\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">monthly UK Job Market Report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 as well as most in-demand jobs across 20 sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px;\">\n<table id=\"tablepress-193\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-193\">\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Accounting Assistant<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Business Development Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Chemical Engineer<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Cleaning Supervisor<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Customer Service Adviser<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Data Engineer<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Digital Marketing Executive<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Finance Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">General Nurse<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">HGV Technician<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Human Resources Business Partner<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Laboratory Technician<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Machine Operator<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Marketing Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">NET Developer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Office Administrator<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Personal Assistant<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Production Operative<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Real Estate Agent<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Residential Conveyancer<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Security Guard<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Shift Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Site Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Store Assistant<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Waiter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Architectural Technologist<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Chef de Partie<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Child Care Social Worker<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Commercial Sales Representative<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Customer Service Representative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Delivery Driver<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Enforcement Officer<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Gas Engineer<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Graphic Designer<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Housekeeping Assistant<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-8\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Human Resources Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Lettings Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Maintenance Assistant<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Mechanical Engineer<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Occupational Therapist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-9\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">Paralegal<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Primary School Teacher<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Quantity Surveyor<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Research Associate<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Sales Administrator<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-10\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">SEN Assistant<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Shop Manager<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">Social Worker<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">Vehicle Technician<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">Warehouse Operative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-193 from cache --><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We deployed OpenAI\u2019s GPT-4 model to independently review the top 10 search results for 50 job titles across Adzuna.co.uk and eight leading job sites (CVlibrary, CWjobs, Indeed, Jobrapdio, Jooble, Reed, Totaljobs, Ziprecruiter) for these 50 job titles. Each job site was scored from 0-100 on two key criteria: search relevance (how closely results match what jobseekers want) and search variety (the range of unique employers surfaced).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our data science team then combined these scores into a single Search Quality Index <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> revealing which job site delivers the most relevant search results while maintaining a strong variety of employers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Measuring search relevance<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search relevance is defined as how closely search results match the original search query. To assess this, OpenAI was provided with each search term and the top 10 results from nine leading UK job boards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each result was scored on a 0-100 scale using a strict rubric, with \u201cSoftware Engineer\u201d used as an example:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>90-100<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Exact matches or very close synonyms e.g. &#8220;Software Engineer&#8221; and &#8220;Software Developer&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>60-89<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Clear variants, including different seniority levels or specialisations e.g. Senior Software Engineer&#8221; and &#8220;Frontend Software Engineer&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>20-59<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Related but distinct roles e.g. &#8220;DevOps Engineer&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>0-19<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Completely unrelated roles e.g. \u201cDelivery Driver\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example of high and low relevant job ads<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is an example of what we mean by relevant and irrelevant search results. For the role of \u201cProduction Operative,\u201d the first example illustrates low relevant results: Only one listing is actually relevant, while others \u2013 such as \u201cProduct Operations Lead\u201d and \u201cProduct Designer\u201d \u2013 are completely unrelated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23566 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image4-644x1024.png\" alt=\"search results with bad relevance\" width=\"522\" height=\"830\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image4-644x1024.png 644w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image4-189x300.png 189w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image4-768x1221.png 768w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image4-966x1536.png 966w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image4.png 1257w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 522px) 100vw, 522px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, the results below demonstrate a nearly 100% match, with every listing closely aligned to the original search query.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23570 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image3-466x1024.png\" alt=\"Adzuna's good relevance example\" width=\"525\" height=\"1153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image3-466x1024.png 466w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image3-136x300.png 136w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Why this is fair<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Impartiality<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The same AI model, using the exact same rubric, judged every single job board. There was no human bias.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Consistency<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The model applied its logic systematically across thousands of listings, ensuring every title was judged by the same criteria.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Expertise<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The AI understands the nuanced relationships between job titles, seniority, and function, providing a much more sophisticated analysis than simple keyword matching.