100 Updated Search Engine Marketing Specailist Interview Questions Part -2

Q – 61 Suppose our company has 2 million keywords. How will you manage an account this size?

Ans- An open-ended competency question. Automation of mundane tasks and increasing productivity is a major focus at my company. All of our search marketers are dedicated to sourcing and trialling new tools and finding ways to be more time-efficient.

Usually the interview candidate will refer to bid management tools, but what I’m looking for here is their PPC toolset experience (keyword tools, web analytics tools, inventory management tools, etc.) as well as their opinion. We like opinionated, articulate people.

Tell me why 5 million keywords are stupid. Or how you’d manage them on a tiered basis of top performers, has-potential, and dead wood.

Another example: A candidate brought up the differences in in-house Google APIs and using Adwords Editor, which suggested to me she had experience in managing accounts with significant keyword inventory.

Q – 62 Tell me how do you describe building your keyword list?

Ans- Building a list of keywords used for any organic or paid search campaign should be systematic:

Identify your audience
Who are the target audience of this campaign? What would they probably be using to look for my products and services? Knowing your audience is the first sign of a successful paid search campaign.

Review your existing offerings
Based on what search terms people are using, do I have these terms? What are the possible landing pages? Does my website have content voids?

Look at your competitors
Look at competitors and analyze how they position themselves. Are they using the same terms as I do? Broader or more specific?

Check web analytics results
History will be recorded on web analytics tools: keywords used, their effectiveness in driving sales or leads and other useful information. Such data should give us idea on which keywords yielded better ROI.

Expand keywords using various tools
Based on keywords gathered so far, expansion is made possible through various tools available: Google AdWords keyword tool, WordTracker, KeywordDiscovery, and so on. From this big list, we can sort, prioritize and group these keywords according to importance, timing or other segmentation methods.

Q – 63 Tell me how do you manage large set of keywords (hundred thousand to millions)?

Ans- It is prerequisite to mention automatic bid tools to manage this huge paid search campaign. But merely saying so does not mean you’re off the hook. It helps to explain classification of keywords, grouping them according to priorities, business objectives and target audience so that if business strategies change, campaigns can easily be modified.

Can also mention classification of keywords according to importance such as “high”, “medium” or “low” and those that are of secondary importance, low performance, and those keywords that are candidates for removal.

Explaining clearly how the number of keywords grew tremendously by stating methodologies for keyword research, usage of match types, negative keywords and describing timing phases helps, too.

Q – 64 Explain me about an AdWords beta or feature that you’d love to get your hands on?

Ans- Whether your candidate is coming from an in-house position or an agency, everybody is limited to using the features that fit with their managed accounts.

You could manage millions in lead gen spend and never have gotten to work with Shopping/PLA campaigns. Perhaps you are itching to test image extensions but don’t have a good fit. You are looking for a knowledge of recent product releases or betas that indicates they keep current with the industry and have an enthusiasm for staying dynamic and learning/testing new features.

The answer here doesn’t even need to be a particularly brand-new feature if it shows that your candidate keeps a holistic pulse on the industry and has an enthusiasm for their discipline beyond the day-to-day accounts they are directly assigned.

If you hear that they’ve never managed an account with conversion tracking enabled, you’ll want to investigate this in more depth. It’s possible that there could be a valid reason for this, but also not terribly likely, and if they’ve been working on accounts that are this constrained, their overall skill set may be behind the curve.

Q – 65 Explain me what could be done to reduce the costs for paid media campaigns without losing traffic tomorrow?

Ans- With this question, the interview wants to know your ways of hitting the ground and making an instant difference to their business.

Do research. Your answers don’t have to be complicated or extremely detailed. Have a glance at the company’s current activity and list three quick changes which would act as instant wins. While answering such questions, outline the points you have come up with and emphasize that there are a lot more ideas which would take longer to implement but will yield better ROI.

The aim is to show the interviewer that you have both short-term and long-term plans in mind.

Q – 66 Suppose I plan to expand my business to Singapore, is there a need to get listed on local search engines and directories?

