Questions to Ask in an SEO Interview
For candidates interviewing for an SEO job, in house or at an agency, who want to find out what the work would really be before they accept. The questions follow the conversation: what you would own, how results are measured and reported, what developer, content and tool support there is, how the site has come through updates, penalties and past link building, and then the team, pay and next steps. The last ten are for the marketing lead on the hiring side, and under every question is a note on the answer: what a reassuring one contains, and what to do when you do not get it.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The role
Which sites or clients would I be responsible for, and how many?
Why ask it
In house this may be one domain or a dozen country sites. At an agency, get the number of accounts and the hours each one is sold at, then check whether those hours include reporting and client calls. A count well above what the current team carries means something is already being dropped.
What does success look like in this role after six months, and after a year?
Why ask it
A good answer separates what you can finish early, such as an audit, a fix list and working reports, from results that need time to show. A revenue jump expected inside the first quarter is a number somebody else promised, and you would be inheriting it.
What is the biggest SEO problem the site has right now?
Why ask it
The problem they name is usually what got the job approved: a traffic drop, a migration on the calendar, a competitor that keeps outranking them. If you looked at the site beforehand, this is the natural moment to mention one thing you noticed.
Is the job mostly technical SEO, content, links, or all three?
Why ask it
For a lone SEO the honest answer is all three, which leaves little depth in any. Ask where last quarter's hours went, since postings tend to list every specialty and the real job leans hard on one.
Who has been doing the SEO until now: someone who left, an agency, or nobody in particular?
Why ask it
A departing SEO leaves notes, logins and habits to inherit. If an agency or a generalist marketer has been covering, ask whether they stay on and who hands over access. When the answer is nobody, expect your first months to go on showing the company what SEO is for.
How much of the company's traffic and revenue comes from organic search today?
Why ask it
An interviewer who knows the share offhand works somewhere search is watched. A small share can mean room to grow or a channel nobody will fund. Their reading of it, and whether the number has been rising or falling, tells you if you would be building a channel or defending one.
Is there a written SEO strategy or roadmap, or would writing one be my first job?
Why ask it
Ask who wrote it and when. A roadmap an agency drew up two years ago is probably a document nobody follows, while a current one shows what has already been promised on your behalf. If there is none, find out who would have to approve yours.
Which search engines and markets matter to the business: one country, several languages, local results?
Why ask it
International and local SEO are specialties of their own, with hreflang tags, store listings and reviews to look after. If Bing, YouTube or a marketplace brings real traffic, find out whether those belong to this job too.
Does the company also use an SEO agency or freelancers, and how would my work sit beside theirs?
Why ask it
You might be managing an agency, replacing one or checking its work, and those are three different jobs. Ask who holds the contract and whether your opinion would count when it comes up for renewal.
Would I speak to clients myself, or does an account manager sit between us?
Why ask it
An agency question. Direct contact means you hear what the client wants and can explain a slow month in your own words, but the calls and emails come out of the hours sold. With an account manager in between, ask how your recommendations are passed on and whether you can join a call when the news is bad.
Who decides what a client is promised, and does anyone from the SEO team see the proposal before it goes out?
Why ask it
Also for agency roles. When sales promises rankings by a date, the SEO is the one who explains why they never arrived. It is a better sign if someone from delivery reads each proposal first, and better still if they can recall a promise that was toned down.
Measurement
Which numbers would I be judged on: rankings, organic traffic, leads or revenue?
Why ask it
Rankings alone should give you pause: positions differ by location and device, and a top spot can sell nothing. Leads or revenue from organic search is a better yardstick, provided the tracking is good enough to count them.
How is organic search reported, how often, and who reads the report?
Why ask it
Ask to see a recent one if they are willing. A monthly summary that reaches the head of marketing gives the work a sponsor. A dashboard nobody opens means you would be building the audience as well as the numbers.
How are the SEO targets set, and who agreed to the current one?
Why ask it
A target worked out from search demand and current positions can be argued with on the evidence. Last year plus a round percentage came out of a budget meeting, so find out what follows if the site misses it.
Do you separate branded from non-branded search when you report results?
Why ask it
Searches for the company's own name tend to follow advertising and press more than SEO work. Without the split, a brand campaign can be credited to you one quarter and its end blamed on you the next.
How reliable is the analytics setup, and who owns it?
