Overview
This article helps you interpret the data and reports generated from your careers site. You can generate data through built-in reporting, third-party analytics tools, and search performance platforms. This guide explains the key data points to focus on so you understand how your site is performing and where to prioritise improvements.
Key benefits
Focus on six key data points that reveal your site's performance and effectiveness.
Understand which traffic sources drive the most valuable outcomes for your recruitment goals.
Identify areas for improvement such as conversion rates, form completion, and organic traffic growth.
Make data-driven decisions about where to invest marketing effort and budget.
Measure return on investment from your careers site and justify current and future spend.
Track performance over time to measure the impact of changes and improvements.
Before you start
Before interpreting your website data, make sure you have:
Access to your data sources such as:
Built-in reporting.
Google Analytics (a web analytics platform that tracks visitor behaviour).
Or Google Search Console (a tool that shows how your site appears in search results).
A clear understanding of what counts as a conversion or lead in your organisation.
Agreement across your team on definitions for key metrics to ensure consistent reporting.
📌 Note: The availability of reports and exact metrics you can see will vary based on your site configuration and any third-party tools you have implemented.
Where your data can come from
Depending on how your site is set up, your data may come from one or more sources.
Available data sources
Built-in reporting provides standard or advanced reports built into your platform.
Third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics track visitor behaviour, traffic sources, and conversion events.
Search performance tools such as Google Search Console show how your site appears in search results and which keywords drive organic traffic.
📌 Note: The availability of reports and the exact metrics you can see will vary based on your site configuration and any third-party tools you have implemented.
Key data points to interpret
Focus on these six key data points when reviewing your website data.
Conversion rate
Compare the number of visitors to the number of conversions to understand how effectively your site turns visitors into meaningful outcomes.
Why it matters
Conversion rate shows how effectively your site turns visitors into meaningful outcomes such as job applications, candidate registrations, enquiries, or other tracked goals.
How to interpret it
If traffic is high but conversions are low, your site may need improvements such as:
Clearer calls-to-action.
Improved user journeys.
Or better performance or accessibility.
If conversions are strong but traffic is low, you may want to focus on increasing visibility through:
Search engine optimisation activity.
Marketing campaigns.
Or strengthening referral sources.
🤓 Tip: You can use online conversion rate calculators to quickly work out conversion percentages from your raw visitor and conversion numbers.
Success of forms
Compare the completion rate of forms to the number of leads you receive.
Why it matters
This shows whether users can successfully complete your forms and whether form submissions translate into usable leads.
How to interpret it
A low completion rate can indicate friction such as:
Too many required fields.
Unclear or unhelpful validation messages.
A confusing form layout.
Or issues on mobile devices.
A high completion rate but low lead quality can indicate that:
The form content is not asking the right questions.
The form purpose is unclear.
Or the form is being shown to the wrong audience or in the wrong place.
Return on investment
Use your website performance and outcomes to understand the return you are getting from your investment in the site.
Why it matters
Return on investment helps you justify current and future budget, prioritise site improvements, and connect activity such as traffic, conversions, and leads to tangible business value.
How to interpret it
Compare the cost of running and promoting your site such as:
Platform fees.
Media spend.
Internal time with the value created such as placements, hires, new clients, reduced admin, or other business outcomes.
Where possible, assign an estimated value to each outcome such as:
An average value per hire or per placement to make return on investment clearer.
🤓 Tip: Create a simple return on investment calculation model. Use a spreadsheet or your preferred financial tools to combine total costs, total measurable value generated, and the time period you are reviewing.
Organic traffic growth over time
Track how your organic unpaid traffic changes over time to understand search engine optimisation performance and long-term website health.
Why it matters
Organic traffic is a key indicator of search engine optimisation performance and long-term website health. Tracking changes helps you measure the impact of search engine optimisation or content work, spot issues early such as drops in visibility, and plan realistic growth targets.
How to interpret it
A steady upward trend usually indicates improving search visibility and successful search engine optimisation or content efforts.
Sudden drops may be linked to recent changes in your site content or structure, technical issues such as:
Indexing problems or broken pages.
Search engine algorithm updates.
Or changes to your tracking configuration.
Relevancy of keywords used to find your website
Review the search terms or keywords people use to find your site organically to understand whether people are finding you for the roles you advertise, the services you provide, and the sectors and locations you operate in.
Why it matters
This shows whether people are finding you for the roles you advertise, the services you provide, and the sectors and locations you operate in.
If the keywords do not match what you are known for, you may need to refine your content or search engine optimisation strategy.
Recommended tools
Google Search Console is a useful tool for viewing the search queries that lead users to your site, checking click-through rates from search results, and identifying high-potential keywords to target with new or improved content.
