Most recruitment agency websites are built to look good in a pitch, not to be found in Google. The result is familiar: a homepage that ranks for the agency's own name, job pages that never appear in Google for Jobs, and sector pages that say little more than "we recruit in finance". Candidates and clients searching for what you do end up on job boards and competitors instead.
This article turns our most useful recruitment agency SEO tips into a 25-point checklist you can work through with your website team or agency. It is grouped into seven areas: technical health, job pages, sector and location pages, content, Google Business Profile, links and measurement. Each check says what to do and why it matters, so you can tick it off or hand it to someone.
How to use this checklist
Work through it in order the first time. The technical and job page checks come first because problems there limit everything else. A beautifully written salary guide will not help much if Google cannot crawl your site or if half your job pages are expired roles still showing as live.
After the first pass, most of the list becomes routine. Some checks are monthly, some quarterly, and a few only matter when you change your website or ATS. The table at the end of the checklist shows a sensible rhythm.
Technical health: checks 1 to 5
Start with the foundations. These are usually fixed once and then monitored.
- 01Verify your site in Google Search Console. it is free, and it is the only place Google tells you directly which pages are indexed, which have errors and which searches you appear for.
- 02Check that nothing important is blocked. review robots.txt and look for stray noindex tags on job, sector and location pages. Google's documentation notes that a noindex tag only works if the page is not also blocked in robots.txt, so the two need to be set deliberately.
- 03Submit an XML sitemap that lists your live job pages, sector pages and articles, with accurate last-modified dates. Google's job posting guidance asks for the canonical URL of each job and no search results or filter pages in the sitemap.
- 04Fix duplicate URLs. job search filters, tracking parameters and printer versions can create hundreds of near-identical pages. Use canonical tags so Google knows which version to index.
- 05Test mobile speed with PageSpeed Insights. Google's Core Web Vitals look at loading (Largest Contentful Paint, good within 2.5 seconds), responsiveness (Interaction to Next Paint, good at 200 milliseconds or less) and visual stability (Cumulative Layout Shift, good at 0.1 or less).
Job pages and Google for Jobs: checks 6 to 10
For most agencies, live jobs are the largest set of pages on the site and the quickest route to search traffic. They are also where the most avoidable mistakes happen.
- 01Give every job its own page on your own domain, with the full description readable without logging in. Google's job posting documentation requires the structured data to sit on the same page as the job description candidates can see, with one job per page.
- 02Add valid JobPosting structured data. Google lists five required properties: title, description, datePosted, hiringOrganization and jobLocation. Recommended properties include baseSalary, employmentType, validThrough and directApply.
- 03Expire jobs properly. Google does not allow expired job postings, and its documentation gives three ways to remove one: set validThrough to a past date, return a 404 or 410, or remove the markup from the page.
- 04Write job titles the way candidates search, such as "Senior Payroll Officer" rather than "Payroll Superstar Wanted!!". Google's content policies rule out keyword stuffing, all-caps text and false location data.
- 05Include salary where you can. It is a recommended property in Google's markup and it is one of the first things candidates look for when comparing jobs.
You can check any live job against these requirements with our free Google for Jobs checker. If the markup comes from your ATS feed, it is worth checking a sample of roles rather than one, because problems often affect only certain job types or locations. Our job page service covers what a well-built job page and apply flow should include.
Sector and location pages: checks 11 to 14
Clients rarely search for an agency by name. They search for a specialism and a place, such as "accountancy recruitment agency Manchester" or "interim HR recruiters London". You need a page that genuinely answers that search.
- 01Create one page per core specialism, not one page listing them all. Each should explain the roles you fill, the clients you work with, typical salary ranges you can stand behind and who leads the desk.
- 02Create location pages only where you have a real presence or a real track record. Pages that swap the town name and repeat the same text rarely rank and dilute the rest of the site.
- 03Link each sector page to its live jobs, relevant articles and consultant profiles, and link back the other way. Internal links help Google understand which pages matter most.
- 04Write unique title tags and meta descriptions for each page, with the specialism and location near the start. Google often rewrites them, but a clear title still shapes what it understands the page to be about.
