SEO for Recruitment Agencies

Dan Stargatt
Sep 4
3 min read

Updated: Sep 5

The myth, the legend and still one of the most misunderstood but valuable marketing tactics… Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

There are so many areas to consider when it comes to SEO, that sometimes it feels like too much of an effort… so you dabble, nothing really happens and then you either continue doing the bare essential, because you feel you should as part of your job, or worst, you stop doing it all together.

SEO is a an endurance project… you have to keep going and going, things change so you have to adapt and there isn’t really ever an end point. I think this is more than likely why there are so many recruitment agencies that don’t ever maximise this opportunity.

We all know that in recruitment, quick wins are essential to hit targets and this doesn’t play into the hands of SEO, as it isn’t a marketing activity that can just be switched on overnight and start driving lead opportunities.

Couple that with the idea that a lot of business owners are more sales focussed than marketing focussed, you get a perfect storm that leads to either SEO not being a focus area for business or if they have a marketing professional employed in the business, they often feel that they are having to constantly justify to the people above why the SEO is taking so long to kick in.

Why SEO matters…

A strong SEO strategy drives long-term, sustainable lead generation, helping both candidates and clients find your recruitment business when they need it most. Done well, SEO doesn’t just boost organic traffic via Google, it increases your visibility across AI tools like ChatGPT, too. One strategy, multiple benefits.

What often goes wrong with SEO…

In my experience, the biggest issue when it comes to getting SEO right is the planning phase. Yep, you need a robust, long-term SEO strategy to deliver results. Often with SEO, people try and rank for what they want to rank for, rather than what people are searching for. You wouldn’t fish in a pond that has no fish in it, so why would you try and track for a keyword or term that no-one is searching for?

There are genuinely loads of areas that need to be considered when building an SEO strategy, but there is honestly no point if you either don’t know what you are targeting and worst, are targeting irrelevant keyword.

Does SEO actually work from recruitment agencies?

In short, yes! In my experience SEO is a long game but hugely beneficial for business for both candidate and client attraction. You need patience, a bit of nerve, meticulous planning and research and of course the knowledge to ensure you are doing the right things.

I was recently featured in the ‘Attract 50 Report’ published by Idibu. The report analysed recruitment businesses and their websites across the UK & US and put together the top 50 recruitment brands engaging with talent through Organic Search and driving traffic directly to their job listings.

I came third in this list, beating lots of bigger brands. The point of this isn’t to boast, but is to demonstrate that if you commit to SEO you really can boost your brand awareness considerably and build a lead generation machine.

Read Attract 50 Report

What can I do to help SEO for my recruitment website?

Firstly, you need to make sure you know what you want to rank for. To do that you need to know what people are searching for. There are lots of great tools out there, which I would be happy to speak to you about!

Secondly, you need to commit… don’t dip your toe in the water for a month and expect your website to starting ranking on page one on Google. Like I said at the beginning of the article, it’s an endurance project that when planned and executed correctly will generate great return.

How can GATT help with your SEO?

With over 13 years of experience with SEO and lots of success off the back of this activity within the recruitment sector, we are well placed to help you improve or even build an SEO strategy that will actually mean your website is generating consistent leads and relevant traffic.

Get in touch and we can jump on a call and start exploring how working together could look like!