SEO Interview Questions and Answers (2025 Edition)

 

🔹 Basic Level Questions

1. What is SEO?

Answer:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing web content to improve its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) for targeted keywords. The goal is to increase organic (non-paid) traffic.

2. What are the types of SEO?

Answer:

  • On-page SEO – Optimizing individual web pages (e.g., content, titles, meta tags).

  • Off-page SEO – Building backlinks, social signals, and domain authority.

  • Technical SEO – Improving crawlability, site speed, mobile usability, and structured data.

  • Local SEO – Optimizing for location-based searches (Google Business Profile, citations).

3. What is a backlink and why is it important?

Answer:
A backlink is a link from another website to your website. Backlinks are a key ranking factor; they act as a vote of confidence and help search engines understand a site's authority and relevance.

4. What are meta tags in SEO?

Answer:
Meta tags provide metadata about a webpage. The most important ones are:

  • Meta Title – Main title that appears in SERPs.

  • Meta Description – Brief summary shown in SERPs.

  • Meta Robots – Instructs search engines whether to index or follow links.

5. What is the difference between a dofollow and nofollow link?

Answer:

  • Dofollow links pass SEO value (link juice).

  • Nofollow links tell search engines not to pass SEO authority (e.g., in blog comments or sponsored posts).

🔹 Intermediate Level Questions

6. What is the latest Google algorithm update in 2025?

Answer:
Google continues to focus on Helpful Content Updates, AI-generated content quality, and EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Core updates now rely more on semantic understanding and user intent.

7. What are Core Web Vitals?

Answer:
Core Web Vitals are performance metrics that influence ranking:

  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Loading speed.

  • First Input Delay (FID) – Interactivity.

  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Visual stability.

In 2025, Interaction to Next Paint (INP) has replaced FID as a key metric.

8. What is schema markup?

Answer:
Schema (structured data) is code added to your site (usually in JSON-LD) that helps search engines understand the content better and enables rich results like FAQs, ratings, or events in SERPs.

9. What is keyword cannibalization? How do you fix it?

Answer:
Keyword cannibalization happens when multiple pages on the same website compete for the same keyword, confusing search engines. Fix it by:

  • Merging content

  • Rewriting with distinct intent

  • Using canonical tags

10. How do you do a site audit?

Answer:
A site audit includes:

  • Crawling the site with tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs

  • Checking broken links, duplicate content, redirects

  • Analyzing Core Web Vitals

  • Evaluating internal linking, sitemap, robots.txt

  • Reviewing on-page and technical issues

🔹 Advanced Level Questions

11. How does Google handle AI-generated content?

Answer:
Google doesn’t penalize AI-generated content if it is helpful, original, and adds value. With 2024–2025 updates, low-quality or spammy AI content is more easily detected and may hurt rankings.

12. What is EEAT and why is it important in SEO?

Answer:
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. It’s not a direct ranking factor, but Google uses it to assess content quality — especially for YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) niches like health or finance.

13. How do you optimize for voice search and featured snippets?

Answer:

  • Use natural, conversational language.

  • Answer questions clearly and concisely.

  • Structure content using headers (H2/H3), lists, and tables.

  • Include FAQ schema for voice-enabled results.

14. What are some key tools used in SEO in 2025?

Answer:

  • Google Search Console – Indexing and performance.

  • Ahrefs / SEMrush – Keyword, backlink, and competitor analysis.

  • Surfer SEO / Clearscope – AI-powered content optimization.

  • Screaming Frog – Technical audit.

  • PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse – Performance optimization.

15. How do you measure SEO success?

Answer:

  • Organic traffic growth

  • Keyword rankings

  • Conversion rates

  • Click-through rate (CTR)

  • Bounce rate

  • Backlink profile quality

  • Pages indexed and crawl errors

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