Questions You Must Ask a Prospective SEO Analyst

Are you in the dilemma whether to hire an in-house SEO analyst or hire a consulting agency? If you’re looking to hire an in-house SEO analyst, I want to help you to find the right one. That’s because our most successful SEO consulting happens when there’s a competent SEO manager working in-house. Choosing a right in-house SEO person is a daunting task since SEO person should be a good communicator as the right in-house SEO person communicates well with both the CMO and the consultant. He or she follows through on our recommendations and fulfills the plans we’ve jointly made. And a good in-house SEO analyst or manager makes the client-consultant relationship a real partnership - so the client wins.

I am sharing a list of 30 questions that you would pose to the aspiring SEO analyst for your firm. Find the right analyst by asking questions that will allow candidates to not only talk about their SEO experience but also reveal their digital marketing knowledge and strategy.

30 SEO Interview Questions

1. What makes a website search engine-friendly?
2. How do you define success when it comes to SEO?
3. How do you stay updated on industry news and algorithm changes?
4. What programming languages do you have experience with?
5. Regarding your previous SEO job, what did an average day look like?
6. How do you adapt to the needs of different clients?
7. How often do you communicate with clients?
8. How did you learn SEO?
9. How do you approach keyword research?
10. What is the relationship between SEO, SEM and social media marketing?
11. What SEO tools do you regularly use?
12. How do you stay organized when working on an SEO project?
13. Who are Gary Illyes and John Mueller?
14. What is your favorite website and why?
15. What is your opinion on proper link building?
16. How have you dealt with link penalties?
17. What’s the ideal speed for a site to load a web page?
18. What method do you use to redirect a page?
19. What are your thoughts on accelerated mobile pages (AMP)?
20. What is your process for helping a local business become more visible in search results?
21. Are you aware of the latest changes to Google and the latest updates to Panda and Penguin?
22. How has Hummingbird changed the landscape of search?
23. What is Google’s preferred method of configuring a mobile site?
24. What do you know about content building and content marketing?
25. What has been your experience getting content featured in answer boxes?
26. How have you utilized structured data to earn featured snippets?
27. What are the three possible configurations for a mobile site? Which do you prefer and why?
28. What’s your greatest digital marketing success story?
29. How do you stay up-to-date on the near-constant search algorithm changes?
30. What metrics do you use to measure SEO success?