Top 35 SEO Interview Questions and Answers Explained in Detail

A top-notch digital company is hiring now and you desperately want to crack the interview. Suppose you have come to know about the interview just at the eleventh hour. Now, what to do? How should you prepare? What questions should you expect from the interviewer? Too much pressure on your kitty?

We are here to Steer Clear your Worries!

When it comes to internet marketing or SEO, it is almost impossible to find a suited person. Reason being, most the people learn the theory but fail at the time of execution. So, every interviewer searches for a person who is well-informed about the concept of Search Engine Optimization as well as the up-to-the-minute application as well.

Comprehension-Based SEO Interview Questions and Answers

Here are some of the SEO Interview Questions and Answers for 2020 you should prepare for before an SEO Interview:

Q1. What is SEO?

Ans: SEO or Search Engine Optimization refers to the techniques applied to optimize a webpage or a website. This helps in boosting website ranking on Search Engine Result Page (SERPs).

Q2. How to develop a search engine friendly website?

Ans: There are several components that make a website search engine friendly e.g. Back-links, keywords, anchor text, the word count of the content, outbound links, etc.

Q3. What are the types of SEO?

Ans: There are two major types of SEO practiced; On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO.

On-Page SEO – The method of optimizing a website with on-site work like ALT Tag, Writing Title, Meta Tags, Description and Content and also ensuring web page’s code and design that can be crawled and indexed appropriately by the search engines is known as on-page SEO.

Off-Page SEO – Earning back-links from different websites to improve the ranking of the website in a search engine is off-page SEO. SEO steps like a forum, article submission, blog posting, and press release submission, classified and miscellaneous are included in off-page SEO.

Q4. What are the three SEO techniques?

Ans: The three SEO techniques are White Hat SEO, Grey Hat SEO, and Black Hat SEO or Negative SEO.

Q5. How to get natural backlinks to a website?

Ans: Some of the best-practiced ways to earn natural backlinks to a website are social networking site profile, article marketing, link exchange, blog commenting, etc.

Q6. What can be done to switch Domains and shift all the contents to a new website from an existing one?

Ans: First and foremost, you have to update the previous website with a permanent redirect, which is, 301 redirections to new pages. Avoid plagiarized content, the content from the previous pages should be taken down for better optimization.

Q7. Some important external factors that affect the ranking of a webpage in SERPs.

Ans: Pageviews per visit, time spent on the website, returning visitors and bounce rate are some of the most crucial external factors for a website.

Q8. How to make sure if an SEO campaign is working or not?

Ans: First, you have to search for all the search engines that are using relevant keywords and key phrases that are to be optimized. When the analysis is done, the results will show us if the methods of optimization we used will work or not. This report needs to be analyzed at regular intervals. Also, website statistics which monitors the origin of the traffic needs to be taken care of.

Q9. List some SEO blogs that help update yourself.

Ans: Some great blogs that I feel are very helpful for updating ourselves are:

• SEOSmarty
• Jim Boykins
• Search Engine Land
• Search Engine Journal
• MOZ

Q10. What are the two types of Meta tag and state their character limits?

Ans: The two types of Meta tags are the Description tag and Keyword tag. Their character limits are 150 characters and 200 characters respectively.

Q11. How to start keyword research and what tools can be used for it?

Ans: Firstly, you have to figure out a topic which may bring traffic to our website. To find some great topics go for Google Trends or Twitter’s trending topics. Keyword tools like ubersuggest.io, Google Keyword Planner, and keyword.io can be used to find out the apt keywords.

Q12. What is the difference between ‘Dofollow’ and ‘Nofollow’ link?

 Ans: Dofollow link – It is a hyperlink that is considered as a back-link by the search engines and this helps in improving the site ranking.

Nofollow link – The search engine bots take care of HTML attribute value which measures hyperlink shouldn’t affect the ranking of the target link in the search engine’s index.

Q13. What is keyword streaming?

