AI assistants recommend recruitment agencies when they can tell exactly who an agency places, where and on what terms. Most agency websites are generic, so the agencies that state their sectors, locations and contract types, publish compliant job ads with proper JobPosting markup, and show checkable credentials such as REC membership give an assistant far more to work with. You have two audiences, hiring clients and candidates, and both are asking.
Key takeaways
- Employers ask AI for a specialist ("temp chefs in Brighton this weekend"); candidates ask where to find work and whether an agency is legitimate. Write for both.
- UK job adverts must name your business, say temporary or permanent, and add detail if they mention pay (Conduct Regulations 2003, regulation 27).
- Google's JobPosting markup makes single-job pages eligible for its job search experience, which is available in the UK.
- REC members pass a compliance assessment to join and stay, and appear in a public member directory you can link to.
- Agencies generally can't charge candidates for finding work. Saying so plainly builds trust.
What do people ask AI when they're looking for a recruitment agency?
Clients ask for a specialist who can fill a role fast; candidates ask who's hiring and who to trust. The prompts below are illustrative examples of the kinds of questions people ask, not measured search volumes.
| Intent | Example prompts (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Urgent | "Agency that can supply two forklift drivers in Northampton tomorrow", "Supply teacher agency in Hull with cover this week" |
| Comparison | "Recruitment agency or hire directly for a finance manager?", "Specialist IT recruiter or generalist agency?" |
| Local | "Recruitment agency in Cardiff for office temps", "Construction recruitment agency near Milton Keynes" |
| Price | "What fee do recruitment agencies charge for a permanent placement?", "Temp-to-perm fees UK" |
| Trust | "Is [agency] a legitimate recruitment agency?", "Do recruitment agencies charge candidates?" |
Where does AI get its answers about recruitment agencies?
From your website, your job ads, trade body directories, job search features and reviews. Google says its AI Overviews and AI Mode use pages that are indexed and eligible to show a snippet, with no extra requirements (Google Search Central, 2025).
| Source | What it is | Why it matters for agencies |
|---|---|---|
| Your website | Sector pages, location pages, live jobs | The only place that describes what you fill and for whom in full. |
| Your job ads | Single-job pages | Each live job is a page stating a sector, role, location and contract type. With JobPosting markup, it can appear in Google's job search experience (Google Search Central, n.d.). |
| REC member directory | The Recruitment and Employment Confederation's public list of corporate members | Searchable by name, location, sector, placement type and audited status (REC, n.d.). |
| Google Business Profile | Listing on Search and Maps | Where "agency near me" questions from candidates and local employers start. |
| Review platforms | Google, Trustpilot | Candidates and clients both leave reviews. Trustpilot bans selective invitations and incentives (Trustpilot, 2026). |
| Job boards and LinkedIn | Where your ads are syndicated | More public pages naming your agency, sectors and locations; keep the details consistent. |
| GOV.UK guidance | The government's rules for agencies | What assistants draw on for "can an agency charge me?" questions. |
What do the rules mean for your marketing?
The rules are about honest, specific information, which is exactly what makes an agency easy to recommend.
- Advert content. GOV.UK guidance on the Conduct Regulations 2003 says adverts must "make their full name of business clear" and "say whether the role being advertised is temporary or permanent". If you refer to a rate of pay, you must also give the nature of the work, the location and the minimum experience, training or qualifications needed to get that rate (GOV.UK, 2026).
- No fees to candidates. Agencies are "prohibited from charging fees to workers for finding or trying to find them jobs", with exceptions for performers and certain other entertainment workers, and photographic and fashion models.
- Enforcement. Since 7 April 2026 the Fair Work Agency (FWA) has brought together several enforcement bodies, including the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and regulates agencies in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own Employment Agency Inspectorate.
- Licences for some sectors. Agencies supplying workers in agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering, or food processing and packaging need an FWA licence, and nursing and domiciliary care agencies in England may need to register with the Care Quality Commission (GOV.UK, n.d.). If that's you, say so and give your licence or registration details.
The 7-step plan to get your agency recommended
Build one page per sector and one per location you genuinely serve. "Temporary warehouse staff in Northampton", "Permanent accountancy roles in Bristol". Say which roles you fill, contract types (temp, contract, permanent), typical turnaround and the areas you cover. Avoid claiming sectors you rarely work in.
Make every job ad compliant and specific. Your full business name, temporary or permanent, location, and if you show pay, the nature of the work and the minimum experience or qualifications. These details are what assistants and job search features match against.
