Ben McKay | Search Marketing

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88 Comments on “80+ SEO Job Interview Questions”

1. 
   #1 Dave said at 2:13 pm on May 17th, 2009:

   Hiya Ben… interesting post and I was thinking ;

   A. 80??? Isn’t that a tad much? Not sure one would have to time to ask them, never mind analyzing the anwers properly. I say we create a more concise list…

   B. which brings us to the second issue, the answers… You should also create a post that gives the right answers (to your mind).

   I do wonder with things like; “What is LSI / LSA and its relevance to SEO?” — I’d be VERY interested in your perspective on what exactly the ‘right’ answer on that one is.. hehe

   Also “What is the most important aspect to you of the PageRank algorithm for link-building?” – - this is curious as well as methinks U may be hinting at anchor text at that ‘technically’ would likely fall under Personalized PR as the original flavor of PR wasn’t really about link text :0)

   See what I mean? Some of the ‘answers’ aren’t really straight forward and many SEOs I know would likely get the wrong (technically). So how would an in-house manager or less savvy SEO HRD person know what the answers should be? Methinks a post highlighting the potential answers to some of the questions is warranted.

   Oh…and Split testing and MVT? Not sure how that really plays out SEO wise… can’t say we’ve tested rankings via MVT and not sure if it can be done really.. If it relates to conversions, well that’s not the function of SEO is it? That’s marketing, pricing structures and page (conversion) optimization – ya know?

   Anyhoo…. nice round up.. now time for some answers on some of them

   ciao bro… cya on the trails!

2. 
   #2 Ben McKay said at 3:13 pm on May 17th, 2009:

   Hi Dave,

   Thanks for stopping by. Yeah 80 is way too much, hence why I said “Death by interview has been known so I wouldn’t recommend asking all of these questions. Pick and choose at will…”

   Regarding PageRank, we know that link-builders use PageRank as a metric to trade/buy/acquire links. It is definitely not the most important factor, by a long-shot, but it could prompt an interesting conversation and creates an opportunity to see their understanding of the area.

   Split testing provides the option to test landing pages both on conversions and on ranking factors – I don’t see any reason why, if given the opportunity, we shouldn’t build this in to our SEO tool kit. I think there is plenty of reason why this could add value to clients. And remember, many SEO roles are multi-faceted, so items like multi-variate testing might be really quite helpful in my opinion.

   Regarding the LSI / LSA – we know it’s limitations and the confusion around the topic so it might well be a helpful question to ask to see whether that candidate has picked-up on the subject matter.

   There are intentionally some red herrings in here, that test people’s knowledge in quite a cruel way it but I think that can be one of the best ways of learning about someone’s depth of knowledge and to see whether they are confident challenging prevalent, but possibly misguided thinking.

   Thanks for stopping by Dave!

   Ben

3. #3 Twitted by yetanotherben said at 8:15 am on May 18th, 2009:

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4. 
   #4 Dan Harrison said at 8:18 am on May 18th, 2009:

   Blimey Ben, that list must have taken a while to come up with!

   If you’re going to an interview for a SEO job, and you prepared answers for all those questions, you’d definitely make a positive impact at an interview.

   Dan

5. 
   #5 Ben McKay said at 11:47 am on May 18th, 2009:

   Yeah it did take a little bit of time…but certainly worth it! It was good to see how broad SEO can go, and yet I still think we could add another 100 questions on to that list quite easily! There’s just so much to consider and do!!

   Cheers Dan,

   Ben

6. 
   #6 David Lindop said at 2:41 pm on May 18th, 2009:

   Loving this post Ben. I can see a lot of these making their way into future interviews in the industry.

   One I’d add is ‘How important is keyword density as an on-page metric?’

7. 
   #7 Ben McKay said at 3:55 pm on May 18th, 2009:

   Definitely one to add in, or maybe reworded to act as another red herring, so you ask: How do you use keyword density metrics as part of your copywriting!

   Very funny – cheers for that David!

8. 
   #8 David Temple said at 2:00 am on May 19th, 2009:

   Nice set of questions and I would also like to see some example answers. Maybe you can poll some seo’s to give their answers to 10 or so. I don’t know how I would answer some of these myself. Hope I don’t have to go for an interview any time soon, lol.

   Okay this has to be a trick question; Who do you least respect in the SEO industry, and why? My luck I’d answer your best friend and not know it.

