7 Ways to Impress in an SEO Interview

Be prepared to make the right first impression, whatever the stage of your SEO career. 

The toolkit of an SEO professional has become increasingly technical in recent years. Whether you are searching for your first industry role or are an established professional applying for an executive position, a strong technical foundation will help to set you apart. In fact, we are seeing a distinct correlation between technical proficiency and higher salaries. However, it’s not only technical process that will help you to make a good first impression in an SEO interview.

Here are 7 ways that you can ensure you are prepared for interview success.

Be Industry Aware

Your interviewer is likely to ask you questions to measure the depth of your market knowledge. What SEO blogs and commentators do you follow? Have you attended any industry events recently, like Brighton SEO? What was the last Google update? Make sure you come prepared with relevant answers and examples to show that you are an active participant in the SEO community.

Talk About SEO Tools

It’s important to demonstrate that you have a detailed understanding of key SEO tools and processes. Expect to face questions including: What tools have you used? Why did you use them? What were the advantages of them? If you could build an SEO tool what would it do? Our most requested tool skills include: DeepCrawl, Screaming Frog, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, and Google Analytics. Cultivating a strong knowledge of the tools that can support your potential employer is a great way to impress.

Share Your Experience

Being able to communicate your experience and education is vital to your interview success. Formulate answers to likely questions that are clear, concise, and demonstrate your strengths. Common SEO interview questions include: Have you had formal training? Have you done any extracurricular activities, like building and marketing personal websites? What have you learnt? What mistakes have you made? What are your achievements? Being able to talk honestly about your work with appropriate self-reflection is a vital part of securing your dream role.

Articulate Key Processes

What do you do? It’s a simple question, but one that can often throw interviewees off course. You need to be able to articulate a process in detail, without falling into confusing or vague explanations. For example, “Do you have an on-page SEO tick list? How does it work?” Prepare replies for the key aspects of your current and potential-future role. 

Show Your Passion

Employers are looking for people who can balance technical knowledge with commitment and enthusiasm. Be positive, passionate, and show interviewers that you can bring something more to the table. One way to demonstrate this is by carrying out company research, including a brief SEO audit to show that you are truly invested in the role you are applying for. 

Prepare for Technical Challenges

You will inevitably be asked technical questions. These may vary depending on the role and the company, but some common testing areas to be aware of are:

On-Page SEO

Long Tail Keywords

No Follow Tags

301 V 302 redirects

Panda and Penguin

Google Penalties

SEO Audits

Canonical URLs

Site Migrations

Domain Authority

You should also consider refining your coding skills to ensure that you are able to interpret code and make recommendations to the relevant development teams.

Be Aware of Agency Specific Questions

Interviewing at an agency can change the tone of the meeting. For agency interviews, prepare for the following potential questions:

·     What clients you have worked with?

·     Talk us through your results. Can you explain how these were achieved?

·     How do you ensure your solutions align with strategy?

·     Can you tell us about any strategies you have created?

·     Have you been involved in pitching? What were the results and what did you learn?

Preparation is the key to any interview success. For SEO and digital marketing roles, visit our Performance Marketing job vacancies page as it can be essential to securing the role that could transform your career.