Martin
Founder, strategy and audits
Writes every audit and takes every first call. On your account from day one, running growth for SMEs since 2010.
SEO for Recruitment Agencies
SEO for Recruitment Agencies in the UK
A UK hiring manager does not search for your agency by name. They search for a recruiter in their sector and their city, and they call the firm whose page answers how it works. SEO puts your agency there.
For owner-led recruitment agencies in the UK that want search to feed the client pipeline, with candidate searches sent to their own path.
How hiring managers search before they brief an agency
Context from how your customers search, compare and book.
The search that converts is specific. Recruitment agency with a sector attached, headhunter with a role attached, executive search firm with a city or a region, and how much do recruitment agencies charge. Candidate searches look similar on a keyword report but belong to a different person: jobs near me, CV help, careers at, recruiter jobs. Each client search needs its own page, the candidate searches need their own path or none at all, and the owner needs to see which search each client enquiry came from.
The market has tightened, which makes each client mandate matter more. City AM reported on 5 December 2025, citing the REC, that the sector made 536,000 permanent placements in 2024 against 806,400 the year before, a fall of more than a third and well below the average of about a million placements a year before the pandemic. The REC's own Recruitment Industry Status Report 2024/25 page, dated 8 December 2025, says temporary and contract placements account for 76.7 percent of the sector's gross value added. A permanent desk cannot wait for referrals. The hiring manager reading on a phone wants to know whether the firm recruits in their sector, how it sources, how fast it presents a shortlist, how it is paid and who they will be speaking to, and the agency that answers those on one plain page gets the first conversation.
The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 shape what an advert can say. Regulation 27, as we read it on legislation.gov.uk, requires every advertisement issued by an agency to state the full name of the agency and, for each position advertised, whether it is for temporary or permanent work. An agency may not advertise positions unless it has information about the specific positions and the hirer's authority to find work-seekers for them, and where an advert gives rates of pay it must state the nature of the work, the location and the minimum experience, training or qualifications required. Every ad we build carries the agency's full name, and any advert for a position says whether it is temporary or permanent. HeyLead is not an employment agency and holds no licence. The owner confirms the compliance position with their own adviser.
Who this SEO suits
groups Customer segments
- person Owners with 2 to 10 consultants who grew on referrals and have never ranked for anything but their own name
- person Agencies of 10 to 40 staff whose site ranks for vacancy titles but not for recruitment agency with a sector attached
- person Specialist firms in one sector that need a page for each role family they fill
- person Agencies that recruit in two or three cities from London and Manchester to Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol and need a presence in each
psychology What drives their decision
- check_circle Sector, role and city pages written for the question the hiring manager searched
- check_circle A process page that explains how the agency sources and shortlists, with no promised hire or time to fill
- check_circle A fee page that explains how the agency is paid in pounds, with replacement terms stated
- check_circle Enquiry tracking that shows which search produced each client conversation
How we deliver SEO
A clear, repeatable process built around how recruitment agencies customers search and decide.
1
Search and page audit
We map the sector, role and city searches hiring managers type in the UK to the pages you have and the pages you lack, separate the candidate searches from the client ones, check every licence and membership claim on the site against what the agency actually holds, and test whether forms and call tracking record correctly.
2
Process and fee pages
One page for how the agency sources and shortlists, one for what happens in the first two weeks of a brief, one for how the agency is paid in pounds and what the replacement terms are, and one for the credentials and memberships the agency holds. Each page ends with a short enquiry form that asks for the role, the location and the timeline.
3
Sector and city pages
A page for each sector and role family the agency fills, and a short page for each city it recruits in from London and Manchester to Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol, with the consultant who covers it, the salary bands the agency works in and the kinds of roles it has filled in general terms. Candidate content, if the agency wants it, lives on its own section with its own tracking.
4
Plain-language content
Short articles for the questions hiring managers actually type: how long a permanent search usually takes, retained versus contingency, what a good brief contains, what to do when the in-house advert produced nobody. Written in plain words, with no promised time to fill and no candidate detail.
5
Tracking and monthly review
Calls and forms are tagged by page and search, with client and candidate enquiries on separate lines. Where your CRM records terms of business signed and placements made, those results are added so the monthly report shows client conversations rather than visits. Each month we review which pages produced client enquiries and what to add or fix next.
search
What Recruitment Agencies SEO includes
Help nearby customers find you on Google before they call a competitor in the UK
- check_circle Search and page map for client intent, with candidate intent separated
- check_circle Process, fee and credentials pages
- check_circle Licence and membership claim review
- check_circle Sector, role and city pages
- check_circle Short monthly report on client enquiries by search
What you can expect
- verified Hiring managers find your agency for sector, role and city searches in the UK
- verified The process page answers how you source and shortlist before the call
- verified The fee page explains how you charge in pounds, with no promised hire
- verified Client and candidate pages are measured separately, so you know which one brings mandates
- verified Licence and membership claims on the site match what the agency holds
- verified Client enquiries arrive tagged with the page or search behind them
Deliverables you receive
inventory_2 Process, first-two-weeks, fee and credentials pages with the hiring manager's question answered first
inventory_2 Licence and membership claims reviewed against what the agency actually holds
inventory_2 Sector and role pages for each desk the agency runs, and city pages from London and Manchester to Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol
inventory_2 A candidate section kept on its own path with its own tracking, or removed from the client pages entirely
inventory_2 Short articles for the plain questions hiring managers type
inventory_2 Call and form tracking showing which search produced each client enquiry
Technical approach
The mechanics behind SEO for recruitment agencies, explained plainly.