9. 
   #9 Ben McKay said at 8:40 am on May 19th, 2009:

   Yeah, I think sharing a handful of questions would be a great idea. I thought about postponing this list until I had written the answers then realised what a task that would be! I ran through a few answers in my head and realised that so many are subjective in many respects, and might also need explanations of common misconceptions too, in order to justify the thinking. Would be an awesome post though!

   It would be a funny question to put out, for that reason alone!

   Thanks for stopping by David.

10. 
    #10 Yosef Solomon said at 4:55 pm on May 19th, 2009:

    Nice post. I couldn’t help but notice we use the same theme…Clean Home?

11. 
    #11 Josh said at 5:19 pm on May 19th, 2009:

    Wow, that’s an intense list! Even though you broke it down by category, it’s a lot to chew on.

    If you were to post your answers, maybe do individual posts per section to make it more digestible?

12. 
    #12 Ben McKay said at 6:16 pm on May 19th, 2009:

    @Yosef – well spotted! It’s my blank canvas that I intend to build-up over time.

    @Josh – good advice. All the answers in the one post would be a tad too much, you’re probably right. Provides me with plenty of inspiration for many posts to come!

13. 
    #13 StoreCrowd said at 10:54 pm on May 19th, 2009:

    As someone who has hired for SEO in Australia these questions are spot on. I don’t think I’ve ever asked anyone to quite explain the PageRank Algo or Latent Semantic Indexing, although if hiring in the UK or USA where the level of knowledge is higher those types of questions might be relevant to separate the “good” from the “very good” candidates.

    Tweeted the post also (@storecrowd)

14. 
    #14 Cavite said at 1:22 am on May 20th, 2009:

    Good Day Sir Ben,

    Came here from Sphinn, and your list really given me ideas on what factor or should I say, where should I focus more during my job interview related to SEO industry.

    I think I should print this out and share this thing with my buddies, and hope you will allow me to.

15. 
    #15 Sankar Datti said at 7:34 am on May 20th, 2009:

    Nice list of Questions.

    All SEO’s who have little experience in SEO should say thanks to Ben Mckay, because you could practice answers for these questions and go for any SEO interview. I am sure, you will be selected. No doubt.

    My Thanks to BenMckay

    Thanks
    Sankar Datti

16. 
    #16 Ben McKay said at 7:41 am on May 20th, 2009:

    Interesting point. So you think the SEO needed is less advanced in Australia, less competition or fewer specialists?

    Cheers.

17. 
    #17 Christoph said at 8:20 am on May 20th, 2009:

    Hi Ben!
    Nice post, I appreciate it. One thing in mind: What would be your answer to the question “Do you like Matt Cutt’s” ?
    Christoph

18. 
    #18 Ben McKay said at 9:44 am on May 20th, 2009:

    I love Matt Cutt’s – whatta guy! But really, he does his job and he does his job very well. I don’t think many SEOs really dislike him, and in fact respect what he does for the SEO community at large…I guess it’s not productive to be anti-Matt Cutt’s but rather learn from his suggestions and work to, or around, those!

19. 
    #19 Geoff Jackson (zigojacko) said at 11:50 am on May 20th, 2009:

    I finally got round to reading this, heh. Awesome list Ben, contains some great questions to really test the interviewees skillset.

    (I only hope I don’t get interviewed by you one day) :p

20. 
    #20 web design by imroz said at 11:51 am on May 20th, 2009:

    really nice post. thanks for sharing it.

21. 
    #21 Ben McKay said at 12:36 pm on May 20th, 2009:

    My pleasure ‘web design by imroz’!

    @Geoff – I know you well enough for you to fly through any interview mate!

22. 
    #22 John Clifford said at 11:54 pm on May 20th, 2009:

    I like the business and ROI questions because most clients focus on results not the specific techniques used. You may also consider adding some niche questions relating to local search and business directories and reviews sites for small businesses that market online and convert offline.

23. 
    #23 Eriuqs Spires said at 12:34 am on May 21st, 2009:

    Indeed a must read for those who want to become a part of the SEO/SEM world. This guide can be use by both newbie and experienced people.

24. 
    #24 Ben McKay said at 8:13 am on May 21st, 2009:

    Hi John, I think you’ve made sterling recommendation there. Niche questions around local search would be a great addition. I think I’ll add a few and when I get a sec – cheers for the suggestion!

