Advertising Strategy for Recruitment Agencies: Channels, Priorities and What Works [2026]

Recruitment agencies often ask us where to start and where to put the budget.

This article therefore sets out advertising strategy for anyone running a recruitment agency with the following problems.

• You want to start advertising
• You are already advertising but cannot see the whole picture
• You are already advertising but it is not working

For the whole picture of marketing to attract candidates, see the article below.
[The complete guide to recruitment marketing] A thorough guide to digital marketing in the recruitment business

1. Attracting candidates for a recruitment agency

Recruitment agencies attract candidates through scouting, job boards, web advertising, social media and organic search.

Scouting and job boards are widely used, but both depend on an outside platform, so when that platform tightens its rules the flow of candidates can dry up.
That is why you need to build a second and a third pillar.

More recruitment agencies have turned to web advertising in recent years, and competition has grown fierce.
Read the other way, that means there are plenty of candidates online and that budget put into web advertising does bring registrations.

Many firms now advertise online, but if you work out your positioning and the case you make, it can still be a major pillar.

We hope this article gives you the whole picture and leads to action, whether you are starting out or reviewing what you have.

2. Four things that matter in advertising for a recruitment agency

Before the specific methods, here are the points that matter when you start advertising.

2.1 Working with the business teams

Rather than judging the advertising on its own, it is vital to improve and judge it together with the business teams (CS and CA).

Once you start running ads, people outside your intended target will sometimes register.
Feeding that registration data back to whoever runs the ads lets them adjust the targeting and the case the ads make.

It is essential if you want better ads and candidates who are worth talking to.

2.2 Think about the candidate journey

Ads should be run with the candidate journey in mind, from the first thought of moving job through registering with an agency to receiving an offer.

By listing and ordering what candidates are thinking at each phase, make it clear who the advertising reaches, how and with what.
That lets you run a tight improvement cycle, and the longer you run, the more accurate the delivery becomes.

2.3 Improve the odds that the advertising works

People often say you cannot know until you try, but since it is your own budget at stake you want every bit of extra chance of success.
Success here means winning good candidates steadily
If you want to improve the odds, we recommend handing the advertising to a good agency.

At a recruitment agency the number of in-house marketers is far smaller than the number of CAs and RAs. At a firm of a few dozen people it will be one or two.
Given the weight that rests on those one or two people, and the risk of them resigning, we think it is better to use an agency.

There is an agency fee on top, but once you weigh the better odds of success and the fact that it costs less than employing a marketer, outsourcing goes more smoothly.

Do watch the following points when choosing an agency.
・A track record with recruitment agencies
・Knows the recruitment business
・Each person handles around five accounts
・No limits on the platforms they can run

2.4 Do not lose the candidates you win

Advertising costs at least 500,000 yen a month.
Candidates won with that spend have to be carried through to a meeting by customer support (CS).
So for companies new to digital marketing that are unsure how CS should handle candidates, and for companies whose meeting rate will not rise, we also provide support to improve CS. (Free for the companies we support.)

Companies running ads also run into the problems below.
・Too many candidates who cannot be assessed
・Emails go unread
・Meetings get cancelled
・You are not the first agency they think of
・They have already applied through another agency

For these companies, we recommend setting up candidate nurturing through email newsletters and LINE.
It is a very useful way to raise engagement among the candidates you have won, secure more meetings and bring down both the cost per meeting and advertising as a share of spend.
The article below goes into detail.

Using LINE in recruitment: nurturing candidates to raise interviews and placements [2026]

We have also gathered our know-how on marketing for recruitment agencies, which we hope is useful.

3. Nine advertising methods for recruitment agencies

3.1 Search advertising

Search advertising, as in the image below, shows ads in the search results that match the keyword the user searched for

「Search means the need is already in the open“, so if you get the keywords and the ads right,
you can reach people who are thinking about changing or finding a job right now.

The exact keywords need tuning to the agency, but they look like this.

• Job type × active job-change keyword
• Company name × active job-change keyword

The article below covers search advertising for recruitment agencies in detail.
Search advertising for recruitment agencies | rates, keywords and CPA explained through case studies [2026]

Also worth reading) “[The bid strategy handbook] A thorough guide to bid strategies in Google search advertising」

3.2 Display advertising

Display advertising, as in the image below, shows images and video across a range of websites and apps.

You reach your target users through the creative, whether image or video, and the targeting settings.
The targeting options include the following.
・Gender and age
・Interests
・Keywords they search
・Websites they browse

There is also remarketing, which shows ads to users who have visited your site once already.

