SEO interview questions

Crawling is when a search engine's bot fetches a page by following links or a sitemap. Indexing is when the engine processes that page and stores it so it can be shown in results. A page can be crawled but not indexed, for example if it is a duplicate or marked noindex.

I start with what the audience actually searches, then check the intent behind the phrase by looking at what currently ranks. If the top results are guides, I write a guide; if they are product pages, an article is the wrong format. I also prefer a specific phrase we can genuinely answer well over a broad term with heavy competition.

I would work in order: check whether robots.txt now blocks it, whether a noindex tag or wrong canonical was added, and whether the URL changed without a 301 redirect. If it is still indexed but lower, I compare it with the pages now ranking to see if they answer the query better. I would also check whether the drop matches a site change date.

A 301 is for when the old URL should no longer be used and visitors should be sent to the new one. A canonical is for when several URLs must stay available, such as filtered or tracking-parameter versions of a product page, but one should be treated as the main version.

It means showing real experience and knowledge, being clear about who wrote the page and why they can be trusted, and keeping facts accurate. In practice I add first-hand examples, cite the method behind any claim, and update pages when information changes.

I avoid keyword stuffing, hidden text, buying links and mass-producing thin pages that only target keywords. They break search engine spam policies and can lead to ranking loss or manual action. They also give visitors a poor experience, which hurts the site even before any penalty.