Job posting visibility: tomorrow’s applicant starts with an AI-bot

Within seconds, he has a shortlist. If your organisation isn’t on it, your vacancy doesn’t exist for him.

In this blog, you’ll read how candidates’ search behaviour is shifting, what that means for job posting visibility, and where you can start tomorrow. With insights from our podcast with Sven Versluijs, owner of web agency Securedesign.

Candidates no longer search with words, but with questions

For years, being found was all about keywords. Someone typed “mechanic vacancy Utrecht” into Google and got a list of links. If your page had the right words on it, you scored.

Bots work differently. AI search engines don’t look for words. They look for an answer to a question. And that question is far more specific than a search term. Candidates mention the role, the region, a salary range and the commute. They ask about growth opportunities and the type of company. Is it formal or informal? What projects will I work on? With which tools?

A job posting that doesn’t answer those questions falls outside the selection. Not because it’s badly written, but because the bot finds nothing in it worth mentioning.

Fewer visitors, but the right ones

Many marketing managers have seen their website traffic level off over the past year. That feels like decline, but it doesn’t have to be. Part of the search now happens outside your website.

Among clients actively working on visibility in bots, Sven sees 20 to sometimes 30 percent of traffic coming from AI search engines. At the same time, traffic disappears to bots that answer the question themselves.

“If your visitor numbers stayed the same over the past year, you’re actually doing remarkably well. A lot of traffic has moved to the bots.” Sven Versluijs, Securedesign

The interesting part is who does come in. A candidate who lands on your vacancy through a bot has already done their research. They compared employers, asked follow-up questions and picked a few organisations to look at more closely. In Securedesign’s experience, around 2 to 3 percent of visitors from Google apply. Via a bot, that’s sometimes around 10 percent.

That asks something of your website. This visitor has already been introduced to you and is looking for depth. A short, clear message that guides them to the application within seconds works better than a long story about who you are. For leadership, that makes it a strategic choice too: whoever starts now builds experience in a channel that is still taking shape.

What GEO is, and why transparency pays off

You know SEO: visibility in Google and other traditional search engines. GEO (generative engine optimisation) is the umbrella term for visibility in bots and AI search engines. A GEO strategy starts with the same question as SEO: what do you want to be found for? Only now you think in questions instead of keywords. What does your audience ask, and in which answers do you want to appear?

This is where it gets interesting for recruitment marketing. Bots reward openness. A vacancy with a “competitive salary” barely scores, because nobody asks a bot for a competitive salary. People ask for a salary range. For a path to grow. For what happens after they click “apply”.

“The more transparent and clear you are, the more interesting a bot finds you to quote as the party that has a solution to someone’s question.” Sven Versluijs, Securedesign

Transparency has always been a mark of a good employer. Now it also determines job posting visibility.

That goes beyond the vacancy itself. What you add as an organisation belongs up front too: how you support candidates, which steps you follow and what someone gets extra by joining you. You’ll find more on the developments in the field in our overview of recruitment themes.

Improving job posting visibility: three first steps

You don’t need to wait for a new budget or a new website. With these three steps, you can start tomorrow:

1. Map your audience’s questions. Ask a bot to analyse your website and tell it who you want to reach, for example mechanics in automotive. Then ask the questions your candidates would ask. Who gets mentioned, and what do those organisations say that you don’t?
2. Add questions and answers to your job postings. A good question is four to ten words, phrased the way someone would ask a bot. The answer is one or two paragraphs: concrete and to the point. A bot rarely quotes anything longer.
3. Let the technology help. Ask your web developer to mark up questions and answers in the code as structured data. That way a bot sees right away where the answer is, which makes your page easier to quote.

Then check your web analytics to see how many visitors arrive via AI search engines. If almost nothing comes from there today, you can only move forward.

Building something yourself with AI, such as an application form? Have someone review the security. Personal data flows through it, and a self-built form isn’t secure by default.

Your own content still makes the difference

With AI, you can write a vacancy, a blog or a full set of questions and answers in minutes. That’s also the risk. If everyone asks the same bot the same question, everyone gets the same text. Sven calls it one-size-fits-all.

What stands out is what only you can tell: your vision, your way of working and the stories of your own people. Use AI to work faster, but keep the content yours. And proofread every text before it goes live. A bot repeats what’s on the page, even when it’s wrong.

Start with your candidate’s question

Tomorrow’s applicant starts with a bot. That’s where they compare employers, and that’s where the first selection happens. Job posting visibility no longer depends only on the right words, but on the right answers. A GEO approach alongside your SEO makes sure those answers are on your own website.

This week, take a fresh look at your own job postings. Do they answer the questions candidates actually ask? And would a bot mention your organisation?