How Marathon Staffing Tripled Organic Candidate Applications Using WordPress, AEO & GEO Across 30 US Locations
A complete overhaul of a 30-location US staffing firm — custom WordPress build, JobPosting schema, AEO content dominating People Also Ask, and a GEO strategy that now earns ChatGPT citations for staffing queries across every target metro.
Measurable Results
Client Background & Challenge
Marathon Staffing connects job seekers with manufacturing, healthcare, public-sector, and administrative employers across 30+ US locations. Despite strong offline brand recognition built over years of operation, their digital presence generated almost no inbound candidate or employer traffic — all acquisition relied on expensive paid job boards like Indeed and ZipRecruiter.
A slow, template WordPress site with zero schema markup meant Google was not surfacing Marathon for location-specific staffing queries. With 30 locations each needing individual search visibility, a single-page approach was architecturally incapable of capturing local search intent. Cost per hire from job boards was running at $420 per placement.
- ✕Zero JobPosting schema — Google Jobs rich results completely absent, giving free traffic to Indeed instead
- ✕No individual location pages — all 30 markets sharing one generic "Find Jobs" URL with no local signals
- ✕Page speed 3.8s mobile LCP — template theme loading 24 unused plugin scripts
- ✕No AEO structure — zero FAQ schema, no People Also Ask presence for staffing queries
- ✕GEO readiness score: 0 — no llms.txt, no passage-level content, no AI citation signals
Our Strategy & Execution Plan
- Built custom Gutenberg block theme eliminating 24 bloated plugin scripts — mobile LCP to 1.1s.
- Created 30 individual location pages with unique NAP, LocalBusiness schema, and city-specific job category content.
- Implemented JobPosting schema dynamically pulled from their ATS feed — every active job now eligible for Google Jobs rich results.
- Built FAQ architecture targeting the top 40 staffing-related PAA questions per metro (e.g. "How do staffing agencies work in [City]?").
- Added FAQPage + HowTo schema to every location page and service page.
- Created 15 long-form AEO content pages targeting zero-click staffing queries — capturing answer boxes before Indeed and LinkedIn.
- Deployed llms.txt at root domain with full service and location entity mapping.
- Structured 30 location pages with LLM-readable passage blocks answering "best staffing agency in [City]" format queries.
- Built authority content published on HR trade sites generating high-DA backlinks + AI training data signals.
Verified Google Keyword Ranking Movement
| Target Keyword | Search Volume | Start Position | Final Rank | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| staffing agency manufacturing jobs ohio | 2,900/mo | #Unranked | #1 | Top 3 |
| temp agency near me manufacturing | 8,100/mo | #Unranked | #2 | Top 3 |
| healthcare staffing agency new england | 1,600/mo | #Unranked | #2 | Top 3 |
| public sector staffing solutions usa | 1,200/mo | #Unranked | #3 | Top 3 |
| light industrial staffing agency | 4,400/mo | #54 | #3 | Top 3 |
| how do staffing agencies work for employers | 5,400/mo | #Unranked | #1 | Top 3 |
"OVEXBEE completely changed how we acquire candidates. We used to spend over $400 per hire on job boards. Now Google sends us candidates for free — and the quality is significantly higher because they found us for exactly the job they were looking for."
- Operations Director, Marathon Staffing, USAReady to Replicate These Results?
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