Why ask it
Find out whether conversions are recorded for organic visits and whether Search Console is verified for every version of the site. Where tracking is broken, repairing it becomes your first project, and you would need admin access to do it.
How is the team accounting for AI answers and other results that do not send a click?
Why ask it
Few teams have a settled method. What matters is that they have noticed impressions and clicks drifting apart and discussed what to report instead. A blank look suggests the targets were written for the results pages of a few years ago.
How long does leadership expect to wait before SEO work shows results?
Why ask it
A change can take weeks to be crawled and longer to move anything, and the wait differs from site to site. Ask whether leadership has sat through that before, or whether the last vendor sold them a thirty-day turnaround.
When organic traffic drops, what happens in the first week?
Why ask it
The reassuring version is a routine: someone looks at the data before a meeting is called, and nobody is blamed on day one. Ask who explained the most recent drop to leadership, because next time that person is you.
How does SEO work with paid search here: shared keyword data, shared budget, or separate teams?
Why ask it
Where the two talk, paid data shows which terms convert before you spend months chasing them. Where they compete, you may find ads running on terms the site already ranks first for and nobody willing to test switching them off.
Resources
How do SEO changes get onto the site: can I edit the CMS myself, or does everything go through a developer ticket?
Why ask it
For many SEOs this answer decides the job. With direct access to titles, redirects and templates you can ship your own work. Behind a ticket queue your results wait on someone else's priorities, and you need to know who sets them.
How much developer time does SEO get, and how long did the last SEO request take to ship?
Why ask it
The real ticket matters more than the stated allocation. If a redirect fix waited two quarters, your audit will produce a long list and little else. Ask who could move an SEO ticket up the queue, and whether they ever have.
Who writes the content, and how many pieces can they realistically produce in a month?
Why ask it
In-house writers, freelancers, subject experts who have to be chased, or you alone: each makes for a different plan. Divide your ideas by that monthly number before you promise anything in a later round.
Which SEO tools does the team pay for, and is there room to add one?
Why ask it
The usual kit is a crawler, a keyword and link database and rank tracking, on top of Search Console and analytics access. Good work is possible on free tools. If that is the setup, ask whether anyone has requested more and what they were told.
Is there a budget for SEO beyond salaries: content, digital PR, tools, freelancers?
Why ask it
A figure, however small, means someone planned for the work to cost money. With none, every idea needs its own business case, and you should know who would hear it and how often they say yes.
Who signs off a change before it goes live, such as a new title template or a batch of redirects?
Why ask it
One named approver is workable. Where brand, legal, product and engineering each get a look, ask how many weeks a sitewide change usually spends in review and which desk holds it longest.
Is SEO consulted before a redesign, a migration or a new section launches, or brought in afterward?
Why ask it
A site that tells its SEO after launch can lose traffic that takes months to win back. The good sign is a line for SEO on the launch checklist, with someone checking redirects and indexing before anything goes out. If a launch is already on the calendar, its date is your first deadline.
What platform is the site built on, and what can it not do?
Why ask it
Every CMS and store platform has limits, such as fixed URL patterns or pages that only render in the browser. Knowing them now saves you from recommending something in your first month that would take a rebuild to do.
Is there a backlog of SEO fixes already written up, and why has it not been done?
Why ask it
An old audit gathering dust is common. Find out what stopped it: if the blocker was developer time or sign-off, the same wall stands in front of your recommendations unless something has changed since.
The site
How did the site come through the last few major algorithm updates?
Why ask it
Ask about one in particular: what moved, what they think caused it and what they changed. 'We were fine' with no detail may mean nobody looked. If you have access to a visibility tool, check the domain's history beforehand and compare.
Has the site ever had a manual action or a penalty, and how was it resolved?
Why ask it
Google reports manual actions in Search Console, so the answer is knowable. A plain account of what happened and how it was cleaned up should not put you off. 'The last agency handled that' is weaker, because it may mean nobody in the building knows what was done or still has the records.
How does the company get links: does it pay for any, or are they all earned through PR and content?
Why ask it
Settle this before you accept. Google's spam policies treat links bought to lift rankings as link spam, and if that goes wrong the cleanup would land on you. Where they do pay, ask whether the new SEO is expected to carry on or free to stop.
Is there anything in the backlink profile, or in tactics from years ago, that worries you?
