If you are preparing for an SEO interview, here are some of the most commonly asked questions for SEO. Whether you are a fresher or going to switch role, this article covers all the basic questions asked in interviews.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is defined as the process of improving (optimising) the visibility of a website/webpage on the Search Engines, such as Google, Bing, etc.
A search engine is a software program that provides information according to the user query. It finds various websites or web pages that are available on the internet and gives related results according to the search.
White hat SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aims to provide the search engine with relevant information about the content on the site and present it. They uses multiple optimization techniques that targets human audience and follows search engine policies.
Black Hat SEO
Black hat SEO refers to the unethical strategies to get higher search engine ranking. Black hat SEO targets search bots first, rather than human readers. This procedure conveys a high risk of being penalized by Google. A few type of Black hat SEO techniques include keyword stuffing, invisible text, adding irrelevant keywords to the page content, etc.
Meta Tag(<meta>) is an HTML component that provides the metadata about a HTML document.
The <header> tag in HTML is used to define the header for a document. It contains the information related to the title and heading of the related content.
On-page SEO refers to the optimization techniques applied directly to a website’s individual pages to enhance their visibility and ranking in search engine results. It involves optimizing content, HTML source code, and other on-page elements to align with search engine algorithms.
7. What is Off-page SEO?
Off-page optimization refers to the technique that can be used to improve the position of a website on a search engine results page(SERPS). Many people associate off-page SEO with link building but it is not only that. It is also used in promotion methods like blogging, website design, social bookmarking, etc.
Within a website, SEO keywords are crucial. Keywords are essentially those terms or expressions that sum up or characterise the information on your website.
Web Crawling is a process of indexing content or data on webpage by using automated scripts which are know as crawler, spider, spider bot.
A backlink is a link on a website that connects back to a particular website. From a client’s point of view, backlinks give an approach to individuals to discover different sources of information on equivalent or related topics.
Organic Search: Organic Searches are results in the search engine results that are shown on the basis of content relevance to keyword query rather paid marketing.
Paid Search: Paid searches are advertisements that are shown above organic search results. Search Engine gives more priority to these searches.
12. What is local SEO?
Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps your business be more visible in local search results on Google.
13. What is Indexing?
Indexing refers to the process where search engines systematically collect, analyze, and store information from web pages to include in their vast databases.
An HTML element called a meta description offers a condensed version of a web page's content. When a page's meta description tag appears as part of the search snippet on a search engine results page SERP, it gives users a sense of the type of material the webpage contains.
Some of the most commonly used SEO tools are as follows:
- Google Analytics
- SEMrush
- Rank Math
- SpyFu
- Google Tag Manager (GTM)
- VidIQ
- SE Ranking
- MOZ
- QuestionDB
Page Authority is a metric that was developed by Moz that predicts the possibility of a specific page ranking in Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). Page Authority ranges from 1-100. The greater the score is, the more will be the chance that it’ll rank.
Domain authority is a metric that was developed by Moz that predicts the possibility of a website ranking in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Domain Authority ranges from 1-100. The greater the score is, the more will be the chance that it’ll rank.
18. What is Top Level Domain (TLD)?
A top-level domain (TLD) is the last segment of text in a domain name, such as .com or .net.
For example, in the internet address: https://www.google.com, the “.com” portion is the TLD. TLDs are mainly classified into two categories: generic TLDs and country-specific TLDs.
19. What is ccTLD?
A ccTLD is a top-level domain (TLD) that indicates a country or geographic location of the website. These "country code" TLDs help internet users understand where the entity behind a website is located.
20. Explain LSI.
Latent Semantic Indexing is referred to as LSI. This computer program's goal is to acquire a large number of synonyms by using context. This approach finds connections between words and concepts in a piece of text by applying mathematical approaches.
21. What is link building?
The process of creating one-way hyperlinks, often known as backlinks, to a website with the goal of increasing traffic and search engine exposure is known as link building. Link building acts as a vote of confidence from other websites, demonstrating to search engines the value and reliability of your material.
The ratio of times a term occurs on a webpage relative to the total number of words on that page is known as keyword density. It may be computed by multiplying the total number of words on the page by the number of times the term appears, then dividing the result by 100.
23. What is Keyword Frequency?
Keyword frequency refers to how often a keyword appears on a given web page.
24. What is Keyword Difficulty?
Keyword Difficulty is the process of evaluating how difficult it is to rank in Google's organic search results for a specific term.
25. What is keyword stuffing?
Keyword stuffing refers to the excessive use of a target keyword in on-page content with the intention of ranking for that keyword.
In search engine optimisation, a citation is the internet mention of your company name, address, and phone number. Citations may be found on a variety of websites, including blogs, social media platforms, directories, etc. They facilitate the discovery and validation of your company's details by search engines and prospective clients.
