The state of UK recruitment websites
2026

Figures are shares of the 137 sites we could load and confirm as recruitment agencies, unless a smaller base is stated. Each check has its own base because not every test could run on every site (for example, PageSpeed could not test 8 of them). Methodology and limits are at the end of this page.

Candidates search for jobs on their phones, and Google ranks pages with mobile performance in mind. We ran each home page through Google PageSpeed Insights on its mobile setting. The median performance score was 57, the median largest contentful paint (when the main content appears) was 9.6 seconds against Google's 2.5-second “good” threshold, and the median home page weighed 3.2 MB.

• Good: 90 to 1000% (0 of 129)
• Needs improvement: 50 to 8967% (86 of 129)
• Poor: below 5033% (43 of 129)
• Main content within 2.5 seconds (mobile lab test)0% (0 of 129)
• Home page heavier than 3 MB51% (66 of 129)
• Layout stays stable while loading (CLS 0.1 or less)82% (106 of 129)

Lab tests are deliberately strict. For the 76 sites with enough real-visitor data in Google's Chrome UX Report, 74% met the 2.5-second threshold for real mobile visitors, with a median of 2 seconds.

What to do: compress and resize images, cut third-party scripts (chat widgets, trackers and video embeds are the usual culprits) and keep the home page focused. Our guide to Core Web Vitals for recruitment websites goes through the fixes in order.

Google for Jobs shows vacancies straight in search results, free, but only when each job page carries complete JobPosting structured data that Google can read. We followed each site's jobs link, opened a sample of job adverts and checked them.

• Jobs on the agency's own site with complete JobPosting markup21% (29 of 137)
• Jobs on own site, markup incomplete4% (5 of 137)
• Jobs on own site, no JobPosting markup in the page HTML36% (49 of 137)
• Jobs only appear once JavaScript runs8% (11 of 137)
• Jobs sent to another website or shown in an embedded frame6% (8 of 137)
• No jobs page or no individual jobs found from the home page23% (32 of 137)

Put together, 61% of agencies host readable job pages on their own domain, and only 21% have them fully marked up. Jobs that load only with JavaScript, live on another domain or sit in an embedded frame earn search visibility for someone else's website, or none at all. 61% of sitemaps listed individual job URLs, which helps Google find new jobs quickly.

Our crawler reads job adverts as delivered, without running JavaScript. Some sites, including several large ones, add JobPosting markup with a script after the page loads. Google can often still read that, but less quickly and less reliably, so “no markup” here means none in the HTML Google receives first.

Read why jobs don't show on Google for Jobs and how job pages built for search fix it.

We read each home page's HTML, robots.txt and sitemap. Secure connections and mobile viewports are near-universal; structured data and on-page detail are where sites fall short.

• Served over HTTPS99% (136 of 137)
• Mobile viewport set100% (137 of 137)
• Has an XML sitemap91% (125 of 137)
• Has a canonical tag on the home page87% (119 of 137)
• Meta description of a sensible length (50 to 160 characters)65% (89 of 137)
• No meta description at all10% (14 of 137)
• Page title longer than 60 characters (likely cut off in results)26% (36 of 137)
• Exactly one H1 heading61% (83 of 137)
• Any structured data on the home page58% (80 of 137)
• Organization structured data (helps search engines and AI identify the business)45% (62 of 137)
• Social sharing image set (og:image)75% (103 of 137)
• Home page with under 300 words of readable text9% (13 of 137)

2 home pages were set to "noindex", telling search engines not to list them. 14 robots.txt files have rules covering job URLs. Blocking job search filters is fine, but a rule that stops Google crawling individual job adverts keeps them out of Google for Jobs. Both are worth a five-minute check.

Our recruitment agency SEO checklist covers each of these.

Buyers increasingly ask AI assistants for recommendations. For each agency we asked an AI assistant with live web search (Claude) the question a client might ask, built from the agency's own niche and location: “Which recruitment agencies would you recommend for [niche] in [location]?” The assistant named an average of 7.7 agencies per answer.

• Agency was named in the answer36% (49 of 137)
• Agency was not named64% (88 of 137)

AI answers vary from one day to the next, so a single question is a snapshot, not a ranking. The pattern is still useful: assistants recommend agencies whose specialism, location and track record are stated clearly on their own site and repeated on directories and review sites they trust. See how to get your agency recommended by ChatGPT and AI search optimisation.

A recruitment website has two audiences, and each needs an obvious next step. We looked for a client call to action (such as “submit a vacancy” or “looking to hire?”) and a candidate one (such as “upload your CV”) on the home page, plus the contact routes.

• Client call to action on the home page56% (77 of 137)
• Candidate call to action on the home page55% (76 of 137)
• Both on the home page41% (56 of 137)
• Tap-to-call phone link66% (91 of 137)
• Enquiry form on the home page42% (57 of 137)
• Enquiry form on the contact page64% (88 of 137)

See what makes a great recruitment website for how to structure a home page around both audiences.

We looked for the signatures that website platforms and recruitment software leave in a page's code. WordPress was the most common content management system we could identify, on 39% of sites. Many sites, particularly those built on bespoke or recruitment-specific platforms, leave no clear signature, so these are minimum figures.

Choosing or changing platform? Compare recruitment website platforms, see what a recruitment website costs, or read about connecting Bullhorn, Vincere and JobAdder to your site.

1. Get jobs into Google for Jobs. Host job pages on your own domain, render them in the HTML and add complete JobPosting markup. Test an advert with our Google for Jobs checker.
2. Fix mobile speed. Images and third-party scripts are the usual causes. Aim for main content within 2.5 seconds on a phone.
3. Say clearly who you recruit for and where. Specialism and location in the page title, H1 and opening paragraph help both Google and AI assistants match you to the right searches.
4. Add Organization structured data and consistent directory listings. They confirm who you are to search engines and AI assistants.
5. Give clients and candidates their own obvious next step. A “submit a vacancy” route for clients and a short CV upload for candidates, both on the home page.