    @Eriuqs, thanks very much. It could potentially be used to prompt newbies to think about a broader array of SEO facets too.

25. 
    #25 Eriuqs Spires said at 8:25 am on May 21st, 2009:

    @Sir Ben,

    Yes very true, because it makes me think that way. Too many things to consider and study.

26. 
    #26 DejanSEO said at 9:13 am on May 21st, 2009:

    Wow… what an extensive list. I’ll use this next time I interview staff. Thanks heaps.

27. 
    #27 Subhash said at 12:48 pm on May 21st, 2009:

    Very nice post Ben. What would be your answer for “Do you think SEO tools are effective in competitive markets? Why?”?

28. 
    #28 Dhvanil Khandwala said at 2:13 pm on May 21st, 2009:

    Hi Ben!

    Nice post, I appreciate it.

29. 
    #29 Eric Paul said at 2:16 pm on May 21st, 2009:

    Hi,
    i never heard some questions , it force me to do more smart and hard work in SEO field.

    i need to work in page rank algo and indexing.

    very good job, really appreciated it.

    Thanks
    Paul

30. 
    #30 DME said at 5:13 pm on May 21st, 2009:

    Beginning with #78, the most important factor in retaining an SEO client is two-fold: 1) Get results – a bit obvious, but clearly the ‘most important’ factor involved; and 2) Never answer the majority of the questions contained within this article.

    As an SEO professional and/or consultant, your product is essentially your knowledge. By sharing all the knowledge that you spent months or even years of hard work learning during the interview process (before a contract has even been signed), why on earth would the company doing the interview pay you the big bucks to do what they can have an entry-level employee do with the knowledge given to them by you? The fact is that if an SEO divulges his or her secrets to a potential employer, the SEO removes the need for his or herself from the equation altogether.

    The following questions are okay to answer during a job interview: #’s 4-6, 14, 31, 34, 41, 42, 44, 45, 49, 57, 58, 60-62, 66, 73-75, and 80-82. I would politely refrain from answering any of the others as doing so would constitute a transmission of proprietary knowledge reserved for the time period after a compensatory agreement has been reached and put into writing.

31. 
    #31 Ben McKay said at 6:58 pm on May 21st, 2009:

    @Subhash “Do you think SEO tools are effective in competitive markets? Why?”?

    The short version is that nothing beats reviewing site structures, copy, the quality of links manually. Tools can help provide a brief summary of a few site metrics but cannot fully help you analyse this information.

    As much science that goes in to IR, we, as SEOs, cannot work to any definitive rules and have so have to make bespoke decisions. As such SEO tools provide a query-response solution…which is not exactly bespoke!

    @Eric, indexing is very important of course but don’t worry too much about PageRank.

    @DME cool point. I agree that some people may feel uncomfortable asking or answering some of these questions but they’re there just in case!

32. 
    #32 Angli Chuhan said at 7:21 am on May 23rd, 2009:

    i totally agree with mr subash.

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34. 
    #34 Tom said at 8:14 pm on May 26th, 2009:

    And what’s your time frame for this meeting. The real SEO’s get tired soon and will start to work asap

35. 
    #35 Ben McKay said at 8:55 pm on May 26th, 2009:

    @Tom, oh at least 4 /5 days!

36. 
    #36 Martin said at 10:05 pm on May 26th, 2009:

    Good post, thanks! One little thing for improvement could be a more clear distinction between SEO and SEM. I think sometimes these fields mingle a bit. It would help to understand better the experience of a candidate, as SEMs will sometimes come to different conclusions than SEOs.

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38. 
    #38 Ben McKay said at 7:22 am on May 27th, 2009:

    Hi Martin,

    I see your point but for me at least, I think SEO works well sat under/as part/beside the SEM activity with a great deal of a activity overlapping. I think this mingling provides some helpful savings and prompts some interesting opportunities too.

    Cheers for commenting,

    Ben

39. 
    #39 Eddy said at 4:44 pm on May 27th, 2009:

    Excellent article, but I totally agree with DME, I would feel very uncomfortable answering some of the questions that I have spent hours testing and experimenting on.
    Furthermore, I have even come across some agencies who have actually had the nerve to do some free optimising on a site just so that they can see if I know my stuff or not!

40. 
    #40 Ben McKay said at 5:01 pm on May 27th, 2009:

    I’ve heard similar stories from colleagues before (both web dev and SEO) so it’s worth being mindful of, but not one like yours – that’s ridiculous!! It’s because of stories like that, I made sure I mentioned it at the start of the post, as I know some people will feel uncomfortable asking / answering some of these questions.

