SEO Interview Questions – Set 01

What is the syntax of the Robots Meta tag?

The syntax of a Robots Meta tag is very simple:

<meta name=?robots? content=?instructions for crawler?>

In the syntax, you can add different values or parameters of robots meta tags as a placeholder as we have written: “instructions for the crawler” as a placeholder. Some commonly used values of robots meta tags include an index, follow, noindex, nofollow and more.

What is Schema Markup?

Schema markup, which is also known as structured data, is a code or microdata that you incorporate in your web pages to enable search engine better understand your pages and provide more relevant results to users. It helps search engines interpret and categorize information, which you want to highlight and to be presented as a rich snippet by the search engine.
The schema does not affect the crawling. It just changes the way the information is displayed and assigns a meaning to the content. So, it tells the search engine what your data means rather than just telling what it says.

What is HTTPS/SSL Update?

HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure), is a protocol for secure communication on the World Wide Web. It uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to add an extra layer of security to the standard HTTP connection, i.e., it is a secure version of HTTP. It encrypts all data or communication between the server and the browser.
The websites which use HTTP protocol, the data is transmitted between the site server and the browser as plain text, so anyone who intercepts your connection can read this data. Earlier, only the websites that handle sensitive data like credit card information were using it, but now almost all sites prefer HTTPS over HTTP. An HTTPS connection provides the following benefits:

  • Website Authentication
  • Data Integrity
  • Data Encryption

What is referral traffic?

The referral traffic refers to the visitors that come to your site from the direct links on other websites rather than from the search engine. In simple words, the visits to your domain directly from other domains are called referral traffic. For example, a site that likes your page may post a link recommending your page. The visitor on this site may click on this link and visit your site.

You can also increase referral traffic by leaving links on other blogs, forums, etc. when you put a hyperlink of your page on other websites like forums users will click and visit your webpage. Google tracks such visits as referral visits or traffic. So, it is a Google’s way of reporting visits that come to your site from sources outside of search engine.

What is Google?

It is an American multinational company which specializes in Internet-based products and services. Its services include a search engine, online advertising, cloud computing, software and more.

What is Directory Submission?

Directory submission is an off-page SEO technique that helps improve the SEO of your site. It allows you to submit your site to a specific category of a web directory, e.g., if your website talks about heath, you are supposed to submit your site in the health category of a web directory.
You are required to follow the guidelines of a web directory before submitting your site. Some of the popular directory submission sites are www.dmoz.org and www.seofriendly.com and www.directorylisting.com.

What is the main usage of search engine spiders?

A spider is a program used by search engines to index websites. It is also called a crawler or search engine robot. The main usage of search engine spiders is to index sites. It visits the websites and read their pages and creates entries for the search engine index. They act as data searching tools that visit websites to find new or updated content or pages and links.

Spiders do not monitor sites for unethical activities. They are called spiders as they visit many sites simultaneously, i.e., they keep spanning a large area of the web. All search engines use spiders to build and update their indexes.

What is a 404 error?

404 error is an HTTP response status code which indicates that the requested page could not be found on the server. This error is generally displayed in the internet browser window just like web pages.

Which are the most important areas to include your keyword for the SEO purpose?

Page title, H1, Body text or content, Meta title, Meta description, Anchor links and Image Alt Tags are some of the most important areas where we can include our keywords for the SEO purpose.

What is the Google Algorithm?

Google algorithm is a set of rules, codes or commands that enables Google to return search results relevant to the queries made by the users. It is the Google’s algorithm that allows it to rank the websites on SERPs on the basis of quality and relevancy. The websites with quality content and relevant information tend to remain at the top of the SERPs.

So, Google is a search engine that is based on a dynamic set of codes called algorithm to provide the most appropriate and relevant search results based on users’ queries.