SEO Interview Questions and Answers

Search engine optimization (SEO) is such a broad term. It can be quite overwhelming if you try to take the whole of it in a single bite. There are so many facets of search engine optimization, from how search engines work (and they all work a little differently) to how a web page is designed. Below is the list of latest and updated SEO Interview Questions and answers for beginners as well as experienced users.

Best SEO Interview Questions and Answers

On the back end, a search engine is a piece of software that uses applications to collect information about web pages. The information collected is usually key words or phrases that are possible indicators of what is contained on the web page as a whole, the URL of the page, the code that makes up the page, and links into and out of the page. That information is then indexed and stored in a database. We herewith compiled some of the SEO Interview Questions will help to understand the Ruby beginners before attend the interview.

What is SEO?

SEO = Search Engine Optimization, ie getting your site ranked higher so more people show up at your doorstep. In theory we’re interested in all search engines. In practice SEO = Google.

What are SERPs?

SERPs is an acronym for Search Engine Results Pages. Basically they are the search results you receive when doing a search at a search engine.

What is anchor text? Why is it important?

Anchor text is the visible hyperlinked text on the page. For example, let’s examine this code:

<a href="http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/">Webmaster Forums</a>

The anchor text for this link is “Webmaster Forums”. This is important in search engine rankings because the search engines use anchor text to help determine the relevance of a page being linked to for those keywords. By having this link pointing to their forum’s web page.

What are Meta tags?

Meta tags appear in search results as well as on your site’s pages. Meta tags help optimize your site regarding the search engines. Also, meta tags help browsers understand what your site’s pages are about in regards to satisfying their search needs.

The large majority of search engines do not use Meta Tags as part of their ranking algorithm. Some will claim Google uses Meta tags in its algorithm. This is entirely untrue.

Should you use Meta Tags in your site?

Yes. They do have some affect in some search engines and even though that effect is almost zero it is still more than zero so is worth the time.

How much time should I spend on my Meta Tags?

Ten minutes. Write a nice concise description of your page and throw in a sampling of keywords (which you should have handy if you’ve optimized your pages properly). You should spend no more time then this on them. Use your time to promote your site and get quality inbound links.

How many keywords should I use?

As many as you want. If you start to think you may have too many, you probably do. This means you need to divide your page into subpages with each one taking its own topic.

What is a Title?

The “Title” of a web site is probably the single most important element for natural search engine positioning. The Title is placed within the “head” of the html, is generally 12-15 words long and should be descriptive in nature.

What is a keyword?

A “keyword” or “keyword Phrase” is the word or words a person types into the search box on a search engine to look up subject matter on the Internet. If you are looking for a flag for your home or office, you might type in “American Flags”.

If you only had an hour (in one shot) to spend on WSO [web site optimization] for a given site each year, what would you do for that hour, and why?

I’d pick the low-hanging fruit. Eliminate excess (graphics, multimedia), cut your prose in half, and optimize the rest. (you could install mod_gzip etc. in less than an hour also). The main thing is to make sure that your home page loads quickly.

Have new web technologies like XHTML, CSS, Flash, and XML changed the SEO game or the ways search engines work?

Yes, CSS has made it possible to transform table-based layouts into CSS-based layouts. Typically, this reduces page size by 25 to 50%. The ratio of content to mark-up improves dramatically.

What is the ROI [return on investment] for SEO activities?

This is akin to asking what is the ROI for usability. Speed is a key component of usability. Small improvements in speed can take critical pages below typical attention thresholds, and dramatically lower bail-out rates and abandoned shopping carts. I talk about this in the book, but compression alone can save 30-50% in size and bandwidth costs. Webmasters who have employed compression and optimization typically save 30 to 50% off their bandwidth costs, and retain more customers, and have improved conversion rates.

How can the weblog be optimized to load better but also show first-timers that work is being done?

Many of the weblogs I view source have lots of embedded formatting, like font tags and complex CSS classes. Many weblogs are also by their very nature verbose :) I’d advocate using higher-level type selectors in CSS, contextual selectors, and to be brief in decks and point to longer stories for those who want to read more. Writing succinct headlines is also important.

What are the downsides of stripping out every non-printable space, tab, and line break from an HTML document, so the entire code essentially resides on a single line? I thought Netscape 4 had trouble with very long HTML lines?

I don’t advocate making your entire HTML page into one single line. Some editors can choke on long lines, older versions of the Oracle info server can choke on long lines, and if you email your pages (as we do at webref), some email programs can flag a virus in longer lines. So I advocate a max of 255 character lines to be safe, or a max of 2000 character lines to avoid problems with Oracle. Also, removing whitespace can break some JavaScript code, and make your code hard to read. You can avoid these problems by keeping unoptimized versions for any edits, and punctuating your JavaScript statements with semicolons.

What is the most common problem to be solved when optimizing web sites?

Too many HTTP requests. This is due to the overuse of images and external files. We’re also seeing a trend of too many external JavaScript and CSS files in the HEAD. This delays the display of your content as they must load first.

What major web sites do the best job of optimization?

Yahoo.com has the most highly optimized home page I have seen. They use URL abbreviation to save nearly 30% off their home page HTML. View source to see what I mean. But even Yahoo has bloated up, they have nearly 300 links on their front page. WebReference.com of course :).Though there’s always room for improvement.

There is software that assists and, in some cases, automates the accessibility process. Is there any software that does the same for web site optimization?

Yes, there are a number of products, mainly for optimizing HTML and JavaScript. SpaceAgent from Insider Software, VSE Web Site Turbo from VSE Online, and of course automated graphical tools. I test and demonstrate many of these products in the book. To convert to CSS-based layouts, and to do it right, you’ve got to do it manually.

Today, many search engines on the Web have added much more personalized content in an attempt to capitalize on the real estate available to them. One other option users have for customizing the interfaces of their search engines is a capability like the one Google offers. The Google search engine has a customizable interface to which users can add different gadgets. These gadgets allow users to add features to their customized Google search home that meet their own personal needs or tastes.

Thus, the compilation of these questions includes some of the major points that can be asked during an interview. The SEO interviewers generally check the base knowledge of a candidate, which can be gained by practicing these questions prior interview.

We have tried to cover most of the questions, which are generally asked in an interview related to the SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  You can go through these answers in order to understand the functions and various other technical terms.

So if you have finally found your dream job in SEO Specialist/Or developer but are wondering how to crack the SEO Interview and what could be the probable SEO Interview Questions. Every interview is different and the scope of a job is different too. Hope above assist you to get a dream Job. Keep Learn.