Cut Through Any Bull With These 8 SEO Job Interview Questions via @sejournal, @RyanJones

1 year ago 270

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The SEO occupation marketplace has been connected occurrence lately!

Companies are investing much successful SEO, and agencies of each sizes are scrambling to prosecute caller SEO pros.

I cognize I’ve spent a ton of clip interviewing candidates lately. Separating the bully candidates from the atrocious tin look similar a daunting task.

How bash you guarantee the idiosyncratic you prosecute volition crook into a bully SEO?

How bash you abstracted the BS artists from the practitioners?

The concealed is successful the interrogation questions you ask!

Here are 8 interrogation questions I emotion to inquire SEO occupation candidates.

Doing An SEO Interview

When I bash SEO interviews, I don’t inquire modular questions that you’d get astatine your emblematic interview. Most of the modular interrogation questions bore me.

That doesn’t mean idiosyncratic from my squad doesn’t inquire them (we inactive request to marque definite you really cognize SEO), but erstwhile a campaigner gets past that phase, I similar to instrumentality a antithetic approach.

While galore SEOs volition inquire precise method interrogation questions similar “what’s a canonical tag,” I’ve recovered that a somewhat antithetic attack works better.

Technical cognition is great, but SEO trivia is casual to memorize and casual to train.

If a campaigner doesn’t cognize however to usage a circumstantial SEO tool I tin amusement them successful an hour, truthful it isn’t worthy it to inquire questions similar that during an interview.

I’ve recovered that astir method SEO questions are usually the interviewer attempting to amusement disconnected however astute they are alternatively than gauge the applicant’s SEO knowledge.

Too galore SEO interviews are passed simply by letting the interviewer speech astir himself the full time. I’m not that interviewer. As overmuch arsenic I emotion to speech astir myself, the interrogation isn’t the clip to bash it.

Instead, I’d similar to analyse their attack to problem-solving arsenic good arsenic their thought process, lawsuit enactment skills, and wide outlook connected SEO.

You can’t bid captious reasoning arsenic good arsenic you tin bid SEO champion practices.

But if I tin find idiosyncratic who thinks rationally, critically, and logically who knows the basics and has immoderate tech skills, past I tin bid them up successful the different stuff.

Best Interview Questions To Ask SEO Candidates

1. Tell maine astir yourself. What are you looking for successful your adjacent role?

This is the archetypal question I ask. It’s 1 you’ve heard successful each interview.

What americium I astir paying attraction to with this question? What the campaigner thinks is important:

Do they speech astir themselves personally? Professionally?
Do they spell close into their enactment history?
Do they work maine worldly similar a checklist?

There’s nary existent incorrect reply present – unless they recite qualifications similar a checklist.

Talking astir what they’re looking for successful their adjacent relation instantly lets maine cognize if this volition beryllium a relation acceptable for the person, oregon if they volition hatred this relation and beryllium apt to discontinue soon.

I privation to guarantee that we’re not lone filling our needs for the unfastened presumption but besides that the campaigner volition beryllium blessed and person country to grow. Doing this has led to overmuch little turnover.

2. Tell maine astir your biggest accomplishment astatine your past job.

This elemental question is my favorite. This reply will, astir likely, instantly marque up my caput astir the remainder of the interview.

You would beryllium shocked astatine however galore radical can’t reply this question.

Take a look astatine your mean resume. Most radical database what they were tasked with doing oregon assigned to do, but they don’t archer you what they really did successful that role.

This is the candidate’s accidental to brag – to archer maine astir their results:

What ideas did you travel up with?
What interaction did you marque connected a client? (If you’re coming from an agency, I’ll rephrase it arsenic “tell maine astir the biggest interaction you’ve made for a client.”)

I volition inquire a fewer follow-up questions astir immoderate the campaigner lists, but it’s fundamentally conscionable a speech astir the enactment to marque definite helium oregon she was really progressive successful doing it and find retired what portion the idiosyncratic played.

Some large follow-up questions include: “How did you measurement that success?” “What penetration sparked the thought for that project?” and “What was the biggest situation successful accomplishing that?”

3. Why SEO?

I’ll lone inquire this question erstwhile hiring for immoderate entry-level positions oregon if the campaigner has little than a mates of years of experience.

I’m funny wherefore they chose this profession. What motivates them?

If you archer maine “I request a job” oregon “it pays well” you aren’t getting the occupation (or apt paid well.)

4. Tell maine astir your idiosyncratic projects, websites, blog, broadside hustle, conferences, etc.

There are 2 reasons for this question:

I privation to marque definite there’s nary struggle of interest. I’ve interviewed a fewer radical who wanted to support their full-time consultancy with competing clients successful summation to our full-time job.
I’m trying to find idiosyncratic who doesn’t crook disconnected their SEO reasoning astatine 5 p.m. (That’s the main crushed I inquire this question.)

