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Careers Website Glossary: 60 Terms Explained

Careers website glossary: 60 terms in plain English. Illustrated Happydance cover.
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A plain-English careers website glossary: 60 terms, from JobPosting schema to decoupled careers website, for TA, employer brand and HR tech teams.

By the Happydance team. Updated November 2026.

How to use this glossary

Look a term up, read the plain-English definition and follow the link to the full guide when you need more.

Use the search box to filter by any word, or jump to a letter. Terms are grouped three ways below, for buyers, builders and measurement, so you can read the ones that matter to your role. To learn more about employer brand, visit the Happydance Academy.

A to Z of terms

ACDEFGHIJLMNPQRSTVZ

A/B testing

Showing two versions of a page or element to different visitors to learn which performs better, for example a shorter apply button or a different headline.

Read more: Careers website personalisation

Accessibility (WCAG)

Designing a website so that people with disabilities can use it. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, known as WCAG, set the testable standard. Level AA is the common target for careers websites.

Read more: Accessibility audit guide

Alt text

A short written description of an image, read aloud by screen readers and shown if the image cannot load. Decorative images should carry empty alt text so they are skipped.

Read more: Accessibility audit guide

Answer engine optimisation (AEO)

Writing content so that search features and assistants can quote a clear, correct answer to a question directly. It overlaps with GEO.

Read more: GEO and AEO guide

Applicant tracking system (ATS)

The software that manages job requisitions, applications, candidate records and hiring workflow. A careers website sits in front of it and feeds jobs from it.

Read more: Careers website vs ATS career page

Apply rate

The share of visitors to a job page who start or finish an application. It is the clearest everyday measure of whether a careers website works.

Read more: Careers website ROI calculator

ATS career page

The standard job listing pages that come with an applicant tracking system. They are functional, but limited for storytelling, design, content control and search.

Read more: Careers website vs ATS career page

Candidate experience

Everything a candidate sees, feels and does from first discovering an employer to the first day of work. The careers website is usually the first and longest touchpoint.

Read more: Candidate experience journey map

Canonical address

The preferred web address for a page when several addresses show the same content. It tells search engines which one to index and prevents duplicate pages competing.

Read more: Careers website SEO

Careers website

The employer-owned website where candidates learn about a company, search for jobs and apply. It combines employer brand content with job search and a route into the recruiting system.

Read more: Best careers websites 2026

Careers website CMS

A content management system built for careers websites. It lets the team manage pages, stories, languages and media themselves, and connects to the recruiting system for jobs.

Read more: Careers website CMS

Content model

The structure behind your content: the types of page, the fields each has and how they relate. A good content model makes pages consistent and easy to translate and reuse.

Read more: Careers website CMS

Conversational navigation

Helping candidates find jobs and information by asking questions in everyday language instead of working through filters and menus.

Read more: Conversational navigation

Core Web Vitals

Google measures of real-world page experience: how fast the main content loads, how quickly the page responds to input and how stable it stays while loading.

Read more: Careers website speed report

Crawler

An automated program that visits web pages to read and index them, for example for a search engine or an AI assistant. Also called a bot or spider.

Read more: Careers website GEO

Decoupled careers website

A careers website where the front end that candidates see is separated from the system that stores content and jobs, so each can change without breaking the other.

Read more: How to choose a careers website CMS

Design system

A shared set of components, colours, type and rules that keeps a website consistent as many people edit it and new pages are added.

Read more: Design best practices

Direct apply

An application that candidates complete on the employer page without repeated clicks or sign-ins. Google uses the term in job posting markup and expects it to be true.

Read more: Google for Jobs checklist

Employee stories

Real accounts from your people about their work and careers, in their own words. Specific, honest stories build trust and give candidates something to picture.

Read more: Employee stories

Employer brand

How an organisation is seen as a place to work: its reputation, promises and the experience of its people. A careers website is where it is most visible.

Read more: Happydance Academy: employer brand strategy

Employer value proposition (EVP)

The set of reasons someone would join and stay: pay, development, purpose, flexibility and culture. It should be specific, true and expressed the same way everywhere.

Read more: Employer brand strategy course

Generative engine optimisation (GEO)

Making your content easy for AI assistants and AI search features to access, understand and cite accurately.

Read more: Careers website GEO

Google for Jobs

A Google Search feature that shows job listings in a rich format in search results. Eligibility depends on crawlable job pages with valid JobPosting markup.

Read more: Google for Jobs checklist

Headless CMS

A content management system that stores and delivers content through an interface, with no built-in front end. Developers build the front end separately.

Read more: Build vs buy a careers website

High-volume hiring

Recruiting many people into similar roles, often frontline or hourly, where speed, mobile use and a short application matter most.

Read more: High-volume hiring guide

Hreflang

Markup that tells search engines which language and region each version of a page is for, so candidates are shown the right one.

Read more: Multilingual careers website

Indexing API

A Google service that lets a site tell Google when job pages are added, updated or removed. Google recommends it for job pages, alongside a sitemap.

Read more: Google for Jobs checklist

Information architecture

How pages are organised, grouped and labelled so people can find what they need. On a careers website it shapes navigation, filters and page templates.

Read more: Design best practices

Job feed

A regular export of jobs from the recruiting system, usually in XML or through an interface, that the careers website reads to show current jobs.

Read more: ATS integration

JobPosting schema

The structured data type from schema.org that describes a job: title, description, location, pay, dates and employer. Search engines read it to understand jobs.

