While all markets move at pace, the evolution seen in the marketing profession in recent years has been particularly remarkable. Within recruitment specifically, in just over a decade, the industry has shifted from print advertising to digital campaigns, from job boards to social storytelling, and now from typed searches to spoken ones. Voice search has, more broadly, become part of everyday life, as professionals increasingly ask mobile assistants to support their job hunt, to find nearby recruitment agencies or to check available job roles through devices such as Alexa and Google Assistant.
This widespread growth of voice search optimisation technology for recruitment represents a major development and opportunity for agency marketers. This technology is not only a separate marketing channel but a natural extension of existing digital strategy, designed to meet candidates and clients where they already are, and in the most coherent ways. Agencies that adapt to this shift ahead of their competitors will therefore be better positioned to engage audiences who often now prefer to speak rather than type, but they will have to change their strategies accordingly.
The most significant change brought about by the advent of voice technology lies in how questions are asked. Typed searches are often keyword-based and fragmented, with common terms such as ‘marketing jobs London’ being used. However, spoken searches are more conversational and complete, and tend to follow actual sentences or phrases, such as ‘where can I find entry-level marketing roles in London?’ This shift, although subtle, has a major impact on marketing and transforms the relationship between user and search engine into something more human and natural.
As a result, the content being produced by recruitment marketers now increasingly needs to reflect real, spoken language. The most effective content will now use clear phrasing, simple sentence structure and a natural tone that feels ‘normal’ when read aloud. Consequently, articles, job listings and blogs should sound as if a consultant is explaining something directly to a listener; the best way to test this is simply to read through the content and identify whether it sounds natural or not. When voice assistants or platforms read this kind of well-written material back, the effect is personable and trustworthy rather than robotic and overly corporate.
The growth of voice search optimisation for recruitment has also driven a change in user expectations; candidates using this technology are often seeking quick information without the need to scroll for too long or even to scan a screen. Therefore, to meet these expectations, web pages should present the core answer at the very start, ideally within the first few lines, before expanding into supporting detail.
For example, a candidate might ask, ‘How do I apply for a graduate marketing role?’ and, to meet this question effectively, the page should begin with a clear two-sentence response before elaborating on the process, as this will make it far more likely to be prioritised by voice assistants. FAQ pages are particularly valuable in this respect, as they are generally written in a way that mirrors the natural rhythm of a human question and response.
While voice search does exist on desktop devices, the vast majority of searches take place on mobile devices, which should feed into strategies for accessibility and readability. This requires a different approach, and content must be structured for clarity across smaller screens, with short paragraphs, logical headings and mobile-optimised formatting. This is important for all content, such is the rise of mobile phone usage is, but is critical for effective voice search optimisation. As a result, complicated phrases, heavy jargon or overly long paragraphs can make content difficult to follow when read by a digital assistant. And, if a user doesn’t finish listening to a voice search response, it will mark the content down in similar future searches, only impacting its visibility further.
Accessibility is another important element, and content designed to sound fluent when spoken is more likely to engage users, whether they are walking, driving, exercising or multitasking. Finding methods to align this accessibility, whilst continuing to align content with an agency or brand’s tone of voice, pushes it to become a part of its wider identity.
However, while the advent of voice search has created opportunities, it would be fair to say it’s also scaling up marketer workloads. Many spoken queries are location-specific and will seek geographically relevant results. For example, candidates often ask for nearby roles, while clients may look for specialist agencies within their region. As a result, ensuring the right geographical information is included in content, and structured effectively, is essential, and information including address details, contact information and job location fields must be consistent across listings.
The structuring of data, also known as schema markup, is an equally important factor. When job posts and FAQs are tagged correctly, search engines can interpret their meaning more effectively, which, in turn, increases the likelihood that a page will be selected as a featured result or read aloud by an assistant. Effective schema markup also not only improves visibility in voice searches but equally it strengthens performance in traditional ones.
However, while monitoring and measuring written content is now relatively straightforward, doing the same with voice performance remains an emerging science, but it is possible to track trends to a degree. Search engines such as Google have revealed increases in ‘question-style’ queries that are common in voice search, such as questions beginning with ‘how’, ‘where’ and ‘who’. Monitoring the patterns will help agency marketers to continue to refine their content over time, and reviewing other metrics – such as engagement rates and conversion metrics - also provides valuable clues about whether content is effectively meeting spoken search intent.
Voice search optimisation for recruitment marketers is here to stay, and should be treated as an evolving process, rather than a one-off project, and each web update, new job listing or blog post offers a chance to analyse performance and adjust accordingly. The broader signals behind the growth of this technology should also be understood; search platforms are becoming more conversational, and so must marketing. Therefore, the most effective and successful recruitment agency marketers now mirror real speech and create content that is natural, informative and authentic.
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