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Evaluated rules and practices

Within the scope of this report, the following evaluation criteria were considered:

Timely updates

Goal: Each section should be reviewed by relevant stakeholders at least once every 12 months.

The annual audit should include:

  • Review for factual correctness,
  • Proofreading,
  • Verification that all links are working (no 404 errors),
  • Update of the last reviewed label.

Pages in the Living and working section, and any page that receives data from EURES countries or other third parties, should be reviewed in cooperation with those parties.

Caution

The pages and articles do not include the date of publication and update in their structured metadata (i.e., in the page <head>, not just as visible text). This means that search engines "do not see" when we update the pages, and cannot rank our page higher thanks to that.

Technical SEO and GEO

Goal: Every page should be properly configured for discovery, indexing, and rich result eligibility.

Each page should have all of the following configured correctly:

Slug (URL)

Slug is the part of a web address that identifies a specific page.

Page titles

The page title shows in the browser tab and, most importantly, in the search engine results page as the blue clickable headline. It is the single most important on-page SEO element.

Meta descriptions

The meta description appears beneath the page title in search results. It is not a direct ranking factor but strongly influences click-through rate (CTR), which is an indirect ranking signal.

They should not be simply the first paragraph of the page.

Picture alt-texts

Every image must have an alt attribute that describes what is actually in the image — for accessibility (screen readers) and for Google Image Search.

Form field placeholders

Placeholder text in form fields (search boxes, filters) can be made more useful and keyword-relevant. Instead of generic placeholders like "Type here" or "Enter your name," use realistic examples:

  • Search box: e.g., "Software engineer in Berlin" or e.g., "Nurse in the Netherlands"
  • Name field: e.g., "Alicia Novak"

Actionable item: Review all existing pages for the abovementioned criteria.

Content structure

Goal: Content should be structured in a way that is easy for both humans and search engines to navigate and understand.

Headings and subheadings

  • There should be exactly one H1 per page. It is the most important heading and defines the primary topic.
  • H2s, H3s etc. should follow hierarchy — never skip a level (e.g., never jump from H1 directly to H3).
  • All headings should contain relevant keywords, ideally phrased as questions or benefit statements rather than plain labels.
❌ Label format ✅ Question / benefit format
Build your CV and cover letter How do I write a CV for a European employer?
Get support to find a job How can EURES help me find a job in Europe?
Need tailored support? Can I speak to a EURES Adviser for free?
Find information about countries What do I need to know before working in another EU country?

Paragraph length and structure

  • Paragraphs should be short — no more than 3–4 sentences. Large blocks of text ("walls of text") discourage reading and reduce time on page.
  • The first sentence of every section should directly answer the section's heading. This is the sentence that search engines and AI models extract as a snippet.
  • Where possible, use question-and-answer narration: pose the question a visitor would ask, then answer it directly and concisely.

FAQ sections

  • Every key landing page should include a dedicated FAQ section with at least 6–10 questions.
  • Each answer should be 2–4 sentences, self-contained, and factually precise.
  • Questions should be phrased exactly as users type them into Google or ask AI assistants.

Actionable item: Review all existing pages for paragraph length, heading structure, and presence of FAQ and summary sections.

Goal: Including links within our website and to and from outside sources increases the site's reputability.

  • Every page should link to at least 2–3 related pages within the EURES portal.
  • Use descriptive text — never "click here" or "read more." The text should describes the destination page's topic.
  • Make sure all the links are working, without 404s errors.
  • Use links with tracking, i.e. UTM tags.
  • Include links to other pages within EURES portal and links outside the portal.
  • Ask our partners to include links to EURES on their pages.

Actionable item: Run a full link audit (internal and external) using a tool such as Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or Google Search Console. Fix all broken links and identify orphan pages.

Note

Not SEO, but it is a good practice that external links (pointing to other websites) should open in a new tab.

Multilingual SEO

Goal: Search engines should correctly identify the language of each page and show the appropriate language version to users searching in that language.

Currently, the language is defined by a suffix at the end of the slug, e.g.:

eures.europa.eu/jobseekers_en
eures.europa.eu/jobseekers_it

This is not the correct approach. Google does not recognise _en or _it at the end of a slug as a language identifier. The correct approach is to use a language prefix subdirectory:

eures.europa.eu/en/jobseekers
eures.europa.eu/it/jobseekers

This issue is present in all webs that are based on the EWPP platform.

Actionable item: Raise this issue with the EWPP as this hurts everyone's ability to search for content in their language.