SEO Interview Questions and Answers
1. What are the different types of SEO?
White hat SEO – It is the most popular SEO technique used to improve search engine rankings of a site which does not run afoul of search engine guidelines. White hat SEO uses techniques like creating high-quality content, link acquisition, website HTML optimization, and restructuring. You can get slow but long-lasting growth in your rankings using White Hat SEO
Black hat SEO – It exploits various weaknesses in the search engine’s algorithms to get high rankings. The Black hat SEO is not according to the SEO guidelines set by search engines. A few of the black hat SEO techniques are keyword stuffing, link spam, hidden text, hidden link. Using these techniques, you can get unpredictable, quick but short-lasting growth in rankings.
Grey hat SEO – Grey hat SEO is neither black nor white, it is a mixture of both. It is a transformation from black SEO techniques to white SEO techniques and vise-versa
2. Name some key areas where you can use keywords to optimize your site ranking?
- Website URL
- Website Title
- Meta tag
- Web page content
- Body text
- Headlines
3. Define SEO.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quantity and quality of website traffic by increasing the visibility to users of a Search engine. SEO is the practice of getting traffic from the organic search results on search engines.
4. What is AMP?
AMP is short for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is to make fast mobile pages. AMP is an open-source library that helps to create a lightweight and quick-loading web page. It enables marketers and publishers to create mobile-friendly web pages, which can be compatible with every type of browser.
5. What are long-tail keywords?
A long-term word is a keyword phrase containing 4+ words that make the search results more specific. Long-tail keywords get low search volume, but they rank better than single-word keywords.
6. Differentiate between No-follow and Do-follow links in SEO.
No-follow link directs search engine bots that a hyperlink should not influence the link target’s ranking in the search engine index. It reduces the impact of search engine spams and improves the quality of search engine results.
Do-follow links in SEO allows search engines to follow them and reach your website.
7. What’s the strategy you follow to rank a keyword?
Ranking for a keyword is a repeatable process, you won’t get the results you want 100% of the time, especially if the keyword you’re trying to rank for is a popular keyword. But SEO practices like keyword research, checking out the competition, conceptualizing the content, optimizing for your keyword, etc. can help you with the rankings.
8. What is a 301 redirect?
The 301 redirect notifies the user and search engine bots that the original website page has permanently moved to another location.
9. Why are backlinks important in SEO?
- Backlinks are external links to your website. It helps you with:
- Improved credibility for your website
- Increased domain authority
- Gaining organic search ranking
- Increased referral traffic
10. What is Mobile-First Indexing?
Google makes use of the content that’s mobile-friendly for indexing and ranking websites. If your website has a responsive design, Google will rank your site higher in search engine results. It is based on how well your website performs on mobile devices.
11. List the most popular local SEO ranking factors.
- Creating a separate webpage for each product and service
- Opting for a business listing on the Google My Business
- Updating NAP citations on the website and maintaining consistency
- Embedding a google map
- Optimizing your meta tags and content
- Adding your business to local libraries
- Opting for reviews and ratings
12. Mention some ways through which you can Increase Web page speed?
- Using simple website design
- By optimizing images
- Improving server response times
- Reducing redirects
- Enabling browser caching
- Opting for a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
13. Name a few search engines other than Google.
Bing, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo & Yandex
14. The most important Google ranking factors are:
- Quality Content
- Quality & Relevant Backlinks
- Mobile First
- Page Speed
- rand Strength
- Technical SEO
- Domain Strength
- Social Signals
- User experience
- Content Freshness
- Content-Type
- Schema Code
- Content Depth
- HTTPS
- Domain Authority
15. What is SERP?
Search Engine Results Page or SERP is the page that appears, When someone searches anything on search engines and this is the page where you can see all the results. SERP includes both PPC listings and organic listings.
16. What is Googlebot?
Googlebot is Google’s web crawler to find, crawl, and index web pages.
17. How important is DA?
DA is an important metric for SEOs. They use it to quickly check the quality of websites. It will help them to compare multiple sites and understand their authority.
18. What are the black hat SEO practices you need to avoid?
Cloaking, keyword stuffing, buying links, link exchange, link hiding, link farming, PNB, gateway, or doorway pages.
19. What are the popular SEO tools available in the market?
This SEO Interview Question is to understand your expertise and knowledge over tools. Some of the popular and important SEO tools are Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, Bing Webmaster Tools, Ahref, SEMRush, Alexa, Moz, Buzzsumo, etc.
20. Mention the Primary aspects of on-page SEO.
Page title, Meta descriptions, Meta tags, URL Structure, Body tags, Keyword density, Image, Internal linking.
21. What are meta descriptions?
Meta descriptions are HTML attributes that convey information about the webpage not only to search engines but also to users. meta descriptions beneath the web page title in search engine results page can be read by users
Meta descriptions are one of the most important SEO tags where its recommended to optimize for keywords. Apart from that, it is crucial to compose a meta description in such a way that users want to read more about your web page and thus improve your CTR.
22. Why is anchor text important to SEO?
In order to understand the context of the page it is linking to, Search engines use anchor text. This holds some SEO value in terms of making search engines understand what the page is about.
23. How important are backlinks?
Google considers backlinks as an indicator of popularity and importance. But there are so many other factors to decide how much value every backlink brings to your website. The authorization of the website, the relevancy of the website, the value, and location of the page from where we got backlink, etc.
24. What is Canonical URL?
When there are multiple variations of a page, a canonical URL will tell the search engines which specific URL is the original one and which one you would like to list in search engines. Canonical URL helps websites to eliminate duplicate issues. There can be multiple causes you can have canonical issues such as different dynamic parameters of the same page, print version, etc.
25. Name few google updates
Panda update, penguin update, hummingbird update
26. What is Hummingbird Update?
Hummingbird update is the Google search algorithm overhaul that happened in 2013. Hummingbird focuses on context rather than the keyword. It helps Google better understand the intent of the keywords and not just keywords.
27. What is Cloaking?
Cloaking is a black hat technique where the user finds different web page content when compared to what the search engine finds. Cloaking a way of tricking a search engine algorithm to index a totally different keyword-stuffed webpage but displaying the actual page only to users.