Ans: Choosing the right keyword for a website and targeting to our website is called keyword streaming. Each word is reduced to its stem. Example: – “searched”, “searches”, “searching” all are root words for the stem word – “search.”

Q14. What do you mean by the canonical issue and how it gets resolved?

Ans: This issue is related to the duplication of pages. When a website has two pages of the same content but using URLs and the pages cannot be redirected then the canonical tag is used. This tag is used in the head section of the website.

Fix canonical issues, you have to do the canonical redirect so that visitors get the correction page even if clicking on a wrong URL.

Q15. How to check back-links on a competitor’s website?

Ans: To know the number of back-links on a competitor’s site, you have to use various external tools like Backlink Watch, Backlink Finder, Open Site Explorer, Alexa, etc. or link operator on Google.

Usually expected SEO Interview Questions and Answers

Q1. Why made you choose the SEO industry?

Ans: To answer this question first think of the reason you applied for this job. As the industry has of the reputation this industry has? Or for the high paying jobs, this industry has?

Here, this interviewer will test your dedication to the industry. And he will only choose you only because you are the best in the lot.  Show your commitment and enthusiasm while answering this question. You can say that the reason you are attracted to this industry are focusing the prospects such as-

The reputation it has and the overwhelming opportunities it provides you within your career growth.

This answer reflects your urge to work with the industry in the long run and your willingness to learn and improve in parallel.

Q2. Which SEO task is the most enjoyable for you?

Ans: This is again a question where you need to be genuine. You have to give a thought to the exact tasks you’re looking forward to and what you enjoy doing the most. But you have to make sure that you are not pondering upon the easy tasks. You should also mention the type of challenges you’d like to take.

Q3. How your knowledge in digital marketing will benefit our business?

Ans: This question is related to your past achievements and your personal experience. Share insight into your personal SEO experience and how it can intensify the business growth.

You need to make them understand what makes you different from the other applicants, so, you have to think carefully about what your unique skills are and the ways to enhance it further to live up the modern techniques of the industry.

And also state how it will benefit the business.

Q4. In the digital marketing sector, where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

Ans: When you are asked this question, the interviewer doesn’t want to know your personal goals. When a company recruits you they are investing both their time and money on you.

So, the HR team wants to know whether you’re capable or not. They want to know whether you will grow professionally and sustainable for the company in the years to come. They want to test your problem-solving capabilities.

The things you should focus on: –

• Your core strengths and how they’re beneficial to the company
• Interest in the job role.
• Your professional goals.

Individualized SEO Interview Questions with Answers

SEO Fresher Jobs

You need to know the basics thoroughly before applying for an SEO Fresher Job. Here are some questions that freshers face a lot.

Q1. In which SEO field are you looking forward to work in?

Ans: You are expected to be very energetic and open to learning because you are a fresher. So, you have to let the interviewer know about your openness to learning and your interests be it On-Page SEO or Off-Page SEO.

Since freshers have no previous experience, maximum SEO questions asked in an interview are theoretical. These afore-said questions are to be gone through before appearing for the interview.

SEO Executive Jobs

Q1. How to optimize a website?

Ans: A website can be optimized through: –

Keyword Research – Keyword Research is the first step in the process of search optimization. We need to understand our keywords and the present search landscape. At the beginning of any marketing strategy and occasional re-evaluation, this turns out to be very helpful. These numbers regularly fluctuate, so it is very important to be updated all the time.

Use Google Keyword Planner beginning with the industry and location.

Use keywords to boost your content – You must keep the word count in mind while working on content. The purpose of creating good quality content is to make it available for the targeted audience. To make your content reach effectively, you have to use appropriate keywords to give it a good rank on SERP. You have to use keywords as much as possible but it has to be naturally put.

Increase the speed of your website – Slow websites are really frustrating. You have to make sure your website opens fast. You should check your speed using a tool called Google Speed Insights. This tool suggests us on how we can increase the speed of our website if it’s running slow.