Ans- People across the world rely on the US-based search companies. Google has versions of its search engines for many different countries whereas Yahoo and the Open Directory have international branches of their directories.

By getting listed on a smaller regional or local website directory, the company can boost their search engine placement on all of the major search engines by increasing popularity i.e. the number and quality of links to your site.

There are some local directories providing direct links to a website listed whereas others use scripts to track clicks on the sites listed. This helps in driving visitors to your website.

Q – 67 Tell me what do you understand by Google Ad API? What are the uses of Google Ad API?

Ans- Good Ad API is designed for representing large, tech-savvy advertisers and third parties. It allows developers build an application that directly coordinates with Google AdWords server.

With Google Ad API, one can build an application to do following things:

☛ Develop additional applications and tools to manage accounts
☛ Automatically generate landing pages, custom reports, ad text, and generate keywords.
☛ Synchronize AdWors data with your inventory system to manage campaigns on the basis of the stock.

Q – 68 Which social media channels do you recommend for our business and why?

Ans- This answers two questions at once. Has the candidate done the research on your company ahead of time, and how well versed they are in the various social platforms. Pay attention if they mention demographics, style or frequency of messaging, and overall strategy.

Q – 69 Our company brand is called “red widgets.” However, we also rank first organically for our brand “red widgets.” What PPC strategy would you propose for the keyword “red widgets” and why?

Ans- This question looks at the candidate’s logic as well as their experience with branded keywords.

Some good answers I have heard include:

“Depends on the aggregate ROAS for both the organic and paid campaign. If we have a better return overall when Adwords is running, then go for it.”

“I would probably run a paid campaign because it is a brand keyword. Some studies I have read showed that running a paid campaign for brands acts a double reinforcement of the brand.”

Q – 70 Suppose we rank high on our brand terms in organic results, do we need to rank well on paid search?

Ans- Yes, you may need to rank well on paid search even if you have high rankings within your organic search keywords. That’s because ranking high on organic search, even for your selected terms does not mean automatic success in achieving your business goals. If the ROI for paid search campaign is better than the organic search campaign, it makes more sense to do so.

Also, paid search ads on top reinforce the presence of top organic search results. They make your brands/products/services look more credible.

Q – 71 Suppose I represent the competitor who is buying the same trademarked keyword owned by your department. Despite a polite email, I have refused to stop bidding on your trademark term. What possible ways will you adopt?

Ans- Trademark infringement is an issue in PPC industry and leads to inevitable consequences. This question tests the candidate’s knowledge on Google trademark infringement policy as well as the best practices for bidding on a competitor’s keywords. You have to reflect your conflict resolution skills.

Q – 72 Explain me how many keywords should I have per ad group?

Ans- Depending upon the level of ad control (by changing your keyword count), the number of keywords in an ad group varies.

For almost 50% of the advertisers, 10-20 keywords per ad group will work fine. However, newbies to PPC often fill ad groups with over 100 keywords but this doesn’t work well. This is because your ad group is serving one ad message, therefore that one single ad has to represent all of your different keywords.

AdWords’ Quality Score system loves it when your ad, your keyword & your landing page work in perfect harmony and are closely relevant. Too many keywords lead to too little relevance in your ad.

Q – 73 Explain me how do we measure the success of SEM efforts?

Ans- The efforts you put in search engine marketing are quantifiable and can be measured easily.

☛ If your objective is to generate awareness then you can track ‘impressions’ and ‘clicks’ on paid and organic search engine listings.
☛ Whereas, if the aim is to measure brand performance or preference of text ad creative then you can measure ‘click through’ and ‘conversion’ rates.
☛ For generating qualified leads, one can track email inquiries, downloads (demos or trials), or online registrations (for white papers, events, or newsletters).
☛ In order to track SEM efforts for sales, you can track offline sales or e-commerce sales through printable coupons or phone call tracking.

Q – 74 Explain me what is your most successful search campaign? Why?

