50 Must-Know SEO interview Q&A.

50 common SEO interview questions and answers to help you prepare thoroughly. These questions cover beginner to advanced levels, touching on technical, on-page, off-page, and analytics-related SEO concepts.

🔹 Basic SEO Questions

1. What is SEO?
   Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) to increase organic traffic.

2. Why is SEO important?
   It helps increase visibility, drive targeted traffic, and improve user experience, ultimately boosting conversions and ROI.

3. What are the different types of SEO?
   On-page SEO, Off-page SEO, Technical SEO, and Local SEO.

4. What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO?
   On-page SEO involves optimizing elements within the website (content, HTML, structure), while off-page SEO refers to external factors like backlinks and social signals.

5. What is a search engine?
   A system that indexes, crawls, and ranks web content based on relevance and authority, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

🔹 On-Page SEO Questions

6. What is a meta title?
   The title tag that appears in SERPs it’s a ranking factor and important for CTR.

7. What is a meta description?
   A short snippet that describes the page content and appears under the meta title in SERPs.

8. What are header tags?
   HTML tags (H1–H6) are used to define headings and subheadings on a webpage.

9. What is keyword density?
   The percentage of times a keyword appears on a page compared to the total word count.

10. What is canonicalization?
    Using a canonical tag to prevent duplicate content issues by pointing to the preferred version of a URL.

🔹 Off-Page SEO Questions

11. What is a backlink?
    A link from one website to another; it’s a key ranking factor.

12. What are the types of backlinks?
    Do-follow and No-follow.

13. What is link building?
    The process of acquiring backlinks from other websites to improve domain authority and rankings.

14. What is anchor text?
    The clickable text in a hyperlink should ideally relate to the target page’s topic.

15. What is a toxic link?
    A spammy or low-quality link can harm your site’s rankings.

🔹 Technical SEO Questions

16. What is a sitemap?
    A file that lists all pages of a website to help search engines crawl it more effectively.

17. What is robots.txt?
    A file that instructs search engine crawlers which parts of a website to crawl or not crawl.

18. What is crawlability?
    A search engine’s ability to access and read the content of a webpage.

19. What is indexability?
    Whether a crawled page can be added to the search engine’s index.

20. What is page speed, and why is it important?
    The time it takes for a page to load. It’s a ranking factor and impacts user experience.

21. What is mobile-first indexing?
    Google indexes the mobile version of content first over the desktop version.

22. How do you fix crawl errors?
    Use Google Search Console to identify errors and fix them by updating URLs, redirections, or robots.txt settings.

23. What are Core Web Vitals?
    Page performance metrics: LCP (Load), FID (Interactivity), and CLS (Visual Stability).

24. What is structured data?
    Code (usually JSON-LD) is added to websites to help search engines understand the content.

25. What is schema markup?
    A form of structured data that enhances snippets in SERPs (e.g., ratings, FAQs).

🔹 Keyword & Content Strategy Questions

26. How do you conduct keyword research?
    Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest, etc., can be used to find relevant, high-volume, low-competition keywords.

27. What is keyword stuffing?
    Overusing keywords in content can lead to penalties.

28. What is a long-tail keyword?
    A longer and more specific keyword phrase that usually has lower competition and higher conversion rates.

29. What is latent semantic indexing (LSI)?
    Keywords that are semantically related to your primary keyword.

30. What is search intent?
    The reason behind a user’s query is informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial.

🔹 Analytics & Tools Questions

31. What is Google Search Console?
    A free tool to monitor site performance, indexing, mobile usability, and more.

32. What is Google Analytics?
    A tool to track website traffic, user behavior, and performance.

33. What is bounce rate?
    The percentage of users who leave a page without taking action or navigating to other pages.

34. What is CTR (Click Through Rate)?
    The ratio of users who click on a link to the total number of users who view the page (impressions).

35. What are impressions?
    The number of times your page appears in SERPs, regardless of clicks.

36. What is the conversion rate?
    The percentage of visitors who complete a desired goal (e.g., sign-up, purchase).

37. Which SEO tools do you use?
    Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, Google Analytics, etc.

38. How do you measure SEO success?
    Through rankings, organic traffic, bounce rate, dwell time, and conversions.

39. How often do you perform an SEO audit?
    At least quarterly or before/after any major website changes.

40. What is the role of social media in SEO?
    Indirectly helps through increased visibility, engagement, and link opportunities.

🔹 Advanced/Scenario-Based SEO Questions

41. What is E-E-A-T in SEO?
    Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness—key Google guidelines for content quality.

42. How would you recover from a Google penalty?
    Identify the cause (manual or algorithmic), fix the issue (e.g., disavow bad links), and request reconsideration (if manual).

43. How do you handle duplicate content?
    Use canonical tags, 301 redirects, or consolidate similar pages.

44. How do you stay updated with SEO trends?
    Following blogs (Moz, Search Engine Journal, Backlinko), attending webinars, and reading Google Search Central updates.

45. How do you handle site migration (HTTP to HTTPS or domain change)?
    Proper 301 redirects, update internal links, resubmit sitemap, and monitor in GSC.

46. What is an SEO-friendly URL?
    Short, descriptive, includes keywords, and avoids dynamic parameters.

47. What is the difference between white-hat and black-hat SEO?
    White-hat follows search engine guidelines; black-hat uses manipulative techniques and risks penalties.

48. What are doorway pages?
    Low-quality pages created solely to rank for specific keywords and funnel users to another page—considered black-hat.

49. What are 301 and 302 redirects?
    301 is permanent; 302 is temporary. 301 passes link equity; 302 usually doesn’t.

50. Can you explain how search engines work?
    They crawl (discover), index (store), and rank (display) web pages based on relevance, quality, and authority.