Unlike search advertising, it reaches users whose intent to move job is not high (they are simply browsing), so it is mostly used to build awareness.

3.3 P-MAX advertising

P-MAX is a relatively new way of running ads, launched in 2021.
It shows text, images and video across every ad slot Google has.

It has three characteristics.
・Machine learning focused on conversions
・One campaign delivers to every kind of ad slot
・Uses signals, which work differently from targeting

It is said to maximise results when run alongside search advertising.
That said, it runs automatically by default, so much of it is hard to control, and improving it takes a different knack from search advertising.

The article below explains it in detail.

Article) What is P-MAX in Google Ads? Placements, asset requirements and tips for running it [2026]

Guide) P-MAX: its characteristics, recommended settings and points to watch when running it

3.4 Affiliate advertising

Affiliate advertising is advertising placed on publications that compare recruitment agencies
Unlike other methods you pay on results, with a registration or a meeting as the charging point, which makes it very cost-effective.

To get placed you have to go through an ASP, a platform that connects publications with the advertisers who want to appear on them.
Appearing in comparison articles about changing jobs puts you in front of users who are choosing an agency.

What matters is ranking first to third within the publications that sit at the top of the search results.
Article) Affiliate advertising for recruitment: what it does, how to run it, and which networks to use [2026]

3.5 Meta advertising

Meta advertising runs images and video inside Instagram and Facebook.
We sometimes hear that an ad shown while someone is enjoying Instagram will not land…., or that a company’s target audience does not use Instagram, but against those expectations it is a channel that wins plenty of candidates.
You can target by gender, age, area and interests.

For the best audience settings in Meta advertising, see the article below.
Article) Audience settings for Facebook advertising that deliver, explained in full

3.6 YouTube advertising

YouTube advertising shows video ads inside YouTube videos and across the platform.
Like display advertising, it leans towards awareness.
As of 2024 it has more than 70 million monthly active users, making it the second most used social platform after LINE.
Targeting covers not only age, gender and interests but YouTube channels as well.
The options are rich: you can run on a particular channel, or on channels related to the IT industry.

Article)[YouTube advertising] Eight formats and what each one does

3.7 Other social platforms

Other social advertising platforms include X, LINE, Pinterest and TikTok.
All of them can show image or video ads inside the platform.

The volume of candidates is smaller than with Google or Meta, so we leave them aside here, but depending on who your business targets they can work well.

3.8 Other display advertising

Here we cover DSPs. A DSP (demand-side platform) is a form of display advertising that buys ad slots, runs the ads and analyses creative automatically, optimising as it goes.

Unlike display advertising on Google or Yahoo!, it can target by company name, IP address and fine-grained area.

4. Priorities

We have covered the kinds of advertising a recruitment agency can use to win candidates, and among them there is an order of priority, as in the figure below.

It reaches people whose intent is already in the open, and search advertising, which delivers steady results, is the highest priority.

Meta advertising and P-MAX come next.
Once a reasonable budget is going into search and Meta advertising and the results have settled, affiliate advertising follows.

Depending on the phase the agency is in and who it targets, the order can change, so if you want to check the right strategy for your own business, do get in touch.

Guide) Advertising strategy for recruitment agencies

5. What to prepare

Now that the kinds of advertising and their priority are clear, here is what to prepare before you actually start.
There are four main things.

• The ads
• LP
• A database to manage candidates
• Budget

・The ads
Search advertising needs text, such as headlines and descriptions, while display advertising needs images and video.
Make the ads carry your own strengths (your USP) and match the case the landing page makes.

・LP
A landing page is indispensable to any advertising.
However good the targeting and the case the ads make, you will not win registrations unless the landing page they arrive at is good.
Competition has also grown fierce in recent years, and cost per click is trending upwards.
That means the numbers no longer add up unless the landing page has a high conversion rate.

It is no exaggeration to say the landing page matters more than the ads.
Build a good landing page with a conversion rate (registration rate) of 5% or more.

Article) What makes a landing page win

・A database to manage candidates
Some companies use a spreadsheet to manage candidates in the early days, but most use a database such as the following.

• PORTERS
• HubSpot
• Career Plus
• kintone
• Sales Force

Connecting PORTERS with HubSpot click here

It is important to connect a database like these to the site and landing pages that win candidates, so that the whole thing is easy to manage.

Article) Can HubSpot work as a CRM for a recruitment agency? A thorough look, with an implementation example.

