Recruitment website checklist: 30 things to check before launch

Most recruitment website problems are not design problems. They are launch problems. A job page that does not reach Google, an application form that never lands in the ATS, a redirect that was missed. Each one costs you candidates or clients, and you often find out weeks later.

This recruitment website checklist gives you 30 specific things to test before you go live. It is grouped into six areas, so you can split the work between marketing, your developer and whoever owns the ATS. Each check is something you can do without special tools, and you can tick it off or fail it.

Recruitment website checklist: job pages and Google for Jobs

Jobs are the core of your site. Test them on the live build, not just a staging copy, and use real vacancies.

• →1. Every live job has its own crawlable URL, not one that only loads after a search or script runs.
• →2. Each job page has a unique title, a clear H1 and a full description, not a short teaser.
• →3. JobPosting structured data is present and includes title, description, date posted, location, employer and salary where you have it.
• →4. Expired jobs return a sensible response, such as a removed page or a clear closed notice, and the markup is updated or removed.
• →5. You have tested sample URLs in the Google for Jobs checker and fixed every error.

Forms, ATS and data capture

A form that looks fine but fails silently is the most expensive bug on a recruitment site. Submit every form yourself, then check the record in the ATS.

• →6. Job applications create a candidate record and attach the CV in the ATS, with the right job linked.
• →7. Register-your-CV and general enquiry forms reach the right inbox or ATS queue.
• →8. Client vacancy and contact forms notify a named person, not a shared mailbox nobody reads.
• →9. Confirmation messages and emails send, and do not land in spam.
• →10. Required fields, file types and file size limits work on mobile as well as desktop.

GDPR, cookies and consent

You hold personal data from the first form submission. Get the legal basics in place before launch, and ask your legal adviser to confirm the wording.

• →11. A privacy notice is linked from every form and explains what you collect, why, and how long you keep it.
• →12. Marketing consent is a separate, unticked box, not bundled with the application.
• →13. The cookie banner blocks non-essential cookies and tags until a visitor accepts.
• →14. Candidates can find a clear route to request access, correction or deletion of their data.
• →15. Retention rules in the ATS match what the privacy notice says.

Redirects, sitemap and indexing

If you are replacing an existing site, redirects protect the rankings you have earned. Our guide to website migration and SEO covers the full process. These are the launch-day checks.

• →16. Every old URL that has traffic, links or rankings has a one-step 301 redirect to the closest new page.
• →17. There are no redirect chains or loops, and the homepage is not the catch-all destination.
• →18. The XML sitemap lists only live, indexable pages and is submitted in Google Search Console.
• →19. The robots.txt file and page-level noindex tags from staging have been removed.
• →20. Canonical tags point to the correct live URL, using one version of www and https.

Speed, mobile and accessibility

Candidates often browse jobs on a phone, so test there first. Run Google PageSpeed Insights on your homepage, a job search page and a job detail page.

• →21. Mobile pages load quickly and score well on Core Web Vitals, particularly on job lists.
• →22. Images are compressed, sized correctly and have descriptive alt text.
• →23. Every page can be used with a keyboard alone, with a visible focus state.
• →24. Text has enough colour contrast, and form fields have proper labels.
• →25. Menus, filters and job search work on small screens and in the main browsers.

Analytics and final checks

If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. Set up tracking before launch so you have data from day one, and keep consent rules in mind.

• →26. Analytics is installed once, not twice, and respects cookie consent.
• →27. Conversions are tracked: job applications, CV uploads, client enquiries and phone clicks.
• →28. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools are verified for the live domain.
• →29. Custom 404 page, favicon, social share images and contact details are all correct.
• →30. SSL is valid, the old site is backed up, and someone is named to monitor errors for the first two weeks.

Next steps

Give each check an owner and a date, and run the list on the live site the day before launch. Keep it for the next release. Re-test job pages and forms after every ATS or plugin update, because that is when they tend to break.

If you want this built in from the start, TRG Digital builds recruitment websites with ATS integration, job markup and redirect planning included.