AI SEO Statistics: Recruitment Agency (2026-07 edition)

Reading the 45 answers model by model shows how differently the three assistants treat the same recruitment agency questions. On the most consequential behavior — whether to send the buyer to a professional at all — the rate ranged from 60% (ChatGPT) down to 26.7% (Gemini), a 33-point gap on an identical question set.

Across the 15 recruitment agency answers it produced, ChatGPT recommended hiring a professional in 60% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 6.7% of the time. It named a specific provider in 6.7% of answers (about 0.1 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 13.3% of the time. ChatGPT asked a clarifying question before answering in 46.7% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 26.7%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 0%, averaging 602 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 6.7%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 13.3%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 0%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 53.3% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 6.7%.

Across the 15 recruitment agency answers it produced, Claude recommended hiring a professional in 53.3% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 13.3% of the time. It named a specific provider in 6.7% of answers (about 0.1 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 20% of the time. Claude asked a clarifying question before answering in 60% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 26.7%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 0%, averaging 330 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 6.7%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 6.7%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 6.7%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 73.3% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 6.7%.

Across the 15 recruitment agency answers it produced, Gemini recommended hiring a professional in 26.7% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 0% of the time. It named a specific provider in 6.7% of answers (about 0.3 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 26.7% of the time. Gemini asked a clarifying question before answering in 0% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 13.3%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 0%, averaging 241 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 0%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 0%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 13.3%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 46.7% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 0%.

Taken together, ChatGPT is the assistant most likely to route a recruitment agency buyer to a professional (60%) and Gemini the least (26.7%). ChatGPT produced the longest answers, at 602 words on average. Specific providers were named most often by ChatGPT (6.7%) — even there, roughly one answer in 15 carried a name.

On other behaviors the three models move almost in lockstep — the points of near-consensus for recruitment agency, where all three landed within a few points of each other:

• Names a specific provider: 6.7% across all three models.
• Tells the buyer to verify credentials: 0% across all three models.
• Tells the buyer to check reviews: 0%–6.7% across all three (a 7-point spread).
• Recommends multiple quotes: 0%–6.7% across all three (a 7-point spread).

Measured question by question, the three assistants coded a response the same way most consistently on "tells the buyer to verify credentials" (identical coding in 100% of questions) and least consistently on "asks a clarifying question" (33.3%).

Beyond whether to hire, the rubric codes how carefully each assistant protects the recruitment agency buyer once a decision is made. Telling the buyer to check reviews or ratings appeared in 4.5% of answers on average. Verifying credentials or certifications appeared in 0%. Warning about red flags or scams appeared in 22.2%.

On structuring the decision, a selection-criteria checklist showed up in 57.8% of answers on average and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 4.5%. The single least-reproduced protective signal for recruitment agency is "tells the buyer to verify credentials" at 0% on average — the clearest opening for content that supplies it, since the models are not yet reliably surfacing that guidance on their own.

The 15 questions behind every percentage on this page were drawn from real recruitment agency (professional services; buyer hiring decisions for this specific service) buyer journeys. Each was put to all 3 models once, with identical wording, so the rates above describe how the assistants handled this exact recruitment agency question set — not a general prior or a hand-picked subset. The full list is shown earlier on this page; the coded percentages are what those specific questions produced.