Recruitment website user experience may seem like an abstract concern, but it can have very real ramifications if ignored. User experience means more than just delivering a well-constructed website that impresses clients and candidates with its aesthetics and efficiency. Your recruitment website user experience may also influence SEO (search engine optimization) and rankings. For those concerned with SEO, keywords have long been the name of the game. In addition to keywords were the gallery of ideas, theories and downright conspiracies regarding how rankings were affected. But there is some compelling evidence that user experience may have a more tangible benefit than previously thought. If gaining visibility among clients and candidates is important to you and your firm, then you may want to consider the following tips regarding your recruitment website user experience.

Think architecture, not advertisement 

You may think that the extent of your recruitment website user experience should be that of an advertisement. And sure, we want to advertise our services, but if you view your website purely as a means of advertisement, then you have done your clients, your candidates and yourself an enormous disservice. A website that is well designed and constructed with user experience in mine should be approached as an architectural project. Too often nonprofessional website designers view a website in terms of the two-dimensional screen on which it is viewed, but a website is less a billboard and more a building. If your recruitment website user experience is nothing more than flat copy against an antiquated background, then it’s time to think renovation.

How we travel

In keeping with the architectural analogy, your recruitment website user experience should be less a billboard and more a building. A building has multiple points of entry and a variety of ways to travel through the structure. An intelligently-designed building has a sensible flow, the appropriate rooms connect in a way that makes sense and is efficient (you don’t have to walk through the bathroom to get to the kitchen). This clearly relates to the way users can travel through your site. Are there important pages that are nearly inaccessible except through other pages that seemingly have no connection? Is the layout clean and clear, allowing first-time visitors to easily assess the location of vital information? Your recruitment website user experience is more than an appealing design, but a smart construction that makes navigation simple and efficient.

Does your site invite conversation?

When is the last time you saw a billboard along the highway or saw a commercial on television and were able to communicate with its message? These forms of communication do not invite discussion. If your recruitment website user experience lacks a form of active engagement, then it is still no better than an advertisement. As recruiters, we should invite conversation and discussion. Contact and feedback forms are great ways to tell users that you not only allow engagement, but you welcome it. A well-designed recruitment website will also incorporate authentic calls-to-action that encourage users to reach out to your firm. Your recruitment website user experience needs to be one that brings you closer to clients and candidates.

A recruitment website user experience relies on many things, but well-thought design, navigation and communication will provide your online presence with a solid foundation. And this is not to say I’ve forgotten what started this article:  SEO and rankings. The quickest way to SEO success is to remember that your audience, your users, your clients and candidates should determine how your site is constructed. Working with a web design firm that truly understands the world of recruiting is the ideal way to ensure that your recruitment website user experience is one that is successful for all parties.

Adam is a copy writer, content specialist and editor with Recruiters Websites, a web design firm specializing in websites for the recruiting and staffing industry.