SEO Interview Masterclass

20 Important SEO Interview Questions & Answers

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving a website to rank higher on search engines like Google.

SEO increases website visibility, organic traffic, brand trust, and long-term business growth.

There are three types of SEO: On-Page SEO, Off-Page SEO, and Technical SEO.

On-Page SEO focuses on optimizing content, HTML tags, URLs, and internal linking.

Off-Page SEO includes backlinks, social sharing, and brand mentions outside the website.

Technical SEO improves website speed, mobile-friendliness, crawling, and indexing.

A keyword is a word or phrase users type into search engines to find information.

Keyword research is the process of finding relevant search terms users are searching for.

Organic traffic comes from search engines without paid advertisements.

SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page.

Crawling is the process where search engines scan website pages.

On-Page SEO means optimizing content and HTML elements of a webpage to improve rankings.

It helps search engines understand page content and improves user experience.

A title tag defines the title of a webpage shown in search results.

Meta description is a short summary of a webpage shown below the title in SERP.

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword appears in content.

Keyword stuffing means overusing keywords unnaturally, which harms rankings.

Heading tags (H1–H6) structure content and help SEO.

H1 tag is the main heading of a webpage and should contain the main keyword.

Ideally, a page should have only one H1 tag for clarity.

Internal linking connects pages within the same website.

Anchor text is the clickable text of a hyperlink that helps search engines understand the linked page.

Image optimization improves images using proper size, format, and alt text to improve SEO and speed.

Alt text describes an image for search engines and improves accessibility.

URL optimization means using short, clean, and keyword-friendly URLs.

Content optimization improves quality, keywords, readability, and relevance of content.

Duplicate content means same or similar content appearing on multiple pages.

Duplicate content can be fixed using canonical tags, redirects, or rewriting content.

Canonical tag tells search engines which page is the main version.

Keyword placement means using keywords in title, headings, URL, and content naturally.

LSI keywords are related words that help search engines understand content context.

Content freshness means updating content regularly to keep it relevant.

Readability means how easy content is to read and understand.

Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple pages target the same keyword.

Content hierarchy means organizing content using proper headings and structure.

HTML sitemap helps users navigate the website easily.

Breadcrumbs show the page location and improve navigation and SEO.

Schema markup helps search engines understand content better using structured data.

Yes, schema markup is considered part of advanced On-Page SEO.

Content length refers to total words on a page; quality matters more than quantity.

User intent is the purpose behind a user’s search query.

Keyword proximity means how close keywords are placed together in content.

Keyword prominence means placing keywords in important locations like title and headings.

Thin content has little or no value for users.

By creating detailed, useful, and original content.

Page experience includes usability, readability, and user satisfaction.

Tools like Yoast, Rank Math, and Surfer SEO help optimize content.

HTML validation checks code errors for better SEO and performance.

A broken link leads to a non-existing or error page.

Broken links harm user experience and SEO.

It includes title, meta, content, images, links, and page experience optimization.

Technical SEO Interview Questions (70–100)

Technical SEO focuses on improving website structure, speed, crawling, and indexing.

Crawling is the process where search engines scan website pages.

Indexing means storing webpages in Google’s database.

Robots.txt tells search engines which pages to crawl or block.

XML sitemap helps search engines find and index website pages easily.

It improves page load time using caching, compression, and optimized code.

Core Web Vitals measure page speed, interactivity, and visual stability.

HTTPS secures data between user and server and is a ranking factor.

Google uses the mobile version of a site for ranking and indexing.

Responsive design adjusts website layout for all screen sizes.

Duplicate URLs show same content on different URLs.

A 301 redirect permanently redirects one URL to another.

A 404 error occurs when a page is not found.

Crawl budget is the number of pages Google crawls on a website.

Hreflang tells search engines about language and regional targeting.

AMP improves page loading speed on mobile devices.

JavaScript SEO ensures search engines can crawl and index JS content.

Server response time is how fast a server responds to a request.

Lazy loading loads images only when they appear on screen.

Pagination SEO manages multiple pages with similar content.

Structured data helps search engines understand content clearly.

Site architecture is how pages are structured and linked together.

Internal linking connects pages within the same website.

Crawl error occurs when search engines cannot access a page.

Redirect chain is multiple redirects between URLs.

An SEO-friendly URL is short, readable, and keyword-based.

Log file analysis shows how search engines crawl a website.

SEO audit checks technical, on-page, and off-page issues.

Website migration means changing domain, structure, or platform.

It includes speed, mobile, security, crawling, indexing, and site structure.

Off-Page SEO Interview Questions (100–130)

Off-Page SEO includes activities done outside the website to improve ranking.

Link building is getting backlinks from other websites.

A backlink is a link from another website to your website.

Backlinks increase website authority and search rankings.

Dofollow links pass SEO value to the website.

Nofollow links do not pass SEO value.

Anchor text is the clickable text of a link.

Guest posting means writing content for other websites.

Directory submission lists a website in online directories.

Social bookmarking shares website links on bookmarking sites.

Forum posting involves participating in discussion forums with links.

Blog commenting adds comments on blogs with a website link.

Brand mention is when your brand name is mentioned online.

Influencer outreach connects brands with influencers for promotion.

Local off-page SEO focuses on reviews and local citations.

Citations are business mentions with name, address, and phone.

Link spam uses low-quality or fake backlinks.

Penguin penalizes websites with bad backlinks.

Disavow tool removes harmful backlinks from Google.

Link velocity is the speed of gaining backlinks.

Social signals include likes, shares, and comments.

Press release submission shares news on media websites.

Content marketing promotes content to earn backlinks.

Broken link building replaces broken links with your content.

It analyzes backlinks of competitors to find link opportunities.

White-hat SEO follows Google guidelines.

Black-hat SEO uses unethical SEO techniques.

Grey-hat SEO is between white-hat and black-hat methods.

ORM manages brand image on search engines.

It includes backlinks, brand mentions, citations, and promotions.