We plan and build the search side of a recruitment website: specialism and location pages for clients, single job pages with structured data for candidates, page titles, internal links and guides worth reading. The scope follows the sectors and areas you actually recruit in.

Clients and candidates both search. Each needs its own page.®

• Win the client searches — Hiring managers search by specialism, sector and place, such as an accountancy recruiter in Leeds or temporary warehouse staff. We give each desk you run its own page, so the right employer lands with the right consultant.

• Fill the candidate pipeline — Job pages, salary guides and interview advice bring candidates to your own site, not only to job boards. Each live role gets a page of its own, marked up so Google can read it.

Search built around your desks and live roles.®

• Job pages Google can read — One page per role, JobPosting markup done to Google’s rules, and closed jobs expired properly.

• Candidate guides and content — Salary guides, interview advice and market updates planned around what your candidates ask.

• Recruitment agency websites — A site with separate routes for clients and candidates, built to support your SEO.

How SEO for recruitment agencies works when you serve two markets

Who SEO for recruitment agencies is for

SEO for recruitment agencies pays off when you run defined desks, such as finance, technology, construction or education, and want more clients finding you directly. It suits agencies that can show real knowledge of a niche and a region. Generalist agencies can still benefit, usually by choosing two or three desks to lead with.

If you are still deciding what you specialise in, settle that first. Search rewards a clear focus, and a page for every possible sector usually ends up thin.

Mapping searches to desks and places

We start with keyword research split by specialism, location and intent. A hiring manager looking for an interim finance director recruiter needs a different page from a candidate looking for finance director jobs. Mixing the two on one page usually serves neither.

Each client page explains the roles you fill, the sectors you know, the areas you cover and how a search works with you, ideally with a named consultant. Candidate searches go to job pages and guides, so the two never compete for the same keyword.

Internal links tie it together: each desk page links to its live roles and guides, and each job links back to its desk.

Job posting SEO and Google’s job search

Google’s job experience reads JobPosting structured data, and the rules are strict. The markup only goes on a page with a single job, never on a listing page, and it needs a job title, description, hiring organisation, location and posting date.

Fully remote roles need the TELECOMMUTE location type and at least one country applicants can work from, and salary should only be marked up when it is the employer’s actual base salary, not an estimate. Google recommends its Indexing API for job URLs so they are crawled sooner, and still recommends a sitemap alongside it.

Your applicant tracking system or job board plugin decides much of this, so we check what it outputs before recommending changes.

Content that earns candidates

Salary guides, interview advice and market updates reach candidates who are not applying yet. They also give consultants something useful to share and give other sites a reason to link to you.

We plan this content around the questions your consultants answer every week, then link each guide to the matching specialism page and live roles.

Content helps with clients too. A regular hiring market note for each desk gives employers a reason to come back, and gives consultants a better opening than a cold call.

Forms, CVs and candidate privacy

Registration and CV forms are where search traffic becomes candidates, and where data protection applies. ICO guidance says privacy information must be given at the time you collect a candidate’s details, and that you must not collect more than you need.

We build registration and CV upload forms that link to your privacy notice and ask only for what a first conversation needs. Your retention policy stays your decision, but the site should make it easy to follow.

Our recruitment work and how we report

For Crossover Partners, an athlete-founded recruitment business, we handled design, build, copywriting and SEO. Former athletes and employers each have dedicated pages, alongside a jobs board and a stories section, so both audiences find content written for them.

We send regular reports on a schedule we agree with you, covering employer enquiries, candidate registrations and search visibility for each desk. Search Console shows which pages and queries bring visits, and with access to your CRM or ATS we show which become placements.

Job pages and long-tail candidate searches tend to move first. Competitive client terms take longer, so we agree which desks to push first.

Related reading

• Recruitment agency website design

• Technical SEO

• Content marketing

• Crossover Partners case study

• Keyword research for service businesses

• Internal linking strategy

Frequently asked questions

What does SEO for recruitment agencies include?

Keyword research by specialism and location, client-facing desk pages, job page structure and markup, titles and internal links, and candidate guides. We review your site first and agree the scope around the desks that matter most.

Can our jobs appear in Google’s job search?

They can be eligible when each role has its own page with JobPosting structured data. Google requires a title, description, hiring organisation, location and posting date, and everything in the markup must be visible on the job page.

What should happen to a job page once the role is filled?

Google does not allow expired job postings. Set a validThrough date in the past, return a 404 or 410, or remove the markup. Your evergreen specialism pages carry the long-term SEO value instead.

Should we focus on clients or candidates first?

Usually clients, because that is where fees come from and specialism searches are often less crowded than broad job searches. If candidate supply is your bottleneck, we start with job pages and guides.

Is SEO worth it when job boards dominate search?

Job boards often rank for broad searches for roles. Agencies can still compete on specialism and location searches from employers, and on useful candidate content such as salary and interview guides.

How long does recruitment SEO take to work?

It is usually measured in months, depending on competition, your current site and how much content is needed. No one can honestly promise a ranking or a date.

Do you build CV upload and registration forms?

Yes, including CV file upload. ICO guidance says candidates must get privacy information at the time you collect their details, and you must not collect more than you need. We keep forms short and link them to your privacy notice.

How much does SEO for a recruitment agency cost?

It depends on the number of desks, the size of the site and how much content is needed. After a call we quote a fixed monthly fee or a fixed project fee.