・Budget
You need media spend as the advertising budget. If you ask an agency to run it, allow for a management fee as well.
Companies advertising for the first time usually budget 300,000 to 1,000,000 yen. Decide from your business plan, what you can afford and how many meetings you need.
The going rate for an agency’s management fee is 20% of media spend.
Some agencies set a minimum media spend or a minimum fee, so ask and check.

6. Tools to use alongside advertising

The first is an analytics tool such as GA4 (Google Anarytics 4). GA4 makes it easy to see registrations by advertising method.
You can also analyse how users behave on the landing page and feed that into improving it.
The actions on the landing page worth measuring with GA4 are as follows.
・Button clicks
・Where people drop off in the form

The article below explains how to find where people drop off in a form and use that to improve the conversion rate.
Article) “[Conversion rate] Measure form drop-off to improve both the number and the quality of your leads (using GTM and CSS selectors)」
Guide)[Improving conversion rate] Finding form drop-off points and step-through rates

The second is a heatmap tool.
It shows where users left the landing page and which parts interested them, which helps you improve it.
There are several, including PTengine, Mieruca Heatmap and the free Microsoft Clarity, and the features differ slightly from one to the next, so define the measures you want to see before choosing.

In advertising, it is important to know registrations and cost per meeting by route
A route with plenty of registrations but a high cost per meeting (that is, few meetings) matters less as a channel.

There are three ways to see cost by route.
①Use a separate landing page for each channel
②Store the landing page parameters in the CRM
③Bring in a tool that works out the route automatically, such as HubSpot

① and ② need a little development, and the drawback is the time and cost of adjusting the system every time a landing page is added or a URL changes.
Management gets messy later, and as the business grows and needs a quicker improvement cycle, HubSpot we recommend bringing in a tool like this at an early stage.

7. [Case study] Attracting candidates for a recruitment agency

At NowVillage we support advertising that pays for itself, through We have supported the marketing of more than 150 companies in the staffing and recruitment sector.
Almost all of them advertise, and we have been able to grow their results.

See the service page.

7.1 More than 10,000 registrations within two years of launch

As the business grew they used the full range of methods, including search and Meta advertising.
Rather than chasing numbers alone, marketing and the business teams align with each other and keep improving the meeting rate.
Registrations over time are shown below.

7.2 Cost per acquisition cut to a third, qualified rate up 200%

Tuning the landing page and the case the ads make cut CPA to a third of what it was. The share of candidates worth talking to also rose by 200% after the changes.

8. Ways to attract candidates other than advertising

Here is a brief look at ways to attract candidates other than advertising.

8.1 Job adverts

You list the vacancies you hold on job boards such as Indeed, Kyujin Box and Stanby, and win registrations from the users of those boards.
It works where the reason for registering is tied to a specific vacancy, such as mid-career roles and regional vacancies.

8.2 Scouting

You send scout messages to users inside scouting platforms such as Recruit Direct Scout and Doda, and carry them through to a meeting.
The wind has turned against recruitment agencies using these platforms in recent years, but it remains a strong method that delivers.

Article) “[Recruitment agencies] Scouting RPA to maximise replies」

8.3 Owned media

You build a job site or publication with SEO in place and win registrations from organic traffic.
It costs money to build, but it is an asset and serves branding too, which makes it medium to long-term work.
You need a keyword strategy and on-site SEO to win organic traffic, plus work that leads users towards registering.

Article) “[Recruitment] The cost of building a jobs site, and 11 tips」
Article) “ SEO articles for recruitment agencies | the strategy and the craft of attracting candidates with content [2026]」

8.4 SNS

Staff such as career advisers run personal accounts on X or Instagram and attract candidates that way.
It counts as medium-term work, and it takes time before you have followers and can post in a way that builds impressions.
People often ask whether social media works. For it to work, once you decide to do it you have to put in the volume and keep going.

The article below gathers what we know about running a company YouTube channel.
Article) “ The complete guide to YouTube for companies: advantages, disadvantages and how to run it」

8.5 Referrals

You ask people already registered to introduce someone they know. It is best to ask the placed candidates you have a relationship with.
One point to watch: do not push the service by promising candidates something equivalent to money, as in “introduce someone and get X” or “change job and get X”.

9. Making your advertising work

We hope that was useful.
We hope you now have the whole picture of advertising for a recruitment agency.
For the individual activities, follow the related links in each chapter.

NowVillage has supported the marketing of more than 150 companies in the staffing and recruitment sector.
We know the cost per registration across every sector and have the know-how to reproduce it.

• Cost per registration is climbing
• The conversion rate is low
• You want to try a range of channels
• You want advertising run well

If that sounds like you, do get in touch.