Why ask it
Previous agencies and former staff leave things behind: link networks, doorway pages, thin location pages by the hundred. An interviewer who names one has given you a real answer. Follow up on whether clearing it away is part of the job or something to leave alone.
Has the site been migrated or redesigned in the last few years, and what happened to traffic afterward?
Why ask it
A migration that lost traffic often left redirect gaps that can still be found and closed, which makes a good early project. It goes much faster if someone kept the old URL list and the redirect map.
How is AI being used to produce content here, and who reviews it before it is published?
Why ask it
Each employer sets its own rule, so find out what this one's is and who wrote it. Pages published in bulk with no editor are a risk you would inherit. A named reviewer and a reason for each page existing is the better sign.
Which competitors outrank you where it matters, and what do you think they are doing better?
Why ask it
A considered reply names a competitor and a reason: deeper pages, better category structure, stronger links. 'They all cheat' calls for a polite request for the evidence, because that belief tends to come just before a request for shortcuts.
Team and next steps
Who would I report to, and how much SEO do they know?
Why ask it
A manager who has done the work will test your reasoning and defend your timelines. Under a generalist you put everything in business terms, so ask who would check a technical recommendation before it reaches the developers.
Are there other SEOs on the team, or would I be the only one?
Why ask it
A sole SEO gets the whole remit and nobody to try an idea on. If that is the job, a budget for a conference, a paid community or a consultant to call makes a real difference when something unfamiliar turns up.
How much attention does leadership pay to SEO, and who speaks for it in their meetings?
Why ask it
A named person who brings search results to leadership is a sponsor you can work through. Interest that appears only when traffic falls means you would work in the background until something breaks, and then be the one called in.
Is there a level above this one for an SEO here, or does moving up mean moving into wider marketing?
Why ask it
Small teams often have no rung above the SEO, which is easier to learn in an interview than at your first review. Where there is one, ask for someone who made the move and what it took. Where there is not, ask whether the role itself can grow in scope and pay.
Is any part of the pay or bonus tied to SEO targets, and which ones?
Why ask it
It varies by employer, and agencies sometimes link pay to client retention instead. If a bonus hangs on traffic or rankings, ask who sets the target and what happens in a year when an algorithm update or a migration moves the numbers for reasons outside your work.
What does the rest of the interview process include: a site audit, a case study, a technical test?
Why ask it
A live audit and a case study from your own work need different preparation. If there is a take-home on their own site, ask how many hours they expect and whether the company keeps or uses what you hand in. Raise that before you start, not after.
Hiring an SEO
Walk me through an SEO project you ran, from the first finding to the result.
Why ask it
From here on the questions are for the marketing lead doing the hiring. Listen for the order: what they found, why it mattered, what was changed, what happened and how they know. People who did the work themselves can also say what they got wrong on the way.
How do you decide which keywords a page should go after?
Why ask it
Search volume is the easy part of the answer. Someone with more experience also talks about what the searcher wants, whether the site could realistically rank, and which existing page should own the term so that two pages do not compete for it.
Looking at our site, what are the first three things you would check, and why?
Why ask it
You are not after a free audit. The better candidates ask what the site is meant to do before answering, then name checks such as indexing, templates and internal links and say what each would tell them.
Tell me about a time organic traffic fell. How did you work out the cause?
Why ask it
A sound answer rules things out in order: tracking, seasonality, a change on the site, and only then an update. Be wary of anyone who blames the algorithm first and never mentions checking their own pages.
An audit turns up two hundred issues. How do you decide what gets fixed first?
Why ask it
Crawl tools flag far more than is worth fixing, and a weak candidate hands over the whole export. You want someone who sorts by likely effect and effort, and who can say which half of the list they would leave alone.
How have you built links in the past, and is there anything you would refuse to do?
Why ask it
Ask for two or three live examples and open them afterward. A candidate who refuses certain tactics is protecting your domain, whereas an offer to buy whatever you need puts the risk on your site and not on them.
How would you explain a canonical tag to our developers, and then to our CEO?
Why ask it
Half the job is translation. The first explanation shows whether they know the mechanics. The second shows whether they can say why it deserves anyone's time without leaning on jargon.
Which results have you reported from SEO, and how did you tie them to leads or revenue?
Why ask it
Charts of ranking gains are easy to bring along. Ask what the pages earned and what else was happening in those months, such as a price change or an ad campaign, to see whether they claim more than they can show.
What would you need from us in the first month to do this well?