Structured data and consistency
The office page and each service page carry structured data for a professional service with the agency's name, address, phone and the sectors served. Those details stay identical across the site, the Business Profile and directories, which is what local results depend on.
Phone-first enquiry path
Hiring managers research between meetings on a phone. Images are compressed, scripts are trimmed, the enquiry button and phone number are large tap targets and the short client form submits on the first try and asks for the role, the location and the timeline rather than a CV.
Client and candidate tracking apart
Client forms and calls are tagged by page and search. Candidate forms, if the agency keeps them, record to a separate goal. Where your CRM records terms of business signed, those results are added so reports show mandates rather than visits, without any client or candidate detail leaving the agency.
Marketing from $500 USD a month
Month to month, no commitment. One fee covers the pages, the search and ad work and the tracking. Ad spend is separate and stays in your own accounts.
Starting at
$500 USD per month
Free to cancel with 1 month's notice. Tell us what you sell and where. We come back with what the first month would fix.
Get a Free AuditWhat $500 a month covers
Pages
IncludedPages built around the searches your buyers actually type.
Search and ads
IncludedSearch and ads aimed at people ready to enquire.
Tracking
IncludedCalls, forms and bookings tagged to the search, ad or page behind them.
What to expect from SEO
Search visibility for sector and city terms builds over months, and a hiring manager often tolerates a quiet agency for a year before looking for another. The first weeks fix what blocks an enquiry, and later months add depth for each sector and each question.
Days 1 to 14
We audit pages, tracking and every licence and membership claim, fix dead form links, broken call tracking and candidate forms that pollute the client numbers, and agree the page plan and the credentials wording with you. Anything that stops a hiring manager reaching a consultant is repaired first.
Weeks 3 to 8
The process page, the fee page and the priority sector pages go live, the candidate section is moved to its own path and the first articles are published. You start to see which searches bring client enquiries and which pages need clearer answers.
Months 3 to 6 and beyond
Pages mature and visibility improves for each sector and each city in the UK. We refine against enquiry and terms of business data. We cannot promise positions, because competition and the hiring market shape results.
Other Recruitment Agencies marketing services
Our team
The same people on the audit and on the work
Martin writes every audit and takes the first call. The same team stays on the account. 160+ businesses since 2010.
Yoana
Social and app development
Shapes social strategy and builds practical app experiences that turn attention into action.
Mike
SEO
Owns technical, local and content SEO so the right buyers find you when demand is highest.
Robert
Paid media
Plans and manages paid search and social campaigns around qualified leads.
Elmer
Analytics
Connects tracking, attribution and reporting so decisions are based on revenue-quality data.
Dino
Design
Creates clear brand and conversion-focused design across landing pages, campaigns and product experiences.
Certified and experienced
Certified where it matters. Accountable for the outcome.
Verified platform knowledge, 25+ years of hands-on experience, and an operating track record since 2010.
Google AdsCertified
✓Google AnalyticsCertified
✓Google Tag ManagerCertified
✓Operating since 2010Proven experience
✓Frequently Asked Questions
How long does recruitment agency SEO take? expand_more
The process page, the fee page and enquiry tracking usually happen within weeks, while stronger visibility for sector and city searches builds over months. Anyone promising a fixed rank by a fixed date is guessing. We report progress as it comes.
Should we rank for job titles? expand_more
Only if you want candidates. A page titled with a vacancy brings applicants, which is fine on a candidate section with its own tracking, but it does nothing for the hiring manager and it muddies the client numbers. The client pages target recruitment agency, headhunter and executive search with a sector, a role or a city attached.
Should our website show fees? expand_more
We recommend a page that explains how the agency is paid, whether contingency, retained or fixed fee, and what the replacement terms are, using the schedule the owner sets in pounds. It does not need to quote a percentage, but it should remove the fear that fees are a secret.
How do you write about licences and memberships? expand_more
We state the licences and memberships the agency holds, confirmed by the owner, and we never imply a licence the agency does not hold. The owner confirms the position with their own adviser and approves the page before it goes live.
Will you write about our placements? expand_more
Only in the general terms the owner approves, such as the sector, the role level and the location, and never with a client name or a candidate detail that has not been agreed in writing. Confidentiality is part of why a hiring manager briefs an agency.
Can SEO promise a number of mandates? expand_more
No. Hiring managers brief agencies on their own schedule and the agency decides which roles to take. We do not promise a number of mandates, a hire or a time to fill. We report which pages and searches produced client enquiries so you can judge the channel on evidence.
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