AEO for recruitment agencies
Answer engine optimization for recruitment.
Recruitment has two distinct audiences asking different questions of the same engine — employers looking for a partner and candidates looking for a route. Both are worth winning, and the content that serves them barely overlaps, which is where most agency sites come unstuck.
Free scan. $99 one-time if you continue — refunded in full if you aren't mentioned on 2+ engines in 45 days.
The questions that decide it
What your buyers actually ask.
These are the shapes of question that put a recruitment agency on a shortlist. Your tracked prompt set is built from the versions your buyers use.
“best tech recruitment agency in [city]”
“how much do recruitment agencies charge”
“should we use a recruiter or hire direct”
“best executive search firms for [sector]”
“recruitment agency specialising in [role type]”
“how to choose a recruitment partner”
“contingency vs retained search”
“agencies that place [specific role]”
Where it matters most
Not every engine matters equally here.
ChatGPT and Perplexity handle the employer-side evaluation questions, which are comparative and high value. Gemini picks up the location-specific queries. LinkedIn dominates the candidate side, so the winnable ground for an agency site is firmly the employer question.
What we find
Why recruitment agencies stay invisible.
These are the patterns that come up again and again in this vertical — not a generic checklist.
Sector claims with no evidence
Listing twelve sectors on a homepage signals none of them. Depth in one — roles placed, salary data, market commentary — is what makes a model treat you as the specialist for it.
Fee model undisclosed
Employers ask what recruitment costs before they ask who to use. No page addressing percentage, retainer or guarantee terms means no presence in the query that starts the process.
No placement evidence
Time-to-hire, retention and role types actually filled are the outcome data that justifies a recommendation. Most agency sites publish testimonials instead, which carry far less weight.
Candidate content crowding out employer content
Job boards fill the site while the employer — the person who pays — finds nothing addressed to them. The commercial query goes unanswered.
The structured data that matters here
Choosing the most specific applicable type is what turns a generic business into a recognisable recruitment agency.
EmploymentAgencyOrganizationServiceFAQPage
What corroboration looks like
Engines weigh what other sources say about you. In this vertical, these are the sources that carry weight.
- Industry body membership (REC, APSCo)
- Client logos with permission and context
- Published salary guides and market reports
- Reviews from both employers and placed candidates
FAQ
Questions from recruitment agencies.
Should we target employers or candidates?
Employers, for AI visibility. Candidates overwhelmingly start on job boards and LinkedIn, while employers genuinely ask assistants which agency to use — and they are the side that pays.
Do salary guides help?
Substantially. They are among the most cited artefacts in this sector because they contain data engines want and nobody else publishes with your specificity.
How specific should sector positioning be?
Specific enough that the claim is defensible with evidence. 'Technology' is too broad to mean anything; 'backend engineering for fintech in London' is a claim a model can match and you can prove.
How is this measured?
Your prompts are asked on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude and the answers recorded — whether you were named, in what position, and which pages were cited. The record is what the 45-day guarantee is judged on, so there is no interpretation involved.
What does it cost?
$99 once for a 45-day sprint. If your business isn't mentioned on at least 2 of the four engines by the end of it, you are refunded in full.
Ready to become the answer?
Free scan in ten seconds. $99 to fix it — refunded in full if we don't.