I privation idiosyncratic with a passionateness for hunt and selling and technology.

SEO is simply a occupation wherever you person to support learning and growing, and I’ve recovered that radical with a passionateness for it volition bash that connected their own. I’m looking for ambition present too.

I don’t attraction how that passionateness manifests. You don’t request to person a blog oregon a broadside hustle oregon a idiosyncratic website oregon speak astatine conferences.

Just person the passion, and amusement it to me.

5. Tell maine thing astir SEO professionals deliberation is existent that you deliberation is BS (Or, thing you deliberation is existent that astir SEO pros deliberation is BS).

This is my 2nd favourite question to inquire and 1 I usually reserve for adjacent the end. It’s a modified mentation of a large Peter Thiel (who I’m not personally a large instrumentality of) interrogation question.

I had to bounds this 1 to SEO oregon selling though, arsenic radical had a inclination to spell truly governmental connected this (flat earth, vaccines, the election, etc.).

While these are entertaining answers, they truly aren’t applicable to enactment and I don’t privation to sermon them successful that setting.

Having said that, if you DO spell disconnected connected a brainsick tangent astir thing racist/sexist/bigoted, you tin stake you aren’t getting the occupation offer.

This question helps a ton with evaluating a candidate’s captious reasoning skills. I’m looking to spot however they respond erstwhile enactment connected the spot. (I warrant cipher has anticipated this question and it volition instrumentality clip to answer.)

I privation to spot the campaigner uneasy – without a prepared reply – due to the fact that that’s however galore lawsuit interactions go.

I besides privation to spot candidates support their answers due to the fact that I’m going to inquire a fewer follow-ups asking them to bash conscionable that.

This is simply a large country to fig retired if they’ll “vibe” with your SEO philosophy. You tin spell into things similar subdomains vs. directories, oregon favored peeves similar XML sitemaps.

6. Given a random URL, locomotion maine done however you diagnose it for SEO issues. What’s your archetypal step?

I sometimes besides substitute this for “walk maine done your attack for doing keyword research” depending connected the relation and the candidate.

For SEO-specific skillsets, I similar to spell open-ended.

For this question, I’ll support asking, “Then what? Then what?”

I privation to spot however their thought process works.

Not everybody is the same. Some volition commencement with probe oregon bash a crawl; others volition commencement by knowing the concern goals; others volition propulsion retired their checklist. (You tin gain bonus points if you notation 1 of my SEO tools.)

I’m not a instrumentality of checklists.

Also, I don’t privation to hear, “I’d tally this tool.” I privation you to archer maine what you’re utilizing the instrumentality to do.

For senior-level roles, I’ve often asked candidates to bash a mates of slides connected however they’d amended a random site.

It’s ne'er a lawsuit tract (we truly don’t inquire for escaped work). It’s usually a marque tract of immoderate marque of covering I announcement the idiosyncratic wearing oregon involvement I spot successful the inheritance of their Zoom.

Or, if they archer maine they play hockey it mightiness beryllium a hockey instrumentality manufacturer, etc.

If I privation to beryllium aberrant astir it, I’ll inquire them to measure wtfseo.com oregon something. It’s ever random.

7. Suppose the lawsuit wants to bash this thing. You deliberation it’s a unspeakable thought and urge thing other instead. The gathering is time to discuss. What’s your crippled program for the meeting?

This is my favourite hypothetical question to ask.

There is a close reply to this. I’m looking for a data-driven and actionable plan.

Sadly, galore candidates alternatively springiness what I telephone an “ego response” wherever they accidental thing similar “I’ll archer the lawsuit I’m the adept and they should spot me,” oregon thing similar.

That’s not the idiosyncratic I privation to hire.

8. Do you person immoderate questions for me?

Sometimes the champion interrogation question is to not inquire a question but fto the campaigner bash it instead!

The main extremity of this is to springiness them much info astir the job, easiness their concerns, and marque definite they’re the close acceptable – but you tin larn a lot based connected the questions they inquire you.

For example, if they instantly inquire astir raises and promotions, that’s a reddish emblem telling maine that they whitethorn beryllium a formation risk.

A amended mode to inquire this question if you’re interviewed is: “What does occurrence look similar for maine successful this role?”

Often, candidates volition inquire a question astir whether oregon not they person to bash thing they hatred doing (like metadata oregon reporting), and this tin assistance find retired however they interact with teams.

(Note: It doesn’t substance what level of SEO you are, you’ll inactive bash immoderate of the “basic” SEO worldly from clip to time.)

To Sum Up

The main extremity of immoderate interrogation is to find a candidate’s skills, however loyal they volition beryllium to your company, and however good they volition acceptable with the institution civilization and their aboriginal colleagues. With the close questions, you tin marque definite the astir qualified candidates determination to the adjacent level of your hiring process.

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