HOW TO MAKE YOUR RECRUITMENT LANDING PAGES WORK HARD FOR YOU

Nicole • July 28, 2021

Every recruiter or talent team realizes the importance of landing pages and onsite applications, but not all get it right. Perfecting your job application and website landing pages will reduce your reliance on job boards and aggregators, while keeping visitors on your website. Candidates are attracted to landing pages that educate, are clear, relevant with easy job application and information flow. The aim is not grandiose – build it to make them come, keep them long enough to explain and convert into a successful application or enquiry.


Sites that confuse potential applicants with incoherent content, annoying drop-downs, confusing navigation or an unclear value proposition are a waste of time and money. Remember, first impressions count. For example, if you are investing your recruitment advertising budget into finding Sales and Marketing candidates, then you need to give potential BDMs, executives, and marketers a great first impression, immediately connecting and relating with them as soon as they land on your page.


You may already be sending traffic to your landing pages with great SEO, social media, email marketing and job advertisements, however bear in mind that if your landing pages are substandard and hard to navigate, you run the risk of killing your lead generation efforts.


1. KEEP IT SIMPLE


If your landing page is overcrowded with information, your visitors will leave. A human’s average attention span is seven seconds. A clean, concise and attractive web or application page makes it easier for your audience to find the most relevant information quickly. As a guide, your landing page should be answering following questions for each visitor:


What is the purpose of this page?

Does it capture interest?

What am I supposed to do?

Should I share this experience?

The key is to answer the above questions in a succinct way, ensuring it is easy for the reader to digest and act.


2. POWERFUL CALL TO ACTIONS


Visitors need to be compelled to stay on your landing page and take a specific action. It is a balancing act as too many prompts could also confuse your visitors, resulting in fewer conversions. Stick with one or two interesting, significant call to actions. Most of these steps require small changes but could result in a big impact on your success. My suggestion is to make one change at a time and closely monitor the results as you go.


3. KEEP IT SHORT AND SWEET


When sharing relevant content with your audience, avoid disrupting their attention with long blocks of text. Keep it short and concise, try to vary the layout with bullet points, and appropriate videos or images. Don’t forget, video is important and get them on YouTube (now one of the biggest search engines). This small step will help you share your message up front with your prospects, ultimately resulting in more quality conversions.


4. THINK HEADLINES


If you see these two headlines:


“Don’t let inferior leads cost you money.”

“80% of marketers believe leads are valuable.”


Chances are, you will gravitate towards the first one. Your headline does not need to cover all of your landing page’s elements, but it should lure your audience to continue the content journey, and ultimately follow through with your call to action.


The great David Ogilvy said “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar” – that is a hefty 80% of your committed resources to an initiative.


Give these recommendations a try, run a quick audit on your landing and website pages to get an idea of where the gaps are. It is relatively simple to secure your audience’s attention with the perfect first impression.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Nicole Clarke is the co-founder of Shazamme, the number one provider of marketing solutions for recruiters and employers. Nicole has helped many recruiters take their businesses and recruiting efforts to the next level. Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn.

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June 22, 2025
AEO for Recruitment Websites: What Is Answer Engine Optimization? As job seekers increasingly turn to AI-powered tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews to find opportunities, traditional SEO is no longer enough. Welcome to the era of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) —a strategic approach that ensures your recruitment website gets found and featured in AI-generated responses. In this guide, we’ll explain what AEO is, why it’s crucial for recruitment sites, and how to optimize your job listings and content for visibility in the age of AI. What Is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)? Answer Engine Optimization is the process of structuring and writing your content in a way that helps AI-based answer engines understand, extract, and display it as direct answers to user queries. Unlike traditional search engines that rank and list multiple results, answer engines aim to give users an immediate answer —often from a single source. This includes showing job postings, company info, or application tips directly in search summaries or AI chat responses. Why AEO Matters for Recruitment Websites Here’s why recruitment website owners should care: Job seekers now use AI tools to search for roles, companies, and hiring advice —not just search engines. Answer engines pull from websites that provide clean, clear, and structured information. Your visibility depends on how well AI tools can understand your job listings and content. In short, optimizing your site for answer engines helps your job postings reach more candidates, faster —without relying on paid job boards. How AI-Powered Answer Engines Work These engines extract answers from well-structured, high-quality content. They analyze your: Job descriptions Hiring guides and FAQs Company profiles Schema markup and page structure The better your content is organized and formatted, the more likely AI tools are to present it as a trusted source in response to job-related queries. AEO Tips for Recruitment Website Owners Here’s how to optimize your site for answer engines: 1. Use Clear Job Titles and Descriptions Avoid vague titles. Use commonly searched roles like “Marketing Coordinator” or “Warehouse Assistant,” and include required skills, location, salary (if possible), and benefits clearly. 2. Structure Your Pages with Schema Markup Use JobPosting schema on every job listing. This helps AI tools and search engines understand that your page contains a job opportunity, its details, and how to apply. 3. Create FAQ Sections Answer common questions like “What is the application process?”, “Is remote work available?”, or “How long does hiring take?” These are the types of queries AI tools prioritize. 4. Include Company Profiles and Culture Pages Highlight workplace culture, diversity, values, and benefits in structured formats. AI engines prefer detailed, people-focused content when summarizing employers. 5. Optimize for Natural Language Write content as if you're answering someone’s question. For example: “What does a warehouse assistant do?” “How do I apply for a marketing job in Manchester?” This helps your site appear in AI-generated results for those queries. Benefits of AEO for Recruitment Sites Implementing AEO can: Increase organic visibility in AI summaries and answer boxes Drive more qualified traffic to job listings and hiring pages Reduce dependency on third-party job boards Position your brand as a trusted employer Final Thoughts  The job search journey is changing. Candidates now ask AI tools for recommendations, company insights, and application guidance. If your recruitment website isn’t optimized for these answer engines, you’re missing out on a powerful source of organic traffic. With AEO, you ensure your site doesn’t just show up—it shows up with the right information, in the right place, at the right time. Now is the moment to future-proof your recruitment strategy.
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A subdomain is a part of your website URL that comes before your main domain and helps organize content into separate sections. For example: Main domain: example.com Subdomain: blog.example.com Even though the subdomain is linked to the main domain, search engines and web browsers treat it as a distinct site with its own content and structure. How do subdomains work? Subdomains function as separate websites within a single domain. You can assign unique content, layouts, and functionalities to them while keeping them connected to the primary domain. They are particularly useful when a website needs to host specialized content or services that don’t fit neatly into the main site’s structure. Benefits of using a subdomain Adding a subdomain to your website comes with several advantages, depending on your business needs. Here are some key benefits: 1. 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A group of people are working on a website.
By Chloe Wedgewood May 11, 2025
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