5 Interview Questions to Expect When Applying for a Search Engine Marketing Position

Search Engine Marketing helps to generate website visibility on SERPS via paid ads on search engine platforms such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. SEM plays a pivotal role in the growth of the business by giving instant visibility to websites through ads, thus helping to generate leads and revenue.

SEM comprises of paid (PPC) and unpaid (SEO) strategies. They work together to help generate visibility and leads for businesses. In this blog, we will focus on the PPC (Pay-Per-Click) aspect of SEM and how to prepare for it while applying for a job. As this is a broad spectrum, let’s break it down between a Beginner and an Experienced position:

Search Engine Marketing Lead Generation

Questions you can get asked as a Beginner.

For a beginner profile, you should have a fair idea of the PPC platforms, and the terminology used. Let us look at the below questions to expect while applying for a SEM role:

     1. What do you understand about Google Ads/Microsoft Ads and PPC?

You should know what Google Ads/Microsoft Ads are and how they help to show the ads on SERPs. Knowing how PPC works helps to understand how to bring more traffic and leads to the website and how campaign success is measured.

     2. The terminology used for PPC campaigns

While researching about Google Ads and the Microsoft Ads, you should also learn about the below parameters:

  •  Clicks: A click gets recorded whenever a user clicks the ad and goes to the specific landing page for that particular ad.
  •  Impressions: This is the number of times the ad shows on SERPS.
  • CPC: The cost per click refers to the cost spent on each click for the ad.
  • CTR: The Click-Through Rate refers to how many times the ad gets clicked versus how many times the ad is shown. The formula to calculate CTR is – Clicks divided by Impressions and multiplied by 100.
  •  Keywords: Keywords relevant to the focus of the business help to bring in relevant traffic that can convert better.
     3. What is a Campaign structure?

The campaign structure has an Account. You can include various campaigns (with their budget). In each campaign, you can have multiple ad groups. Then, you need to include keywords and map them to the relevant ad group to generate relevant traffic from search queries entered in SERPS. A well-refined campaign structure can help to segregate campaigns based on the focus of the business, targeting, and services/products provided so that you can utilize your budget effectively to generate leads/revenue.

     4. What is the difference between PPC and SEO?

Knowing these digital marketing strategies helps to show how they work and for what purpose they are used. In PPC you buy ad space by bidding on keywords to show ads instantly, which helps to generate leads and revenue quickly. SEO is a continuous process that helps to optimize website content in SERPS over time.

     5. What are the recent/latest digital marketing trends?

This gives the impression that you are aware of the latest changes/trends in digital marketing and how they affect the marketing strategy of advertisers. Smart bidding has seen growth, and you should know which bidding strategies can be used to implement this feature. With AI on the rise, this will evolve and change the digital marketing space for companies.

Search Engine Marketing Interview

Questions to expect while applying for an Experienced role

After spending a few years in the digital marketing industry, the questions for your interview can get advanced depending on your years of experience and the job role/designation you are applying for. Let us look at five questions that can be asked during the interview:

     1. What are the bidding strategies?

You should know all the bidding strategies to achieve the specific goal of the business. To generate website traffic CPC bidding can be used. For brand awareness campaigns to increase impressions, an advertiser could use a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) or CPV (cost per views) bidding strategy for video impressions. Smart bidding strategies include Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, Maximize Clicks, and Enhanced CPC. You can give an example to show the bidding strategy used to achieve business goals.

     2. How do you evaluate a PPC campaign?

You can elaborate on tracking important metrics such as impressions, CTR, clicks, CPC, quality score, keywords cost and search terms, conversion rate, etc. You can also speak about the importance of analyzing campaigns to plan and execute budgets and bidding strategies to deliver the goals and achieve the ROI. Based on the details you provide; it shows that you can analyze the data and make decisions to improve the performance of the campaigns.

    3. How would you guide a beginner to work on PPC campaigns?

This question gauges your experience with the ad platforms. You can give examples of successful campaigns you have run for previous companies to demonstrate your knowledge about processes and handling campaigns.

    4. Situation-based questions.

This can be various questions based on different situations to understand your experience with the Ads platform to achieve the campaign goals. Some of the situational-based questions could be:

  •   How would you research for keywords to include in the campaign?
  •   How would you measure the success of a campaign?
  •   Based on the given budget and goal, how would you decide the cost per click
  •   Impact of quality score to determine CPC and ad rank in the auction.
     5. What are the latest trends in PPC?

It is important to stay on top of changing trends to improve processes and achieve campaign goals. Customers’ behavior changes from time to time; this is evident in the search queries, so you should adapt to the changes to prevent the performance of campaigns from dropping.

SEM Team Discussing Marketing Strategy

Become a Part of ReachLocal for Exciting Career Opportunities:

To excel in a digital marketing interview, it’s crucial to have top skills and a deep understanding of platforms like Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. Learn more about the top skills for a PPC specialist.

These tools represent just a fraction of the diverse landscape that defines this rapidly evolving industry. For a comprehensive exploration of various facets of digital marketing, we invite you to visit our Blog page, where insights into this expansive universe await.

At ReachLocal India, we pride ourselves on offering a variety of digital marketing solutions supported by a team of skilled professionals dedicated to fostering a collaborative work environment. Whether you are embarking on your career or seeking to advance within this field, our Career page provides a gateway to opportunities. Our training methodologies are designed to immerse you in real-life scenarios, enhancing your analytical and strategic skills. Join us to cultivate and refine your skills, positioning yourself for success in this industry.