This YouMoz entry was submitted by one of our community members. The author’s thoughts are their own (unless they’re under a lot of hypnosis), and they might not match Moz’s.
Since you’ve been working in SEO for a while, you may have moved to a new company at some point. As you’ve moved up the career ladder, you may now be in a position where you have to interview new candidates as part of your job. Which brings up the question of what kinds of questions to ask when hiring for a more senior position? This isn’t quite the same as hiring for an entry-level or executive SEO position.
For example, in most cases link builders are trained or begin with little experience. So, during an interview, you might want to find out how much the candidate knows about social networks, how well they can tell the difference between different types of websites, how good they are at math, and how well they can work with others.
Recruiting for an executive post is a bit different too. As you would expect the applicant to have more experience, your questions would have to be tailored accordingly. Your meeting could last a little longer, and the questions you ask will need more detailed answers. At this stage, your potential team mate should already be versed in on-page and off-page SEO. They should also know how to use Google Analytics and know what kinds of links are good to get. You would also expect certain questions from the interviewee pertaining to his or her role within the company.
The most senior SEO job might need both management and technical skills, depending on the size of the company where you work. I recently did some interviews to find a replacement for myself. Here are some of the technical questions I asked, not in any particular order:
Getting hired at a top SEO company like Moz is no easy feat With their reputation as an industry leader, they receive thousands of applicants for only a handful of open positions. If you’re lucky enough to land an interview, you’ll need to really showcase your SEO skills and knowledge
This guide has everything you need to know about the most common Moz interview questions and how to answer them. You can do great in your Moz interview and maybe even get your dream SEO job if you prepare well.
Overview of the Moz Interview Process
The Moz interview process typically follows these stages
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Initial Phone Screen: A 30- to 45-minute call with a hiring manager or recruiter to talk about basic qualifications. Expect questions about your resume, experience, and interest in the role.
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Technical Phone Interview A 1 hour call where you’ll be asked more in-depth SEO questions to assess your technical abilities Brush up on your SEO knowledge beforehand
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On-site Interview: If you pass the phone screens, you’ll be invited to the Moz offices. This 4-5 hour in-person interview includes a presentation, panel interview, technical interview, and culture interview.
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Reference Checks: Moz conducts thorough background checks and calls references for finalists. Make sure you have 3-5 strong references lined up.
Getting through each stage requires demonstrateing your SEO expertise, analytical skills, and cultural fit. With preparation, you can feel confident in each interview round.
Common Moz Interview Questions To Prepare For
Here are some of the most frequently asked Moz interview questions, along with tips for how to best answer them:
Technical SEO Questions
Q: What is the difference between a 301 and 302 redirect? When would you use each one?
A: A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect which passes between 90-99% of link equity to the redirected page. 301s are ideal for site migrations or consolidating content. A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect which does not pass link equity. 302s are better for A/B testing or temporary maintenance pages.
Q: How would you optimize a site for local search?
A: Important local SEO optimizations include:
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Ensuring NAP (name, address, phone) details are consistent across directories like Google My Business, Apple Maps, and more.
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Building locally-optimized pages and content, like city pages.
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Earning local signals like reviews and citations to boost local authority.
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Optimizing technical elements like structured data, schema markup, etc.
Q: What is the purpose of noindex, nofollow tags? When would you use them?
A: Noindex prevents pages from being indexed and appearing in search results. Nofollow passes no SEO value from links on a page. Reasons to use them include:
- Noindexing duplication or thin content to avoid indexing issues
- Using nofollow on paid links to avoid passing manipulative SEO signals
- Noindexing pages like login forms that shouldn’t appear in search
Q: How would you perform technical SEO audits and analyze site speed?
A: Important technical SEO elements to audit include:
- Running tools like Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest to analyze site performance.
- Checking indexed pages, duplicate content, proper use of noindex.
- Reviewing server response times, TTFB, and optimizing images.
- Using tools like ScreamingFrog to analyze crawl errors, broken links, etc.
- Checking proper use of HTTPS, security certificates, robots.txt and more.
SEO Strategy Questions
Q: How would you conduct keyword research and analysis for a new site?
A: Steps for keyword research include:
- Identify site goals, target keywords and categories using tools like UberSuggest, Keyword Planner, and SEMrush.
- Analyze keyword difficulty, search volume, and competition for target terms.
- Validate demand and commercial intent for selected keywords.
- Organize selected keywords into priority groups or tiers for targeting.
- Develop keyword mapping for important pages and content.
Q: How would you perform a competitive analysis for a site’s marketing strategy?
A: Important elements of a competitive analysis include:
- Identifying key competitors using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz.
- Analyze competitors’ sites for technical SEO, content, backlinks and more.
- Review their keyword targeting and search visibility.
- Analyze strengths/weaknesses compared to your site.
- Identify gaps, opportunities and areas to differentiate.
Q: How would you track and report on SEO performance? What metrics are most important?