Ans- Who doesn’t showcase their accomplishments on CV? And, it is highly possible that you too have listed your most successful PPC campaign on your CV. When the interviewer poses this question, he wants to know about your accomplishments in your words. They want to know the ins and outs of the campaign.

Tell that about the aims, what keywords you want to target and the reason behind using those keywords along with the result achieved by you.

While talking about your previous campaigns, they will judge you on your passion and see if you are genuinely enthusiastic about the industry. Be sure to include stats and avoid giving false hopes.

Q – 75 Tell me what is the role of conversion optimizer in AdWords?

Ans- Conversion optimizer is a tool used by Google AdWords for bid manipulation and decides which clicks on the ad will be valuable. This helps you to return maximum on your investment.

Q – 76 Explain me what all things can be done using Google Ad API?

Ans- With Google Ad API, you can build an application that can do following things

☛ You can automatically generate keywords, ad text, custom reports and landing pages
☛ Develop additional applications and tools to help you manage accounts
☛ Synchronize Adwords data with your inventory system to manage campaigns based on stock

Q – 77 Do you know in google Adwords that options can’t be changed after creating an account?

Ans- After creating account Currency and Time Zone, cannot be changed.

Q – 78 What is Ad rank?

Ans- Ad rank determines your ad position on Google page, and it is determined by your bid for that keyword and quality score.

Q – 79 Explain what are the hallmarks of a good PPC landing page?

Ans- The hallmarks of a good PPC landing page considers the following aspects:

☛ An attractive and powerful headline
☛ A supportive tagline
☛ Trust symbols
☛ A list of advantages
☛ A clear CTA (call to action)
☛ A lead capture form
☛ Use an image showing the context of use or a graphic that appeal to the visitors’ emotional side.

Q – 80 Explain me which paid media platforms would work well for our business and why?

Ans- Again, the best thing you could do is research. The interviewer yet again wants to know if you have done your homework. You need to consider which is the best-paid media platform for the company and how effectively they are using these platforms.

Think about different aims of the business in terms of objectives, KPIs, and keywords. Also, think realistically about which platforms would help them to achieve their goals. You can also go an extra mile by researching any new platforms and how it could help the company meeting their objectives.

Q – 81 Please explain what types of keywords are there?

Ans- There is no definite type of keywords, however, they are classified on the basis of how likely is going to be clicked by visitors.

For instance,

☛ Research Keywords: dress
☛ Consideration: white dress
☛ Purchase: buy white dress
☛ Loyalty: This must be shorter – Forever21

Q – 82 Explain me what is the possible impact of Ad Rank on Cost per Click?

Ans- Ad rank defines the actual cost per click that your opponents pay when someone clicks on their ads. The CPC can be calculated as Price by you = The ad rank of the person below you / your quality score + $0.01.

Q – 83 Explain me what do you understand by AdWords?

Ans- Google designed AdWords with an aim to assist in marketing product and services in a search engine and its affiliated sites. It places a text ad that appears when people search for phrases associated with your offering.

Q – 84 How you can improve conversion rates?

Ans- By creating ads that match properly with keywords and create tightly themed ad groups, you can target users to the campaign that helps in conversions.

Q – 85 What is an ad group in Google Adwords?

Ans- Ad group is a container of your keywords, advertisements, and landing pages. Google rewards advertisers who prepare Adword campaigns with tightly structured ad groups. Its not advisable to include all your keywords into the single ad group, but to organize keywords into themes.

Q – 86 Explain me why to use Google Adwords?

Ans- Google Adwords behave differently to traffic that comes from Google Adwords or “Pay Per Click”. The traffic that comes through surfing often visits the website for information, whereas the traffic via pay per click knows what they are clicking on and what they want to buy. So few visitors through Adwords might be more valuable than million visitors.

Q – 87 What is Google Ad API?

Ans- Google Ad API is designed for representing large, tech savvy advertisers and third parties. It allows developers build an application that directly interacts with Google Adwords server.

Q – 88 Explain me some of the Google Adword Ad Extensions?