    Cheers Eddy! Feel free to share who the agency was…!

41. 
    #41 weblike said at 4:52 pm on May 30th, 2009:

    Seo is a job founded by google!
    If google dies they too

42. 
    #42 totsClili said at 4:03 am on June 5th, 2009:

    Hi, Congratulations to the site owner for this marvelous work you’ve done. It has lots of useful and interesting data.

43. 
    #43 Mobile website development said at 7:49 am on June 5th, 2009:

    It’s really wroth to read collection of SEO interview questions. Some of questions I had been faced during interviews and some of are very new for me, in fact I didn’t aware for that kind aspects of ppc and multi variant testing. Thanks for enhacing my knowledge.

44. 
    #44 phaoloo said at 7:03 am on June 9th, 2009:

    Great stuff

45. #45 The state of the UK SEO Jobs Market | SEO Scoop said at 1:27 pm on June 9th, 2009:

    [...] found David Harry’s post on getting an SEO job interesting reading and preparation questions for SEO interviews are also [...]

46. 
    #46 ZK@Web Marketing Blog said at 7:14 pm on June 11th, 2009:

    ‘I think that’s wonderful to know such aspects and have an idea that what possible obstacles an interviewer can create for a seo newbie.

47. 
    #47 Criminal lawyer Huston said at 1:15 pm on June 12th, 2009:

    Stunning collection of interview questions and helpful for those who are looking for job in seo. I believe that seo professional / consultant has to come up with new ideas and techniques to dominate rankings of their site on serp, new ideas come by reading a lot and implement it on their campaigns.

48. 
    #48 haresh said at 11:47 am on June 15th, 2009:

    what the ******* hell!!!!where is the answers????????

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50. 
    #50 Bhavin said at 9:16 am on June 18th, 2009:

    I have seen lot of interview but this is the best.

51. 
    #51 seo service Chandigarh said at 9:17 pm on June 27th, 2009:

    I don’t know about seo question but now we know this type of question and answer so I will improved my interview skill and reach to a good job and much high package

52. 
    #52 kauf auf rechnung said at 7:48 am on July 6th, 2009:

    Nice overview.. with a little more research, I should be able to answer at least 80%..

53. 
    #53 Hemang said at 8:20 am on July 8th, 2009:

    don’t u have answers for this questions?? please post answers for this questions.

54. 
    #54 Ben McKay said at 8:37 am on July 8th, 2009:

    Will do in time (I hope!)…but as it’s essentially writing a SEO book, it might take a while….!

55. 
    #55 hari babu said at 10:50 am on July 17th, 2009:

    good collection of seo questions

56. 
    #56 otimização de sites seo said at 3:01 pm on July 23rd, 2009:

    Excellent collection for appointment of consultants SEO. I will also use it to guide my clients in the recruitment of specialists in SEO.

    Thanks.

57. 
    #57 Sneha Bankar said at 12:21 pm on July 29th, 2009:

    Great job. It would more better if you able to provide answer of the same as per your point of view.

    Thanks

58. 
    #58 transportadora said at 2:48 pm on July 29th, 2009:

    Amazing tips!
    They will be useful to interview my SEO consultants candidates.

    Thanks.

59. 
    #59 SEO Experts said at 7:43 am on July 30th, 2009:

    Great post, All most every questions are covered in your article, good job…

60. 
    #60 SEO Experts said at 7:43 am on July 30th, 2009:

    Almost every questions are covered in your article, good job…

61. 
    #61 Kumar said at 6:16 pm on August 2nd, 2009:

    We are doing these things in our seo projects but we don’t known that terms.

62. 
    #62 webdesign said at 6:45 am on August 15th, 2009:

    thanx for that article. So, i know now exactly that i´m far far away to call myself SEO, nor even near!

63. 
    #63 Dan said at 6:02 pm on August 16th, 2009:

    Good job! If you answer these questions, you’ll be well prepared for your SEO interview.

64. 
    #64 Email Marketing Ed said at 12:20 pm on August 24th, 2009:

    A great resource thanks Ben – given us plenty of ideas!

65. #65 SEO Job Interviews. Easy or not? at Darrell Freeman’s Internet Marketing Blog said at 5:27 pm on August 27th, 2009:

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66. 
    #66 swasa said at 9:56 am on September 5th, 2009:

    Thanks for providing the very good questions.

