What SEO Hiring Managers Actually Look For

Most advice about SEO interviews comes from people who've been candidates. I've been on the other side of the table. I've hired SEOs for my teams across agencies, startups, and enterprise companies.

Can you think, or can you only execute?

Execution skills matter. But I can teach execution. I can't teach judgment. When I ask "how would you approach SEO for our company?" I'm looking for evidence that you can assess a situation, identify what matters most, and explain why.

The candidates who stand out are the ones who show me they've already thought about our business. They've looked at the site, noticed something specific, and formed an opinion. Even if the opinion is wrong, the fact that they formed one tells me they can think independently.

Do you understand how SEO connects to the business?

SEO exists to drive business outcomes. I'm always listening for whether a candidate thinks in SEO metrics or business metrics. "I increased organic traffic to the pricing page by 45%, which contributed to a 20% increase in demo requests" is better than "I increased organic traffic by 45%." Same work. Different framing. One gets hired.

How do you handle ambiguity?

SEO is full of ambiguity. I'm looking for candidates who are comfortable operating in that environment. "I didn't have enough data to be certain, so I ran a small test first" is a great answer. "I waited until I had complete data" tells me you'll be slow.

Can you communicate clearly?

SEO is a cross-functional discipline. If you can only communicate with other SEOs, you'll struggle. I'm also looking at how you answer questions you don't know the answer to. "I'm not sure, but here's how I'd figure it out" is a great response.

Do you take ownership?

Candidates who take ownership of their results, including the ones that didn't go well, are much easier to work with. "We had a site migration that caused a 20% traffic drop. I made the call to launch before we had finished validating all the redirects. I learned from that and changed how I manage migrations going forward."

What preparation actually signals

When a candidate says "I noticed your /blog section gets a lot of traffic but your product pages seem underlinked from it" in the first round, I'm already more interested. That preparation is rare. Which is exactly why it stands out.

The candidates who get hired aren't always the ones with the most experience. They're the ones who've thought carefully about the role, prepared specifically for this company, and can talk about their work in a way that makes the hiring manager confident they'll hit the ground running.