Referral traffic and referral growth over time
Track traffic coming from external sites or referrals and how this changes over time to measure the success of third-party job aggregators and understand how dependent you are on external partners.
Why it matters
Referral data helps you measure the success of third-party job aggregators such as CV-Library and Jooble, understand how dependent you are on external partners, and compare how different sources perform in terms of conversions and lead quality.
How to interpret it
Compare referral traffic versus organic traffic in terms of volume of visits, conversion rate, and lead or hire quality.
Monitor how referral sources perform over time to identify partners that drive strong results and spot any decline in performance that may need action such as changes to posting strategy or contracts.
Next steps
Once you have reviewed the six key data points above, consider taking these actions.
Identify strongest and weakest traffic sources
Compare organic, referral, and other channels such as paid campaigns or social media to see which drive the most valuable outcomes.
Choose one or two priority improvements
Examples include simplifying key forms, improving job or content pages for better conversions, or updating search engine optimisation content to target more relevant keywords.
Review performance again after making changes
Give changes enough time to have an impact, then compare your updated metrics against your previous results.
🤓Tip: If you use multiple tools, make sure your tracking and definitions are consistent across all platforms so you can compare reports confidently.
Best practices
Focus on the six key data points to understand your site performance rather than tracking every possible metric.
Compare traffic sources in terms of both volume and quality to identify the most valuable channels.
Review data regularly to spot trends and issues early rather than waiting for annual reviews.
Assign estimated values to outcomes such as average value per hire to calculate return on investment accurately.
Use consistent definitions for conversions and leads across all reporting tools to enable accurate comparisons.
Give changes enough time to impact your metrics before reviewing performance and making further adjustments.
📌 Note: Regular data review and consistent definitions help you make confident decisions about budget allocation and site improvements.
FAQs
Q1: How often should I review my website data?
Answer: Review your key data points monthly to spot trends and issues early. You can conduct more detailed quarterly reviews to measure the impact of major changes or campaigns and inform strategic planning.
Q2: What is a good conversion rate for a recruitment website?
Answer: Conversion rates depend on factors such as your audience type, traffic sources, and what you define as a conversion. Focus on improving your own conversion rate over time rather than comparing to industry benchmarks, and track how changes to your site affect your results.
Q3: Why is my organic traffic dropping?
Answer: Organic traffic drops can be caused by recent changes to your site content or structure, technical issues such as indexing problems or broken pages, search engine algorithm updates, or changes to your tracking configuration. Use Google Search Console to identify specific issues and check for any recent changes to your site that may have caused the drop.
Q4: How do I know if my forms are performing well?
Answer: Compare your form completion rate to the number of usable leads you receive. A high completion rate with low lead quality suggests the form content or targeting needs adjustment. A low completion rate indicates friction such as too many required fields, unclear validation messages, or mobile device issues.
Q5: Should I focus on organic traffic or referral traffic?
Answer: Review both traffic sources and compare them in terms of volume, conversion rate, and lead quality. Organic traffic typically provides long-term sustainable growth, while referral traffic can drive quick results but may depend on external partners. Diversifying your traffic sources reduces risk and maximises reach.
Q6: What should I do if I use multiple reporting tools?
Answer: Ensure your tracking and definitions are consistent across all tools. Agree what counts as a conversion, lead, or event so you can compare reports confidently. Document your definitions and share them with your team to maintain consistency over time.
Q7: How can I calculate return on investment for my careers site?
Answer: Compare the cost of running and promoting your site such as platform fees, media spend, and internal time with the value created such as placements, hires, or new clients. Assign estimated values to each outcome and use a spreadsheet or financial tool to track costs and returns over a specific time period.
Q8: Why are my keywords not relevant to what we do?
Answer: If keywords do not match what you are known for, you may need to refine your content or search engine optimisation strategy. Review the keywords in Google Search Console, update your site content to target more relevant terms, and create new content focused on the roles, services, sectors, and locations you want to be found for.
Q9: How long should I wait before reviewing the impact of changes?
Answer: Give changes at least 4 to 6 weeks to impact your metrics before reviewing performance again. Search engine optimisation changes can take longer to show results, while changes to forms or calls-to-action may have a faster impact. Always compare metrics from similar time periods to account for seasonal variations.
Q10: What tools do I need to interpret my website data?
Answer: You need access to at least one data source such as built-in platform reporting, Google Analytics, or Google Search Console. The exact tools available depend on your site configuration and package. If you are a client with a Customer Success Plan, contact your Account Manager to discuss reporting options. Otherwise, contact the Support team for guidance on available reporting tools.