Update page titles – Maximum business websites have simple page titles, usually, it’s their business name. The best search name follows city name + service format. Example – Kolkata – IMS.

Q2. While creating digital content, what are the most common SEO mistakes made by SEO people?

Ans: 

Some common SEO mistakes made while creating digital content are: –

Believing in SEO myths

Grammatical/Vocabulary errors

Redirection problems

Job Interview Questions for SEO Specialist

Q1. How would you deal with link penalties?

Ans: We have to remove and refute the links after identifying them.

The following steps include:

• Use Google Webmaster Tools to find out all the back-links
• Use Monitor Backlinks tool to identify back-links
• Mail a request using your website e-mail to remove the backlinks. Keep a track of those people opened your e-mail and do the needful.
• Those who can’t be removed have to be disavowed. Remove all the back-links before making a disavow report. Use the “disavow” tag and add tags to all the links that couldn’t be deleted.

Q2. What are the steps to be taken if there is no improvement even after applying different SEO methods on your site?

Ans: The following steps are:

• First, check the troubleshooting issues. Have a close look at whether the project is new or not.
• Analyze relevant keywords and phrases for the website that has to be optimized with studying competitive analysis.

The issues may be:

After indexing, the page will appear in SERP but not in the top 3. Thus, the page description, page titles, page text, etc. have to be fine-tuned a bit.

Or,

There might be a big issue and a re-work might be required if the site is still not indexed or dropped from the index.

Questions asked for SEO Manager Jobs

Here is some SEO Question for experienced candidates applying for the SEO Manager Profile.

Q1. How should we avoid a penalty, while trying to increase rankings?

Ans: Firstly, remove spam and low-quality links by using the Google Disavow tool. Then we have to use Google Penguin and Panda approved White hat SEO techniques to create quality links. Example- guest posting, article submission, social media links, blog commenting and forum posting.

Q2. How to handle negative feedback on a Facebook business page?

Ans: Positive feedbacks surely motivate the company and show the strengths of the company. Conversely, negative feedbacks are a test for the problem-solving skills and online reputation management skills of the company. Once you receive negative feedback on your page, acknowledge it and find the root cause of the problem.  This will help you to gain customer satisfaction by increasing the retention of existing customers.

Q3. When making any mistake in your SEO profile? If yes, how did you rectify it?

Ans: To err is human. Here, your honesty and problem-solving skills will be tested. One common mistake made by SEO experts:

Making it difficult for the search engine crawlers to index and rank your website.

Maximum people have no idea that their site needs to be registered in the Google Webmaster tool/Search Console. This can be rectified by clicking “add a website” option to the Google Webmaster tool/Search Console.

Lastly some Pro-hacks for SEO Interview

• Updated LinkedIn Account: You aren’t fit for the Digital Marketing Industry if you don’t have an active LinkedIn profile. Update your LinkedIn profile regularly.
• Apply what you learned: Tell the interviewer how you would apply what you have learned from the experts. You should also speak a bit about how you improvise it. This will help the interviewer understand your mind-set.
• Honesty is the best policy: Speak and explain what you know. When you don’t know anything being asked, be honest and let the interviewer know about it. Also, tell them you’ll add it to your learning list for future improvisations.
• Do your homework: You should have a clear knowledge of the company profile much before the interview session. What do they do? What they’re up to? If they have a blog or not? Where are the scopes for improvisations etc?
• Self-evaluation do matter: Evaluating yourself before the interview is necessary. You must be aware of your core strengths in the SEO field. Be confident about it.
• Share every relevant detail you know: Interviewers always look for confident candidates who are experts in their respective domains. Share your knowledge and experience and be ready for new discussions and ideas.
• Don’t let them feel that you’re money-minded: Even if you are one, you shouldn’t sound like one. It makes the interviewer think that you are there ONLY for money which is never a good first impression.
• Be Polite: Vibe matters a lot. When you smile all the way, it spreads a good vibe and shows your self-esteem and this always adds to your credentials.

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