Why ask it
Experienced SEOs ask for access, a developer contact and the history of what has been tried. 'Nothing, I can start right away' usually comes from someone who has not done the job inside a company, where much of the first month goes on getting logins.
What has changed most in search in the last year, and what did you do about it?
Why ask it
Opinions on where search is heading are easy to collect from a newsletter. Look for one change they made to their own work because of it, and a willingness to say what they still do not know.
Getting real answers in an SEO interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Look at the site before you ask about it
Spend half an hour on the employer's site, or on two of the agency's client sites. Search for what they sell, look at how the main templates are built, and see whether there is a blog and when it last had a new post. You are not preparing an audit to recite. You are making sure the questions under The site and Resources start from something you saw, such as 'I noticed the category URLs changed at some point. Was that a migration?'
Sort the questions by who is across the table
A recruiter can tell you who you would report to and what the process includes. The hiring manager owns The role, Measurement and the budget questions. If a developer or a content lead joins a round, that is the moment to ask how changes ship and who writes, since they will describe the queue as it is and not as the manager hopes it is.
In house and agency are different interviews
In house, the questions that matter most are about access, developer time and how leadership sees the channel. At an agency they are about account load, what was sold to the client, and whether you would speak to clients yourself. Leave out the ones written for the other kind of job. Asking an agency about its own organic revenue share uses up a turn.
Choose your deal-breaker first
You may get five minutes for your own questions, so the order matters. Decide which single answer would make you turn the job down, which for many SEOs is paid links or having no way to get a change onto the site, and ask that one early. Write the worrying version of the answer down beforehand, because it is easy to talk yourself past it when the conversation is going well.
In the room
Trade the general question for a dated one
'How much developer time does SEO get?' draws an intention. 'How long did the last SEO ticket take to ship?' draws a fact. The same swap works for reports, traffic drops, launches and requests for budget. Use it two or three times and not on every question, or the interview starts to feel like an inspection.
Ask to see one thing
A recent report, the open backlog or the dashboard the team checks on a Monday shows you things nobody thinks to mention: what is tracked, how far back it goes, whether anyone has annotated the dips. Some interviewers will share a screen in a later round if you make clear that you do not need the figures themselves, only the shape of what is tracked.
Raise links and penalties plainly
A question about paid links or a past manual action can land as a charge against the person answering. Say why you want to know: 'I ask everyone this, because the answer changes how I would plan the first six months.' Then take the answer without comment. You are collecting information, and the place to weigh it is at home.
Expect the question to come back
A good interviewer will turn some of these around: what would you do about the backlog, how would you report it. Answer briefly with how you would find out, and do not offer a finished plan for a site you have never had access to.
Reading the answers
Access is most of the answer
An SEO who can edit templates, reach a developer and see clean analytics can do the job at almost any company. One who cannot is writing recommendations for a drawer. Weigh the answers under Resources more heavily than the title or the size of the brand.
What priority looks like
'SEO is a top priority for us' costs nothing to say. A named sponsor, a budget line, a ticket that shipped last month and a report someone reads are what priority looks like. If you hear the sentence and none of the four, the job is probably harder than it is being described.
Be careful around promises
If the interviewer talks about first-page rankings by a date, or the agency sells them, that expectation becomes yours on the first day. Nobody outside a search engine controls its results, so find out what the date is based on and who agreed to it.
Put one question to two people
If a developer or a content lead sits in on a later round, give them a question the manager has already answered, such as how long a change takes to go live. A manager who says two weeks and a developer who says two quarters have told you something neither meant to.
Mistakes to avoid
Auditing their site out loud
Opening with a list of what is wrong with the site puts the person who built or approved it on the defensive. Mention one thing you noticed, as a question, and keep the rest for when you are asked.
Asking about tools and nothing else
Which crawler the team pays for is easy to ask and changes little. Who can approve a change, and how many weeks that takes, decides whether any tool's findings turn into something on the site.
Leaving the hard questions until after the offer
Link buying, a past penalty or a site with no developer support are hard to walk away from once you have resigned from somewhere else. Ask before the final round, when a bad answer still costs you nothing.
For the hiring side: judging on screenshots
A chart that goes up shows the site grew, not that the candidate grew it. The questions under Hiring an SEO ask for the reasoning, the mistakes and what else was happening in those months, which is much harder to borrow from someone else's work.