A: Essential SEO metrics to track include:
- Rankings for target keywords and pages
- Organic traffic growth over time
- Conversions and ROI from organic traffic
- Backlink growth and quality improvements
- Indexing and crawl stats
Tools like Search Console, Analytics, SEMrush, Moz and more allow tracking and reporting. Present data visually in reports for stakeholders.
Q: How would you work with developers to implement SEO recommendations?
A: Effective ways to work with developers include:
- Presenting SEO guidance clearly with specific technical instructions.
- Prioritizing critical issues and quick wins to build buy-in.
- Providing documentation like annotated screenshots and code samples.
- Aligning SEO fixes with web development roadmaps for smoother implementation.
- Establishing an ongoing feedback loop and communication cadence with developers.
Analytical Questions
Q: If organic traffic dropped suddenly, how would you diagnose the issue?
A: Diagnostic steps for drops in organic traffic include:
- Check Search Console for manual actions, algorithm updates or other messages.
- Review rankings to check for lost visibility for key terms.
- Analyze indexed pages and crawl stats for technical problems.
- Check backlinks for lost/dropped links or new poor quality links.
- Review on-page content for changes or quality issues.
- Check for site speed or infrastructure problems.
Q: How would you estimate the revenue impact of a specific ranking increase?
A: You can model ranking-to-revenue impact by:
- Reviewing historical search visibility data to identify patterns.
- Estimating incremental traffic value per ranking increase.
- Assigning conversion rates and monetary value to that traffic.
- Validating estimates using analytics goals data.
Q: If you were given an SEO budget, how would you allocate it among different initiatives?
A: When allocating budget, I would:
- Prioritize foundational activities like site audits, keyword research, and technical SEO.
- Allocate budget to core areas like content and link building based on impact.
- Keep 15-20% for optimization and testing initiatives.
- Ensure overarching KPIs and ROI are considered across budget line items.
- Maintain flexibility to shift budget over time based on performance.
Behavioral Questions
Q: Tell me about a time you successfully influenced business stakeholders or executives regarding an SEO initiative. What tactics did you use?
A: I had success getting stakeholder buy-in for a site migration by…
- Presenting a detailed case including traffic and revenue risks of not migrating.
- Emphasizing quick wins and long-term ROI they would gain.
- Responding to their concerns about downtime and development costs.
- Providing post-migration reporting to showcase SEO improvements.
Q: Describe a situation where you had to simplify a complex technical SEO topic for a non-technical audience. How did you handle it?
A: Recently I had to explain the details of how page speed impacts SEO to our marketing team. To simplify it for them I…
- Used web performance metrics like load time instead of technical acronyms.
- Drew comparisons to page load impacts on user experience and engagement.
- Used examples of before/after performance improvements they could relate to.
- Created easy-to-scan reports with visualizations instead of data tables.
Q: Tell me about a time you made a mistake in your SEO work. How did you handle it?
In a previous role, I once implemented a global site navigation change that caused major indexing issues. As soon as I realized the scope of the problem, I…
- Quickly reverted the navigation changes to stop further issues.
- Notified stakeholders of the situation and my recovery plan.
- Identified impacted pages and took steps to re-index them.
- Took responsibility for the mistake and outlined future processes to prevent similar issues.
With preparation for the most common technical, strategic, analytical and behavioral interview questions, you can feel confident in your Moz interview. Showcase both your SEO skills and your critical thinking abilities, and you’ll be one step closer to landing your dream job. Good luck!
On Coding – Do you Code in any Programming Language?
You don’t have to know how things work on the web, but I think it’s important that you do. Especially knowing how to fully code in html. Working with the development team has pushed me to remember how important it is to know a lot about web programming. There are many times when knowing how to code in a web development language will be very helpful. If, say, the development team says there isn’t room for a certain piece of content, suggesting a workaround like adding a CSS overlay and calling it with an onClick event might be okay. Or telling them how to best use Google’s language alternative tag on a site that is already designed for people around the world If you know how to code, you can make your own websites that aren’t blogs, test your own ideas, and see where they break. It is also possible to build your own in-house tools to automate some of the mundane tasks. This helps to achieve better efficiency and billability.
On Optimising a Site – Briefly Tell us what a Search-friendly Site Looks Like
Even though it’s pretty simple, I want to know if the applicant has updated what they know about on-site optimization. Title tags, URLs, content, alt tags, site structure, navigation, internal linking, site maps, and subdomains are some of the things I expect to hear. However, what I dont what to hear is:
As of 2012, I’m still hearing things like “Google can’t crawl JavaScript” and “Google can’t follow JavaScript links.” Keyword density must be X% and “Google can’t read Ajax.” “Meta keywords are very important and should spend time including them.” “Meta descriptions are not so important.”
SEO Interview Questions – Whiteboard Friday Moz
FAQ
What kind of questions are asked in Google interview?
