The client

The Advocate Group is a specialist recruitment consultancy operating across the UK. With over a decade of established search engine rankings and a strong digital presence, their website was a critical source of candidate and client engagement.

The problem

The Advocate Group commissioned a new website from a specialist provider of recruitment websites. The project took over a year to deliver. When the site finally launched, three serious problems became apparent almost immediately.

First, search engine rankings built up over 11 years were lost within days of the new site going live. Organic visibility that had taken years to establish disappeared overnight.

Second, the design delivered was not what had been agreed. Having already invested significantly in the project, The Advocate Group reluctantly launched the site rather than delay further.

Third, ongoing technical problems continued after launch, requiring constant attention and disrupting day-to-day operations.

The site was costing £600 per month. The rankings were gone. The design was wrong. The relationship with the provider had broken down.

The Advocate Group needed a new website to be live within four weeks.

The solution

We split the project into two phases to meet the deadline without cutting corners.

Phase 1: Get online fast and stop the bleeding

We launched The Advocate Group on a themed design from the portfolio of themed designs within the four-week window. In parallel, we conducted a full technical SEO audit of the previous provider's site. That audit revealed serious structural issues that had directly caused the catastrophic loss of rankings. These were not minor oversights. They were fundamental technical failures that should have been caught before launch. This was independently varied by a 10-year veteran of Recruitment SEO, along with our own findings.

Phase 2: Elevate the design and accelerate growth

Once the SEO recovery was underway and rankings were stabilising, we moved The Advocate Group from the initial template to a fully tailored semi-bespoke design. This gave them a site that matched their brand and ambitions without risking the SEO progress we had made.

The outcomes

Week 1: The new site launched on time, within the four-week deadline.

Within days, much of the lost organic visibility began to recover. Rankings that had been missing for seven months started returning almost immediately once the technical issues from the previous site were removed.

By 90 days:

• All previously held rankings fully recovered
• Over 3,000 new longtail keyword rankings gained
• The Advocate Group appeared in AI Overviews for the first time in its history
• Google for Jobs traffic went from 9,000 visits over seven months with the previous provider to 90,000 visits in month one with RecruiterWEB

By month 3: Five new client enquiries generated directly through organic search, converting to six figures in placement fees. Applied to our service costs, that single quarter of new business revenue would fund their RecruiterWEB partnership for 50 years.

Services delivered

• Themed website design (phased from template to tailored)
• Technical SEO audit and recovery
• On-page SEO
• Copywriting

Key takeaway

A recruitment website is not just a design project. The wrong technical decisions can destroy a decade of search engine authority in days. The right ones can rebuild it in weeks. The Advocate Group's experience shows what happens when recruitment-specific expertise is applied to both the website build and the SEO strategy from day one.

FAQs

Q1: How long did it take to recover The Advocate Group's lost SEO rankings?

RecruiterWEB recovered much of The Advocate Group's lost organic visibility within days of launching the new site. By 90 days, all previously held rankings were fully restored after being missing for seven months. The recovery was achieved by identifying and removing serious technical SEO failures on the previous provider's site and launching on RecruiterWEB's platform with correct technical foundations from day one.

Q2: What caused The Advocate Group to lose their SEO rankings?

The Advocate Group's previous website provider delivered a site with serious technical issues that caused search engine rankings built up over 11 years to disappear within days of the new site going live. A full technical SEO audit conducted by RecruiterWEB identified structural failures that should have been caught before launch. These were not minor oversights but fundamental technical errors.

Q3: How quickly can RecruiterWEB build a recruitment website?

RecruiterWEB delivered The Advocate Group's new website within a four-week deadline. The project was split into two phases. Phase one launched a themed design to meet the deadline and begin SEO recovery. Phase two elevated the design once rankings had stabilised. This phased approach ensured the agency never lacked a functioning, professional website during the transition.

Q4: What results did The Advocate Group achieve with RecruiterWEB?

By 90 days, The Advocate Group had recovered all lost rankings, gained over 3,000 new longtail keyword rankings, appeared in AI Overviews for the first time, and increased Google for Jobs traffic from 9,000 visits over seven months with the previous provider to 90,000 visits in month one with RecruiterWEB. By month three, five new client enquiries from organic search converted to six figures in placement fees.

Q5: What services did RecruiterWEB provide to The Advocate Group?

RecruiterWEB delivered a phased website project that included a semi-bespoke website design progressing from a themed template to a tailored design, a full technical SEO audit and recovery programme, on-page SEO optimisation, copywriting for the new site content, and brand consulting. All services were delivered within RecruiterWEB's standard service model with no additional platform fees or setup charges.

 

About the Author

Darren, our founder, will provide you with a no-obligation, no-pressure demo.

Darren has walked your walk. As a former recruiter and recruitment company owner, he has been dedicated to recruitment website design, SEO, and marketing since 2004. There is nothing he enjoys more than chatting about recruitment, so reach out and pick his brains.

Give us a call at 01223 655278, or email him at darren@recruiterweb.co.uk