An In-Depth Guide to Crack Any SEO Interview in 2020

So, you have just finished your SEO Training from a well-known institute and are about to give your first interview. But HANG ON! Are you sure you are well prepared for what's coming?

SEO might seem easy, but it is one of the toughest aspects of Digital Marketing, especially when it comes to link-building. And the interviewer is not going to be impressed unless you bring something unique to the table.

So, before you apply for the SEO job, make sure you read this guide to help you crack your SEO Interview in the first attempt.

This guide will help both the freshers and the experienced SEO candidates.

But, before getting started with the tips, let's discuss what happens in the majority of the cases when it comes to an SEO Interview.

Being the Director at a Digital Marketing Agency, here are some of the
challenges that I face while hiring an SEO Candidate:

The candidate is not updated with the latest SEO techniques and is stuck with the old school methods of link-building.
In the case of freshers, the candidate is not well-trained or has not built even a single backlink during the entire training period. Which means, no practical exposure.
The majority of candidates still think that creating tons of backlinks always helps in SEO.
Not many candidates are aware of quality link building in SEO.
Hardly a few candidates have some successful SEO case stories that make sense.

So, what could possibly impress the Interviewer and help you crack the SEO Interview in the first round itself? Let's begin with some tips.

Tips to Crack an SEO Interview in 2020

The SEO Industry has changed drastically in the past few years, and the change will remain constant for the years to come. But are you sure you know what SEO Strategies works and what not?

The SEO tactics that used to work four years ago are no more useful because of the significant improvements and changes in Google's algorithms.

So, if you call yourself experienced (in terms of working years), you might want to reconsider especially, if you are not updated with the latest
algorithm changes. And this could negatively affect your next SEO Interview.

For freshers, a long way to go. You will learn a lot on how to impress your interviewer in your first SEO Interview. So, without taking much of your time, I would start with the tips to crack an SEO Interview in 2020.

Tip 1: Free SEO Audit - Prepare a free on-page and off-page SEO report for the company you applied for. Impress the interviewer with the free SEO Audit report of the company and offer them to fix the missing factors (if any) if they are interested. If this does not impress them, then I don't know what will.

Tip 2: SEO Interview Questions - Read every possible interview question with answers available on the internet from beginner to advanced. But only after you finish your training (in the case of freshers). I would highly recommend reading these SEO Interview Questions with their answers
to get started (the most detailed guide available till yet).

Tip 3: Let the rankings do the talking - This tip would be most applicable in the case of experienced candidates. Make a report of the keywords that you ranked that are still indexed in the top 3 results of the SERPs.

While showing the results, explain to the interviewer what did you do to achieve the result. But make sure the keywords do have some search volume. It would make no sense to rank keywords with no search volume and showcase it as your "success" case study.

Tip 4: Work on an SEO project - No training institute can provide you the SEO Experience that you can gain by working on your personal project. Once you start experimenting with the keywords, the on-page SEO, and the latest link-building tactics on your project, you will start seeing the result and gain a sense of confidence (in case of freshers).

Alternatively, apply for an internship to get some practical experience. Before you apply for an SEO Job, make sure you have some practical experience in-hand so you can impress the interviewer with a case study, which brings us to tip 5.

Tip 5: Show up with SEO case studies - It doesn't make any sense if you work on an SEO Project and do not have a case study prepared. From the initial analysis to the increase in traffic, and the authority of the website, get every included in your step-by-step SEO case study. This would help the interviewer understand your way of handling an SEO Project.

Tip 6: Learn the hidden SEO Secrets - There are many untapped SEO methods to help outrank competitors in any niche. Some of these are Skyscraper technique, Usage of Authority Domains, Secrets of guest posts
outreaching, and more.

Mention these strategies in your interview after applying them in your project, and get ready to see a positive response from the company.

Tip 7: Don't waste time on SEO Certifications - Here's what I would recommend: do some keyword research (low competition with a decent search volume) for a side project and build a successful SEO case study.

Doing this before applying for the next job would definitely make you more valuable instead of getting a certification that the interviewer might not even consider.

Tip 8: Quality Link-Building Strategies - Gone are the days when link directories, social bookmarking, and similar manual submission websites used to work to rank a keyword. But, unfortunately, there are still some institutes that teach these old-school link building practices, the majority of which are considered as spam.

When asked about your off-page strategies, try answering more on quality link building strategies like guest posting, podcast submissions, PR, and link building on high authority websites.

Conclusion

So, these were some of the major tips that you could apply in your next SEO interview to get the job you deserve. I wish you all the best and don't forget to share this guide with your other SEO friends if you find it useful.