67. 
    #67 ravi said at 3:03 am on September 10th, 2009:

    More questions here: http://web-search-techniques.blogspot.com/2009/08/seo-interview-questions-and-answers.html

68. 
    #68 Web design company India said at 8:09 am on September 11th, 2009:

    Good questions to get knowledge.

69. 
    #69 Mihai Taraipan said at 9:00 am on September 17th, 2009:

    Hi,
    Nice set of question I am newbie on SEO, I hope to can give to myself all of this answers in one day.
    Thanks again for this ideas!

70. 
    #70 Ian Rhodes said at 11:31 am on September 29th, 2009:

    Damn Ben, if SEO wasn’t all about opinions I could definitely see an SEO Mastermind competition in the not so distant future….

    Actually, we could invite Matt Cutts over and he could host it with his black book of the definitive answers…

71. 
    #71 Ben McKay said at 8:01 pm on September 29th, 2009:

    Hi Ian,

    That’s some funny thinking! Thanks for stopping by.

    Cheers,

    Ben

72. 
    #72 Directory Submissions said at 11:48 am on October 2nd, 2009:

    Thanks a lot for all search engine optimizations questions.

73. 
    #73 Ortlieb said at 10:06 am on October 5th, 2009:

    Congratulations! Great list Ben! But (as many people bevor me) I would appreciate a list of answers …. Anyway, thx for sharing it.

74. 
    #74 Edvantage India said at 9:31 am on October 8th, 2009:

    hi Ben..

    nice list… thanks

75. 
    #75 seo said at 3:09 pm on October 8th, 2009:

    Now this is a really useful lot of information. I think anyone who is looking for a job in seo and is thinking of applying should self test with this list. I guess if anyone answers ‘Who’s Matt Cutts?’ they may not be on the shortlist for the job. For sure if you want to do your own then this is a list you could easily work on to see if you know enough or really ‘get’ what it’s all about. It really does show the scope of the field and that is quite surprising even for those who work in the industry every day. When the different aspects of seo are listed like this it’s easy to see why the process can be a huge learning curve.

76. 
    #76 Ben McKay said at 4:24 pm on October 8th, 2009:

    And I’m compiling a load of answers too with the help of a load of other SEO’s so something else to look forward to….

    Cheers,

    Ben

77. 
    #77 Andy Berlin said at 6:51 pm on October 13th, 2009:

    80 (in my opinion good questions), but how man right answers are possible? I think more than 80.

78. 
    #78 Nishita said at 12:36 pm on October 26th, 2009:

    hello sir
    It is realy good questions for seo interview but i want to know answers fro these question how can find these answers.
    plz help me for these answers

    thanks

79. 
    #79 Glass said at 4:57 am on November 6th, 2009:

    Thanx for posting the questions. While I consider myself somewhat an amateur in the field of SEO, I found myself unable to answer a lot of these questions. I agree with Nishita, if you could post some kind of answers as well, that would be great.

80. 
    #80 Kauf Auf Rechnung said at 6:46 pm on November 30th, 2009:

    This is really interesting, I will keep visiting and check back on this.

81. 
    #81 SPARTAN SEO of Seattle said at 2:53 am on December 14th, 2009:

    Wow… Some of these questions made me think. Also a great reality check for those outside of the biz concerning what us SEO folks need to know in order to be successful.

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83. 
    #83 Neeraj said at 6:46 am on December 17th, 2009:

    it is a very useful question about the SEO but where to get these question answers…

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85. 
    #85 houses for sale by owner said at 5:33 am on January 4th, 2010:

    Wow!!

    I Follow All 84 Topics. This is very useful for me and Getting SEO Job …

    Thanks for huge information for SEO Interview…

86. 
    #86 ravimittal said at 7:50 am on January 4th, 2010:

    Hello sir,

    This all type question is very nice but sir please give me answer this all question

    Thanks & Regards,

87. 
    #87 Arrow SEO said at 11:03 pm on January 13th, 2010:

    Great set of questions, it’ll be super if you could provide the answers as well. Thanks!

88. 
    #88 mobiliario said at 3:25 pm on January 24th, 2010:

    This is a really good discussion! It is interesting that it has spanned over a few years and is still relevant. Thanks for the viewpoints – Happy 2010!

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