Separate employer acquisition from candidate acquisition
A hiring manager choosing an agency needs evidence of sector knowledge, recruitment approach and relevant roles. A candidate needs a real vacancy, clear requirements, location, salary information where supplied and a workable application route. Permanent agency service pages and temporary vacancy pages have different jobs. Link them usefully, but do not expect a stream of vacancies to explain why an employer should brief you.
Agree separate conversion measures for employer enquiries and candidate applications.
Give every live vacancy a clear source
Review the route from the applicant-tracking system to the public website. Establish which system owns role details, status, dates and application links. Check that a role is not duplicated across several indexable paths with conflicting information. On an individual vacancy page, readable content, metadata and any JobPosting structured data should describe the same real job.
Google’s JobPosting documentation sets requirements for this feature. Use it for eligible individual job pages, not a general list of multiple vacancies.
Design the expiry decision
| Situation | Practical response |
|---|---|
| Role genuinely closes | Update status and remove or expire job markup correctly |
| Page has continuing user value | Explain that applications are closed and offer relevant navigation |
| No useful page remains | Use the appropriate removal response rather than a misleading live advert |
| A genuine replacement exists | Assess a relevant redirect, rather than sending everything to the homepage |
The correct implementation depends on the retained page and Google’s current rules. Do not leave structured data advertising a job that no longer accepts applications.
Control filter and location sprawl
Search filters can generate combinations of sector, location, salary, contract and keywords. Identify which combinations deserve a useful public landing page and which exist only to help users browse. Avoid letting every empty or near-identical result become an indexable destination. Give chosen sector/location pages durable information, relevant roles and an employer-facing proposition where appropriate.
Test pagination and internal links with a crawler. A candidate should not need a particular JavaScript interaction before the only route to a vacancy exists.
Make the application route measurable
Test applications on mobile, including file uploads, required fields and any change to another domain. Check that the confirmation indicates successful receipt rather than merely a clicked button. Distinguish submitted applications from starts and assess quality with recruitment staff. If the website reports a surge while consultants receive no usable candidates, investigate measurement and form delivery before celebrating the campaign.
Document how personal data moves between the website and recruitment systems, and involve the relevant privacy owner.
Build a repeatable publishing check
Use a checklist for new roles, changes and expiry: real vacancy, correct details, working application, appropriate markup, consistent dates and timely status updates. Give somebody ownership of failed synchronisation and closed-role exceptions. Monitor Search Console and technical reports alongside recruiter feedback. This makes SEO part of daily vacancy operations and reduces the chance that old roles remain discoverable as if they were still open.
Common questions
Should we delete every expired vacancy?
No single rule fits every page. Decide whether it retains useful content, whether a genuine replacement exists and how expired job markup must be handled.
Can we use JobPosting on a category page?
Google’s documentation requires eligible individual job pages. A page listing multiple roles needs a different treatment.