Add JobPosting structured data to single-job pages. Google requires
datePosted,description,hiringOrganization,jobLocation(orapplicantLocationRequirementsfor fully remote roles) andtitle, and recommendsbaseSalary,employmentTypeandvalidThrough. The markup "must only be used on pages that contain a single job posting"; Google doesn't allow expired postings or "job postings that require payment from applicants" (Google Search Central, n.d.). If you're recruiting for an anonymous client, Google says to useconfidentialas the hiring organisation name. It lists the United Kingdom among countries where the job experience is available, and recommends the Indexing API to tell Google about new and expired job URLs.Remove filled jobs promptly. Stale ads make you look unreliable to candidates and break Google's rules. Set
validThroughand take pages down, or mark them expired, when roles close.Show your credentials, with links. If you're an REC member, say so and link to your directory listing. The REC says its logo shows a member has passed its Compliance Assessment and commits to its Code of Professional Practice, and members must pass the assessment to join and stay in membership (REC, n.d.). Add any FWA licence or CQC registration. State plainly that you never charge candidates for finding work.
Collect reviews from both clients and candidates. Ask every placed candidate and every client the same way, at the same stage, with no incentive (Google Business Profile Help, n.d.). UK law has banned fake reviews and reviews that conceal an incentive since April 2025 (CMA, 2025). In replies, never reveal anything about a candidate's application or a client's hiring.
Tidy your Google Business Profile and site markup. Use your real trading name with no keywords, and only list an office that's staffed during business hours (Google Business Profile Help, n.d.). Mark up each office with schema.org's EmploymentAgency type, a LocalBusiness subtype (Schema.org, n.d.; Google Search Central, n.d.).
Also check that robots.txt and any firewall allow OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI, n.d.), PerplexityBot (Perplexity, n.d.) and Claude-SearchBot (Anthropic, n.d.). Job boards embedded in iframes or loaded only by script may not be readable at all.
Mistakes that keep agencies out of AI answers
- Generic "we recruit across all sectors" pages. Nothing for an assistant to match a specialist prompt to.
- Job ads without a location or contract type. Breaks the advertising rules and the prompts both.
- Listing pages marked up as JobPosting. Google says the markup is for single-job pages only.
- Expired jobs left live. Bad for candidates and against Google's guidelines.
- Claiming REC membership you don't hold, or an REC Audited status you haven't earned. The directory is public.
- Review replies that discuss a candidate. Confidentiality applies in public too.
How do you check whether AI recommends your agency?
Ask the assistants what your clients and candidates ask, and log the answers monthly.
- Pick 10 prompts from the table: five from employers, five from candidates, using your towns and sectors.
- Run each in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google (AI Overviews and AI Mode), Gemini, Claude and Copilot, logged out or in a private window where possible.
- Note whether you're named, which agencies or job boards appear instead, and which sources are cited.
- Check facts about you, especially sectors, locations and whether you charge candidates, and fix the source if anything is wrong.
- In Google Search Console, AI feature traffic is included in the Performance report under the "Web" search type (Google Search Central, 2025).
SearchCrow runs these checks for you. It asks the major AI assistants the questions employers and candidates ask about recruitment in your sectors and towns, shows whether your agency is mentioned and which sources they rely on, and suggests what to fix first. It's built for independent and regional agencies.
FAQ
Why doesn't ChatGPT recommend my recruitment agency? Usually because your website talks about "talent solutions" without saying which sectors, roles, locations and contract types you actually fill. People ask things like "recruitment agency in Leeds for temporary warehouse staff" or "specialist accountancy recruiter in Bristol". An agency with a page for each sector and location, and live job ads that name them, is far easier to match.
What must a UK job advert include? Under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, every advert must show your full business name and say whether the role is temporary or permanent. If it mentions a rate of pay, it must also state the nature of the work, the location and the minimum experience, training or qualifications needed to earn that rate.
Do I need structured data for job ads? If you want your vacancies to appear in Google's job search experience, yes. Google's JobPosting markup needs a date posted, description, hiring organisation, job location and title, on a page with a single job. Google doesn't allow expired postings or postings that require payment from applicants, and recommends its Indexing API to tell it about new and removed jobs.
Does REC membership help with AI visibility? No AI platform has said it weights it. But REC membership is a public, checkable fact: members must pass a compliance assessment to join and stay, the REC's public member directory can be filtered by sector and audited status, and the REC describes its logo as a mark that a member has passed that assessment. Say on your site if you're a member, and link to your listing.
Can a recruitment agency charge candidates a fee? In general, no. GOV.UK guidance says agencies and employment businesses are prohibited from charging fees to workers for finding or trying to find them jobs. The main exceptions are for performers and certain other entertainment workers, and photographic or fashion models. Saying clearly that you never charge candidates is a useful trust signal.
Sources
- AI features and your website, Google Search Central
- Job posting structured data, Google Search Central
- Local business structured data, Google Search Central
- LocalBusiness, Schema.org
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help
- Get reviews on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help
- Overview of the Conduct Regulations 2003, GOV.UK
- Employment agencies and businesses, GOV.UK
- Licences for employment agencies, GOV.UK
- Compliance, Recruitment and Employment Confederation
- REC member directory, Recruitment and Employment Confederation
- Guidelines for businesses, Trustpilot
- Fake reviews (CMA208), Competition and Markets Authority
- Overview of OpenAI crawlers, OpenAI
- Perplexity crawlers, Perplexity
- Anthropic crawler FAQ, Anthropic