Read more: JobPosting schema guide

JSON-LD

A way of writing structured data as a small block of labelled text in a page, which machines read but visitors do not see. It is the format Google prefers.

Read more: JobPosting schema guide

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

How long it takes for the biggest visible element, often a hero image or heading, to appear. Under about two and a half seconds is considered good.

Read more: Careers website speed report

Lazy loading

Loading images and other heavy items only when they are about to scroll into view, so the first view appears faster and less data is used.

Read more: Design best practices

Lighthouse

An open source tool that audits a page for performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO. Scores run from 0 to 100 in each area, on mobile and desktop.

Read more: Careers website performance leaderboard

llms.txt

A proposed convention for a plain text file that points AI assistants to the most useful pages on a site. No provider has promised to use it.

Read more: Careers website GEO

Localisation

Adapting a website for a country or region beyond translation: language, units, currency, legal wording, examples and local jobs.

Read more: Multilingual careers website

Meta description

The short summary of a page that search engines often show beneath the title in results. It does not set rankings, but a clear one improves clicks.

Read more: Careers website SEO

Migration

Moving a careers website to a new platform or address while keeping content, redirects and search visibility intact.

Read more: Migration checklist

Mobile-first design

Designing for the phone first and then expanding for larger screens, so the smallest, most common experience is the best one.

Read more: Design best practices

Multilingual careers website

A careers website that offers its content and jobs in more than one language, with each version managed, linked and indexed correctly.

Read more: Multilingual careers website

noindex

An instruction on a page that asks search engines not to include it in results. Useful for private pages, harmful when applied to jobs by mistake.

Read more: Careers website SEO

PageSpeed Insights

A free Google tool that runs Lighthouse on a web address and shows mobile and desktop scores plus real-user data where available.

Read more: Careers website grader

Personalisation

Showing each visitor the content, jobs or messages most relevant to them, based on information such as location, interest or behaviour, with consent.

Read more: Careers website personalisation

Quick apply

A short application route, often on a phone, that asks for the minimum needed to start the process, for example a name, contact details and a CV upload.

Read more: High-volume hiring guide

Redirect (301)

An instruction that sends visitors and search engines from an old address to a new one permanently. Essential in any migration to keep search visibility.

Read more: Migration checklist

Rendering

Turning code and data into the page a browser shows. Server-side rendering sends finished HTML, which is easier for crawlers to read than a page built entirely by scripts.

Read more: Careers website SEO

Request for proposal (RFP)

A structured document that asks suppliers to explain how they would meet your needs, with questions, scoring and a timetable, so choices can be compared fairly.

Read more: Careers website RFP template

Return on investment (ROI)

The value gained from an investment compared with its cost, usually shown as a percentage or a payback period.

Read more: Careers website ROI calculator

robots.txt

A text file at the root of a website that tells crawlers which areas they may visit. It is a request, not a lock, and mistakes can hide your jobs.

Read more: Careers website GEO

Schema markup

Structured data added to a page that labels what the content is, such as a job, an organisation or a question and answer, so machines can read it directly.

Read more: JobPosting schema guide

Search Console

A free Google service that shows how a website appears in search, including indexing, errors and job posting reports.

Read more: Google for Jobs checklist

SEO (search engine optimisation)

Improving a website so that it can be found in search results. For careers websites it includes job markup, speed, clear content and clean structure.

Read more: Careers website SEO

Sitemap

A file listing the pages you want search engines to know about, with dates of change. Keep it current and remove closed jobs.

Read more: Careers website SEO

Speed Index

A Lighthouse measure of how quickly the visible parts of a page fill in while loading. Lower is better.

Read more: Fastest careers websites

Talent community

A group of people who have asked to hear from an employer, for example by registering for job alerts, before they are ready to apply.

Read more: Careers website CMS

Total cost of ownership (TCO)

The full cost of a platform over several years: licence, build, integrations, support, hosting, change requests and the time of your own team.

Read more: Careers website cost guide

validThrough

A JobPosting property giving the date a job stops accepting applications. Include it only when the closing date is real.

Read more: Google for Jobs checklist

Terms for buyers

Choosing a platform, a supplier or a project. Start here if you hold the budget.

Terms for builders

Designing, building and tuning the website. Start here if you edit, develop or optimise it.

Terms for measurement

Knowing whether it works. Start here if you report on results.

For measurement in practice, see the careers website performance leaderboard and the best careers websites, and try the careers website grader.

How Happydance does it

Customers manage everything themselves, including multilingual content, favicons and basic standard graphics, with no developer needed. We believe that is what a careers website CMS should mean.

What is a careers website?

The employer-owned website where candidates learn about a company, search for jobs and apply.

What is a careers website CMS?

A content management system built for careers websites, so the team can manage pages, stories, languages and media without a developer, and connect to the recruiting system for jobs.

What is a decoupled careers website?

One where the front end that candidates see is separate from the system that stores content and jobs, so each can change without breaking the other.

What is JobPosting schema?

Structured data that describes a job to search engines: title, description, location, pay, dates and employer.

What is the difference between GEO and AEO?

Both aim to make content easy for AI and search features to quote. GEO focuses on generative assistants, and AEO on direct answers.

Who is this glossary for?

Talent acquisition, employer brand, HR technology and marketing teams who run or buy a careers website.

Careers website CMSHow to choose a careers website CMSCareers website RFP templateROI calculatorRedesign guideCareers website SEOPerformance leaderboardBest careers websites 2026Happydance Academy

Want to see these ideas in a real careers website?

Book a demo and we will walk you through the platform.

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