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>User centred:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The criteria reflects the patterns and priorities we hear from users, mirroring how hiring managers, recruiters, and job seekers think about relevance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Measuring search variety<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search variety measures how many different employers appear in the top search results. A high-quality search is not just about relevance <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it should also expose jobseekers to a broad range of employers. Repeated listings from the same few companies limit choice and can make an already exhausting job search even more frustrating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To measure variety we calculated a variety score starting at 100, then reduced it by 10% for each duplicate employer among the top 10 results. For example, if all 10 results come from unique companies, the score remains 100. If there are only eight unique companies, meaning two duplicates, the score drops to 80.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">100 &#8211; (10 * 2 duplicates) = 80 (out of 100)<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example of high and low search variety<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some real-life examples of what we mean by high and low search variety. For the role of \u201cDelivery Driver\u201d, the first example illustrates low search variety. While the jobs are relevant to the search term, every job is from a single company, Yodel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23573 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image5-1-730x1024.png\" alt=\"duplicated compny names in job search results\" width=\"613\" height=\"860\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image5-1-730x1024.png 730w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image5-1-214x300.png 214w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image5-1-768x1077.png 768w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image5-1.png 998w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, the results below demonstrate greater variety, with postings spread across five different employers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23585 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image2-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"740\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image2-3.png 601w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image2-3-244x300.png 244w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 601px) 100vw, 601px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Why this is fair<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Objectivity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This is a purely mathematical calculation, free from any subjective interpretation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>User-centric<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This metric directly reflects the variety and choice presented to the jobseeker. A higher score means a broader, more representative view of available opportunities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"4\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Calculating the final score<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To create an overall measure of search quality, we multiplied the search relevance and variety subscores to produce a Search Quality Index that highlights the job search sites that deliver the most relevant search results while maintaining a broad range of unique employers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<table id=\"tablepress-194\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-194\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Rank<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Job site<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Search quality index<\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Search relevance<\/th><th class=\"column-5\">Search variety<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">1<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Adzuna<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6,720<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">80\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">84\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">2<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Indeed<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6,324<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">68\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">93\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-4\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">3<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Totaljobs<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">6,314<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">82\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">77\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-5\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">4<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">ZipRecruiter<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">5,712<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">68\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">84\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-6\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">5<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Cvlibrary<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">5,600<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">70\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">80\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-7\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">6<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Reed<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">5,229<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">83\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">63\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-8\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">7<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Jobrapido<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">4,266<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">54\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">79\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-9\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">8<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Jooble<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">3,696<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">44\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">84\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-10\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">9<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Cwjobs<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">2,496<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">32\/100<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">78\/100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<!-- #tablepress-194 from cache -->\n<h2 id=\"5\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Best site for job search, revealed<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adzuna\u2019s new search leads the industry overall, achieving the best balance of exceptional search relevance and high company variety, outperforming other job sites by over 25% on average &#8211; but we\u2019re not stopping there. We\u2019re committed to continually innovating to enhance the experience for jobseekers and employers alike.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23578 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image1-1024x740.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"756\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image1-1024x740.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image1-300x217.png 300w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image1-768x555.png 768w, https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image1.png 1304w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 756px) 100vw, 756px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our new AI search is now live <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> delivering smarter matches for jobseekers and more qualified candidates for employers. Try it now and experience what smarter search feels like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"emoji\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/11\/svg\/1f4a1.svg\" alt=\"\" \/> Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/adzunas-new-ai-search\/\">Adzuna\u2019s new AI search helps you find the right job faster<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you tired of bad job matches? Thousands of job opportunities appear at a click, yet only a handful are relevant. We get it. It\u2019s frustrating. At Adzuna, our mission has always been to make job search smarter, faster, and fairer for every jobseeker. To us, a good job search isn\u2019t about the number of<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/adzuna-tops-the-rankings-for-job-search-relevance-and-variety\/\"> Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":23626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adzuna-news","category-finding-a-job"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23545"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23624,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23545\/revisions\/23624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}