Ans- Different ad extension can enhance the increase in traffic. Some of the common Ad extensions used in adwords are Sitelinks

☛ Call Extensions
☛ Location Extensions
☛ Social Annotations
☛ Seller ratings
☛ Mobile app extensions
☛ Offer ads
☛ Communication Ad
☛ Review extension
☛ Image and drop down navigation Ad extension

Q – 89 What are the other two options for bidding other than C-P-C?

Ans- Other than CPC the other two options are CPM (Cost per Thousand Impression) and CPA ( Cost Per Action ).

Q – 90 Tell me the working of Google auction?

Ans- An auction runs billion of times each month and the results are such that users find ads that are relevant to what they are looking for. Google processes the request and runs the auction that determines the ad position and CPC of each advertiser.

Q – 91 Do you know what is CTR and how one can calculate it?

Ans- Click through rate abbreviated as CTR tells the number of visitors visited on your ad on the web page. To calculate CTR, one can use the formula:

Number of clicks/Number of impressions X 100 = CTR
The answer will be in percentage which represents % of customers who have viewed your ad.

Q – 92 Tell me why did you choose PPC industry?

Ans- This is one of the most common PPC interview questions you will face! When the interviewer asks this question, he/she wants to know more about you as a candidate and why you chose to work in the field of Pay per Click marketing and advertising. You need to tell them about your passion and your desire to work in the industry in the future.

It would be great if you tell them about your back story with regard to what makes you tick as a candidate. Also, a good response could be to say that you are aware that the industry is extremely challenging and this is what attracts you. Show that you don’t want a boring job and prefers one which would challenge you on a daily basis.

Q – 93 Tell me what is the limit set for the characters or number for AdWords ad?

Ans- In AdWords, the limit for

☛ Description line 1: 25 characters
☛ Description line 2: 35 characters
☛ Description URL: 1024 characters

Q – 94 Tell me how can we improve conversion rates?

Ans- To target users to the campaign for boosting conversions, one has to create ads that match properly with keywords and create tightly themed ad groups.

Q – 95 What is an ad group is in Google AdWords?

Ans- Ad group is a container of your landing pages, advertisements, and keywords. Google rewards advertisers who prepare AdWord Campaigns with tightly structured ad groups. Adding all keywords into the single ad group is not advisable rather it is better to organize keywords into themes.

Q – 96 How to track conversions in Google Adwords?

Ans- In Google Adwords, conversion tracking can be done in following ways

☛ Tracking purchases by involving basic tracking code provided by Adwords and modifying it with additional code unique to your particular e-commerce platform
☛ View-through conversion window options tracks when a person sees your ad but does not click it (impression)
☛ By enabling your ad rotation setting to optimize for clicks, meaning that Adwords will serve the ads it feels are likely to be clicked
☛ By accessing search funnels inside tools and analysis, you can also know when customers clicked on your ad for the first time and how frequently they saw your ad before converting.

Q – 97 What is the meaning of CTR and how you can calculate?

Ans- CTR stands for Click through rate that tells the number of visitors visited on your ad on the web page. The formula for calculating CTR is

Number of click / Number of impressions X 100

These will give you an answer in percentage like what percentage of customers have viewed your ad.

Q – 98 What is conversion optimizer in AdWords?

Ans- Conversion Optimizer is a tool used by Google Adwords for bid manipulation and decides which clicks on the ad will be valuable. It can help you to return maximum on your investment.

Q – 99 Tell me what is Adwords?

Ans- Adwords is the system that Google has designed to assist in marketing product or services in Google search engine and its affiliated sites. It will place a text ad that appears when people search for phrases associated to your offering.

Q – 100 How does a Google auction work?

Ans- Each month auction gets run billion of times, and the result are such that users find ads that are relevant to what they are looking for. The search engine processes the request and runs the auction that determines the ad positions and each advertisers CPC.

Q – 101 How Adwords work?

Ans- Adwords work on bidding system if the bidding price is higher your ad will appear on top of the Google page. Adwords works on “pay per click” that means you only pay the amount you have bid if someone taps on your ad as a result of a web search.