Top SEO Interview Questions

In our data-driven world, ubiquitous search engines help users navigate and get all the information they need as fast as possible. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a major part of any digital marketing strategy. Ongoing and increasing investment in SEO is crucial because it makes businesses get discovered online, boosts traffic, generates leads, and brings business to the next level. Each year, companies spend more than $65 billion on search engine optimization (SEO). Obviously, a professional SEO expert will be a valuable addition to your team providing that he has all the necessary expertise to bring to the table.

At Yojji, we often interview SEO specialists of various levels, and our SEO experts are also often interviewed by partner companies, so we have something to share with you.

We’ve compiled the best SEO interview questions that contribute to finding the most suitable SEO executive to handle your business and improve it greatly.

What makes for a great SEO candidate?

There are many SEO roles, and you should make up a clear picture of what SEO specialist you need. Whether you are looking for an outreach specialist or a technical SEO, make sure this expert has a mindset and experience gap that matches what you are looking for.

Personality traits

• Motivation. The candidate must love what he is doing and be extremely motivated.

• Performance and perseverance. An excellent specialist always sets long-term goals, has the desire and fortitude to work hard to achieve the desired result.

• Creativity. The ability to think outside the box and find unusual solutions to problems is an important quality for SEO.

• High learning ability. The SEO field is constantly evolving, and to stay on top of the latest trends, an expert should learn constantly.

• Tenacity. Sometimes, specialist’s assumptions will be disproved, all efforts will sometimes be fruitless, and an SEO expert may face criticism and misunderstanding from clients. He should have enough persistence and strength to move forward.

Skills

• Soft skills

Being able to put complex terms into lay language is vital because an SEO specialist needs to communicate with clients who don’t have technical proficiency.

• Technical skills

The candidate should know the coding basics, in-depth knowledge of Google tools (GSC, GA), CSS, HTML. Besides, the ability to solve crawl issues is mandatory.

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SEO Interview Questions and Answers

If you are wondering: “I’m interviewing an SEO candidate - what questions to ask?”, “How not to mess up on my SEO hire?”, in this subheading, you will find the answers.

There are questions you can ask to gauge the candidate’s experience, abilities, and hire the right specialist.

What is your proudest achievement in SEO?

Why this question is important:

Asking this question will help you get a grasp of the scale of the project the applicant worked on, the type of the clients, and the methods he used.

Sample answer:

It’s a great idea to apply the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method. The applicant should share information about the proudest achievement and his role, finished tasks, methods that were applied, achieved results, and the main insights.

What are the SEO tools you use?

Why this question is important:

SEO tools help track keywords that send you organic traffic, they provide website analytics, help fix some issues on your website, check impressions, ranking positions, and submit sitemaps. They are extremely important for boosting traffic, therefore, a great specialist should have hands-on experience with SEO tools. This question will give you an insight into whether the candidate stays up-to-date and uses the most effective and relevant methods for the analysis.

Sample answer:

The candidate should give an overview of the tools he uses and for what purposes. It will be a huge advantage if he points out all the merits and downsides and why he finds these tools effective. For instance, the list of the tools is as follows: Google Analytics, Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Google Webmaster, SEMRush, Google Search Console, etc. Make sure that his vision on the effective tools matches yours.

Explain the term LSI

Why this question is important:

LSI stands for latent semantic indexing. This method is used by Google to compare relations between various concepts. An SEO specialist should know how to use these words to improve SEO traffic, bring old content out of the basement, and improve the ranking of new content. Besides, an SEO specialist should know how to use LSI keywords for effective online marketing strategies and PPC campaigns.

Sample answer:

An expert should give a clear explanation, for instance, “LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing. This technique is used to obtain the data by relating the word to its closest counterparts or its similar context.”

What’s the best way to gain links from other sites?

Why this question is important:

This question will help you get a feel for their approach in SEO and see if it aligns with your vision.

Sample answer:

The candidate should mention the most effective methods: creating valuable content, doing outreach effectively, using the HARO approach, developing a content promotion plan.

What KPIs are you reporting to show SEO progress?

Why this question is important:

This question will give you an idea of the candidate’s understanding of what has the biggest impact on the SEO strategy, what factors should be measured to achieve long-term goals.

Sample answer:

If the candidate lists the following methods, give him the green light:

• Revenue + ROI And Conversions;

• Traffic;

• SEO rankings;

• Operational SEO KPI (website health, number of referring domains and backlinks, crawl efficiency, visibility in organic search results).

How do you develop SEO growth strategies?

Why this question is important:

An effective SEO growth strategy contributes to the improvement of the relationship with your audience and enhancement of the client experience, boosts traffic that results in higher conversions, and helps your business stay on the edge of the competition. An SEO specialist should know how to unleash a well-organized strategy to promote business growth.

Sample answer:

Make sure a candidate describes a well-organized strategy that includes the following steps:

• Determining the target audience;

• Conducting meticulous research and categorizing keywords;

• Data tracking and analysis of the results.

Bottom Line

Use these SEO interview questions to find the most suitable candidate for your team who will contribute to the consistent development of your business.