10 Essential On-page SEO Expert Interview Questions *

This question serves as an icebreaker. The candidate should describe the breadth of their experience in search engine optimization (SEO). They should highlight accomplishments and career milestones in the realm of on-page SEO, while also demonstrating well-rounded knowledge of related optimization techniques—such as technical SEO and off-page SEO—and digital marketing more broadly.

In answering this basic on-page SEO interview question, candidates should demonstrate expertise with widely used SEO tools (e.g., Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, or Screaming Frog), and highlight their application in real-world scenarios, such as keyword research, competitor analysis, and on-page optimization. A strong response will provide insights into the candidate’s workflow and problem-solving methods.

Candidates should also mention analytical tools for tracking website performance, understanding user behavior, and making data-driven decisions. For instance, they may describe how they leverage Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Adobe Analytics for these functions. They may also discuss SEO plugins or extensions, such as Yoast SEO for WordPress, which assist in optimizing content directly within content management systems.

Real-world experience is essential for SEO success. This common SEO interview question evaluates the candidate’s ability to set clear goals, devise effective strategies, and analyze results—all critical competencies for an on-page SEO specialist.

The candidate should summarize a previous on-page SEO campaign and explain its objectives, such as improving organic traffic, increasing search ranking, or boosting conversion rates. Often, on-page SEO campaigns begin with keyword research and competitor analysis to identify content gaps and performance shortcomings. The candidate should also detail the content creation and optimization process, which involves collaborating with content marketers, designers, and web developers. Another topic the candidate should cover is other on-page considerations, such as internal linking or meta tag enhancements, and how they ensure all team members effectively use these elements.

To substantiate the success of these efforts, an experienced search engine marketing professional will analyze outcomes using concrete metrics, such as percentage increases in organic traffic or enhanced user engagement metrics, like time on page and bounce rate. The response will showcase the candidate’s proficiency in setting measurable goals, employing strategic tactics, and analyzing the results to learn and adapt for future endeavors.

Keyword research is one of the most fundamental aspects of SEO. Candidates should describe a comprehensive and systematic approach to keyword research and prioritization. They should highlight specific tools (e.g., Ahrefs or Semrush) and methodologies they employ, including how they use search volume, keyword difficulty, and competition metrics to assess both short- and long-tail keywords. They should discuss how they prioritize keywords in terms of search intent (e.g., informational, navigational, or transactional) and business alignment. The response to this standard SEO question should also provide insight into how they conduct a competitive analysis to identify gaps and opportunities for differentiation.

Content development flows naturally from keyword research. Candidates should outline their process for developing an SEO content strategy that aligns with business goals and search terms used by the target audience. This content planning could involve audience research, identifying content gaps, and mapping a content calendar for blog posts, landing pages, product descriptions, and more.

The candidate should emphasize the importance of creating engaging and high-quality content for various page types that demonstrates expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google calls these four characteristics E-E-A-T and uses them as a framework to assess whether the content will be relevant and engaging for users. The content must make strong use of relevant keywords, ensuring effective keyword frequency and keyword proximity. SEO specialists should also recognize the risks of keyword stuffing.

To ensure consistency for all content types, an on-page SEO specialist may craft guidelines and content briefs for copywriters and other content marketing specialists. Candidates should mention the importance of clear communication channels and review protocols for vetting content quality prior to publication. On-page content optimization also requires ongoing performance tracking. Duplicate content must be avoided, and existing content should be updated regularly to achieve and maintain top performance.

Overall, the candidate’s response should demonstrate a holistic approach to content development and optimization, showing their ability to create compelling content that achieves high search engine ranking, resonates with the target audience, and contributes to broader business objectives.

On-page elements like meta descriptions, title tags, header tags, internal links, and image alt text are vital for improving search engine visibility, click-through rates, and user experience. The candidate’s response will reveal their technical knowledge and ability to apply best practices in real-world scenarios.

For instance, the meta description is the short article summary that appears on a search engine results page (SERP), so a well-optimized description should be engaging, employ strong keywords, provide a clear summary of the page contents, and include a call to action when appropriate. Meanwhile, internal links allow users to navigate between pieces of content and help search engine crawlers understand the site structure. Outbound links are also useful for connecting your website to other pages with strong domain authority, enhancing credibility, whereas broken links can be detrimental. An experienced on-page SEO professional will conduct periodic link audits and link building campaigns to ensure optimal outcomes.

Overall, the candidate should reveal how they balance SEO and user experience considerations, and ensure that optimization efforts contribute to improved engagement and satisfaction.

An on-page SEO specialist should demonstrate expertise in measuring and interpreting the success of on-page SEO efforts based on key performance indicators (KPIs). They may monitor metrics like organic search traffic, keyword rankings, click-through rates (CTR), and conversions. They may evaluate user engagement based on factors such as average time on page, bounce rates, and scroll depth to determine how well the content holds user attention.

The candidate should outline the process they use for compiling and presenting performance reports to different stakeholders, and explain how they use the insights gained from these metrics to refine their SEO strategies, perhaps by adjusting their keyword density or reviewing internal linking structures. The answer will reveal the candidate’s problem-solving skills and capacity to make data-driven decisions that improve a company’s online presence.

In SEO, not all strategies work perfectly the first time due to the rapidly changing nature of search algorithms and competitive landscapes. Understanding how a candidate handles setbacks and adjusts their approach can provide valuable insight into their critical thinking and persistence.

To answer this question, the candidate should provide a brief overview of a challenging project, the initial SEO strategy, and the goals they aimed to achieve. They should walk through their methods for diagnosing what went wrong, and mention SEO tools they used to uncover the root causes of the underperformance. They should then describe how they adjusted their strategy, as well as the ultimate outcomes, including improvements in key metrics and overall SEO performance.

Conversion rate optimization techniques like A/B and multivariate testing are essential for making data-driven decisions and understanding the impact of different strategies on user behavior and search performance. The candidate’s response to this advanced on-page SEO interview question will reveal their technical and analytical SEO skills.

Candidates should emphasize their rationale for testing particular on-page elements. For instance, they may identify a call to action that was underperforming, suggesting that user experience improvements could increase engagement. Next, they should describe how they designed the test and selected the control and variant call-to-action language or formatting to ensure reliability. Then, they should detail the implementation, data collection, and analysis of the results, ultimately leading to data-backed decisions. The response should demonstrate a systematic and rigorous approach to testing and evaluating on-page SEO performance.