SEO is a rapidly booming industry that will only get more prominent from here on out. With so many businesses opening up and competing with one another, business owners will need the best of the best to help their online stores rank on that coveted first page.

With that said, SEO takes a lot of experience and skill. To drive traffic, you have to hire the best SEO specialists around to aid in the client’s journey to the top. They are looking for someone who knows what they’re doing and is striving to improve their skills and keep up with the ever-changing landscape of SEO.

As a digital marketing agency and Orange County SEO experts ourselves, we generally follow a guideline when we’re looking to add to our impressive line-up of SEO experts. Suppose you’re an employer looking for help finding the perfect candidate or an interviewee wanting to break into the business. In that case, you should use the following eight questions to guide you in your dream SEO job interview.

Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself?

I’m pretty sure every job interview starts with a variation of this question, which eases the interview and interviewee into the conversation before getting into the nitty-gritty.

It’s also a great way of gauging how the interview will go. When the interviewee answers, please take a look at how they respond. Do they talk about themselves or jump right into their credentials? Do they recite their achievements like they swallowed their resume, or are they eager to share and talk about their experiences?

You can figure out if they’d be a good fit for your team and if they’d stay long in your company. You always want employees that love what they do, as they wouldn’t last very long if they didn’t.

What are Your Biggest Achievements?

When it comes to this question, it pays to be specific, and this lets the interviewer know that you had a hand in that accomplishment.

For example, let’s say that your most significant accomplishment was doubling your previous client’s conversion rates. That doesn’t tell me much about your work ethic. For all we know, your coworker did all the heavy lifting!

Instead, list some tasks that you did that helped you achieve this feat. Did you create valuable and engaging content that was primed for SEO? Did you increase the credibility of your website by building links with established websites? Did you have a hand in the mobile optimization of a site?

Whatever you do, make sure you’re loud and proud about it.

Why Did You Choose SEO?

Everybody has to start somewhere. Many of our past interviewees were wet behind their ears when applying to our marketing agency in Orange County. However, that is never a bad thing! As long as they’re a sponge willing to soak up every ounce of SEO knowledge, they could get, that was A-OK for us.

So, if you’ve got a fresh graduate or a newbie to SEO, ask them: why did you choose SEO? See if they’re doing it because they love it or want to land any job.

What Do You Do in Your Spare Time?

At Drive Traffic Media, everybody deserves that work-life balance. There’s nothing wrong with turning work mode off after hours and doing whatever you love. However, when the thing you love doing during your off-time is learning more about marketing, technology, and SEO, then, of course, you’ll have a massive edge over the others!

SEO professionals must always be on their toes in a dynamic and ever-changing industry. There’s always something new to learn every day—let your skills become stagnant for far too long, and soon enough, you’ll find the rest of the world has left you behind.

You don’t have to be too over the top with this. You don’t need a fancy portfolio, website, or webinar to show off your passion for the business. Even a simple statement saying you frequently read through articles can be enough!

Is There Anything in SEO That You Feel Needs to be Improved?

You’ll be surprised at how many people take a while to answer this question, but this is probably one of the more critical questions on this list. This shows you’re well aware of the comings and goings of SEO. It also shows that you’re a critical thinker and don’t just believe anything you’re told. You’re not cookie-cutter—you want to make a mark in the industry by being innovative!

Take note, however, that there could be wrong opinions. If your interviewee, for example, starts discussing how keyword stuffing should not be demonized, then it’s time to cut that interview short.

How Would You Go About SEO Evaluation with a Website?

With this question, you can see what they’re like as employees. Do they take the initiative or wait for a supervisor to tell them what to do? Do they try and personalize for every client, or follow the same guidelines every time? Are they meticulous with their work, or do they like taking shortcuts?

There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this question, but you can determine what kind of employee they’ll become here. If you value being on time, you’ll probably not want someone who takes a while to see results. If you prioritized client relationship management, you’d like someone more extroverted and charismatic.

What Do You Do If You Disagree with What the Client or Boss is Proposing?

Disagreements are inevitable in any job setting, and how you deal with them matters the most!

First, you don’t want anybody who thinks they’re the bee’s knees. You want someone discreet, respectful, and willing to listen to the other side of the story before responding. SEO experts are being hired and paid by the clients—it doesn’t pay to be rude.

You also don’t want someone that goes with the flow too quickly. Even SEO experts make mistakes—as a future member of the team, the interviewee needs to know when to speak up about something that might be a problem.

Is There Anything You’d Like to Ask?

An experienced interviewer should love to get asked this question. It shows that the interviewee is genuinely interested in the job and wants to learn more about it, and it also lets you see their motivations.

For example, if they ask about promotions and raises from the get-go, they could leave if career progression isn’t quick enough for them. Or, if they ask about tasks they hate, they could be hard to deal with.

Building links is boring as heck, but somebody’s got to do it.

It also puts them at ease. As an interviewer, you’re usually in control of the conversation. By letting them do the questioning, they can steer the conversation in whichever way they want.

Conclusion

These interview questions are great because they pack a lot of punch. Anybody can look at a beginner’s guide to SEO and memorize all the technicalities of SEO. But critical thinking? Problem-solving? Working under pressure? Those things need to be prioritized above all, as they’re all valuable skills in the field.

Love and passion for the field also can’t be forced. It’s crucial to look carefully at each candidate to distinguish the real ones from the fakes. That’s exactly how we developed our skilled team of Orange County SEO experts—by asking the right questions.