What are the key on-page SEO elements you check on a page?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Title tag and meta description
- Headings structure (one clear H1)
- Helpful content matching intent
- Internal links and descriptive anchors
- Image alt text, URL, structured data
Model answer
I start with the title tag: it should be unique, clear and include the main topic near the start. Next is the meta description, which does not directly affect ranking but can improve click-through rate. Then I check the headings: one clear H1 and logical H2s and H3s that make the page easy to scan. The most important part is the content itself: does it fully answer the search intent, is it accurate, original and easy to read? I also look at internal links to and from the page with descriptive anchor text, a short readable URL, image alt text and file sizes, and relevant structured data like FAQ, Article or Product. Finally I check that the page is indexable, has the right canonical and loads quickly on mobile.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed easy round and get scored on every answer.
More easy SEO Specialist questions
- Explain in simple words how a search engine like Google finds and ranks pages.
- What is search intent, and why does it matter for SEO?
- What are backlinks, and what makes a good backlink?
- How do you use Google Search Console in your daily SEO work?
- What are Core Web Vitals, and why do they matter?
- What is the difference between robots.txt and a noindex tag?
- What is local SEO, and how would you improve a local business's visibility?
- What is structured data, and how do you use it for SEO?
- How do you write good title tags?