Our guide to sector landing pages goes into the structure of a strong page in more detail.
Content that earns visibility: checks 15 to 18
Content works best for recruitment agencies when it answers questions your clients and candidates already have, and when it shows knowledge a generalist could not fake.
- 01Publish content tied to your specialisms. salary guides, hiring market updates, interview guides for specific roles and answers to questions clients ask on calls.
- 02Show who wrote it. Google's guidance on helpful content suggests accurate bylines where readers expect them, and says trust is the most important part of E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust).
- 03Refresh what you already have before writing more. Update old articles with current figures, merge thin posts on the same topic, and redirect anything you remove.
- 04Add a short FAQ to sector and service pages using the questions clients genuinely ask. It helps searchers, and clear question-and-answer content is easy for search engines to understand.
Google Business Profile and local signals: checks 19 to 21
- 01Claim and verify a Google Business Profile for each staffed office. Google's guidelines say a location must be staffed during its stated hours, and that virtual offices and mailing addresses are not eligible.
- 02Use your real-world business name with no added keywords, choose accurate categories, and keep your address, phone number and hours identical to your website.
- 03Ask placed candidates and clients for honest reviews, and reply to them. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking, but its policies prohibit incentives for reviews and selectively asking only happy customers. In the UK, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act also made fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews a banned practice from 6 April 2025. This is not legal advice, so check your review process if you are unsure.
Links and reputation: checks 22 and 23
- 01Earn links from places your clients already read. trade associations, sector publications, local business groups and event partners. One relevant link from a respected industry site is worth more than dozens of directory listings.
- 02Make sure your agency is described consistently everywhere it appears, including LinkedIn, directories and your own website. The same name, specialisms and locations make it easier for search engines to connect those mentions to you.
Measurement: checks 24 and 25
- 01Track the searches that matter commercially. In Search Console's Performance report, filter by query and page to see clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for your sector and location pages, not only your brand name.
- 02Connect search traffic to outcomes. Set up conversion tracking for job applications, CV uploads and client enquiries in your analytics, so you can see which pages produce candidates and clients rather than just visits.
How often to run each check
| Area | Checks | When to review |
|---|---|---|
| Technical health | 1 to 5 | Monthly in Search Console, plus after any site change |
| Job pages and Google for Jobs | 6 to 10 | Weekly spot checks, and after any ATS or template change |
| Sector and location pages | 11 to 14 | Quarterly, or when you open a desk or office |
| Content | 15 to 18 | Monthly publishing, quarterly refresh |
| Google Business Profile | 19 to 21 | Monthly, including review replies |
| Links and reputation | 22 to 23 | Ongoing, reviewed quarterly |
| Measurement | 24 to 25 | Monthly report, quarterly review of goals |
Search engines are also only part of how clients judge you. Once they arrive, the site has to persuade them, which is why it is worth reading what hiring managers look for on a recruitment agency website alongside this list. If you would rather hand the whole list over, our SEO service for recruitment agencies covers each of these areas.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most important recruitment agency SEO tips?
Make sure Google can crawl and index your site, give every job a page with valid JobPosting markup, and build a proper page for each specialism and location you serve. Those three areas usually produce more results than blogging alone.
Do recruitment agencies need a blog for SEO?
You need useful content, but it does not have to be a blog. Salary guides, sector market updates and clear FAQs on service pages often do more than a stream of general news posts.
Why are my jobs on my website but not in Google for Jobs?
The most common causes are missing or invalid JobPosting structured data, jobs loaded inside an iframe from another domain, and pages blocked by robots.txt or noindex. Test a live job with the Google for Jobs checker to see what is missing.
Should every office have a Google Business Profile?
Only offices that are staffed during their stated hours. Google's guidelines say virtual offices and mailing addresses are not eligible, and creating profiles for them can lead to suspension.
How do I know if my SEO is working?
Use Search Console to track impressions and clicks for your target sector and location searches over time, and connect your analytics to applications and client enquiries. Rankings alone do not tell you whether the work is producing business.