27. What is the most common types of 3xx codes?
- 301: Moved permanently
- 302: Redirected temporarily
- 303: Redirected temporarily
- 307: Redirected temporarily
- 308: Redirected permanently
A robots.txt file is a plain text file that gives web spiders instructions regarding which sections of a website should be kept off-limits to indexing and which should be open for crawling Robots Txt File contains instructions for search engine crawlers on what to index and what to disregard and is found in a website's root directory has a major influence on SEO and is essential in determining how a website appears in search results.
The Robot's Meta Tag controls how search engines index and crawl webpages. It can instruct bots used by search engines on how to index pages, follow links, and display content in search results.
30. Name a few important Google ranking factors.
These are the important SEO ranking factors:
31. What is Google Sandbox?
Google Sandbox refers to a state when new websites are not ranked in Google Search Results. It is thought that google might have made a new place for the websites called "Sandbox" where new sites are kept, during that period the might not be able to rank well, so that google gets some time to evaluate its quality and prevent spam.
Google Search uses the PageRank PR algorithm to determine a page's ranking in their search engine results.
Social media SEO helps you to optimize your social profiles so you can better attract potential customers through search.
34. What is Page Speed?
Page Speed is the time between the browser's request for a page and until the browser completes processing and delivery content
Internal links are hypertext points on your website that take viewers to a certain page. An internal link is a connection that goes from one page on the same domain to another.
36. What are inbound links and outbound links?
Inbound Links: These are links pointing to your website from other sites (known as backlinks)
Outbound Links: These are links pointing to other sites from your website.
E-E-A-T in SEO stands for"Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness”. Google does not give priority to content that will make your life more difficult, despite the appearance that they do. They rank material in order to provide the best answers or solutions to its customers’ queries.
38. What is an HTML Sitemap?
The end users are served using an HTML Sitemap. It makes it simple for visitors to navigate the site. Example: GeeksforGeeks HTML sitemap
39. What is an XML Sitemap?
An XML sitemap is a list of all your website’s URLs in XML format. It’s a road map for a search engine to follow to get to the content of a website. Example: GeeksforGeeks XML Sitemap.
40. What is schema markup?
Schema markup (also called schema or structured data) is one of the most important skillset required during technical SEO implementation on the website. It allows search engines like Google to better crawl and, more importantly, understand the information on your site to provide better results for users.
Longtail keywords are longer, more focused search terms that people type into search engines to find specialised information, goods, or services. When opposed to shorter, more generic keywords, these terms are usually more specific and niche-focused.
42. What is Bounce Rate in SEO?
Bounce Rate in SEO can be defined as percentage of the visitor that exits the website without taking an action.
43. What are anchor texts? What role does anchor text have in SEO?
Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. SEO best practices dictate that anchor text be relevant to the page you’re linking to, rather than generic text. Anchor text provides context to both users and search engines. The link label indicates what a user will see on the linked page if she decides to click on it. On the other hand, search engines use the anchor text to index and rank webpages.
The method by which search engine bots, also referred to as web crawlers or spiders, methodically find material on a website is called crawling. This might be text, photos, videos, or other bot-accessible file formats.
45. What is 301 redirect?
A 301 indicates a permanent redirect, thus any user requesting an old URL will be sent to the new URL automatically. It is an HTTP status code that a browser receives from a web server. A 301 redirect is most frequently used when a page has been permanently relocated or withdrawn from a website. It transfers all ranking power from the old URL to the new URL.
The process by which search engines choose which webpages to display in the search engine results page (SERP) in response to a user's query is known as ranking. It is a crucial phase in the search engine process as it directly impacts how visible and usable web sites are for visitors.
47. What is Cloaking in SEO?
Cloaking refers to the practice of providing users with content or information that differs from that which is displayed to search engine crawlers like spiders or bots, in an effort to raise a website's position for particular keywords to improve all
48. What is Google Analytics?
Google offers a tool called Google Analytics that is widely used to monitor user activity on websites. The Google Analytics tool assists you in thoroughly assessing the visitor statistics on your website. The primary tool for traffic control in all areas is Google Analytics.
49. What are the common SEO mistakes?
Some common SEO mistake that should be avoided are as follows:
- Keyword stuffed content
- Keyword stuffed title tag
- Little or no content
- Publishing Non-Original Content
- Missing Quality Links
- Not Investing in Mobile-Friendly Experience
50. What is competitive analysis?
Competitive analysis is a thorough investigation of your rivals, encompassing their tactics, advantages, and disadvantages. It entails assessing their web presence, content strategy, keyword targeting, and more tasks. Competitive analysis helps you understand your target market and industry better.
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