Employers looking to hire individuals to work in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) should consider an SEO test to evaluate whether candidates have the right skills, knowledge and competencies necessary to succeed in the role.
An SEO test is an assessment of the skills and knowledge required to grow a website's visitors and leads from queries on search engines.
Consisting of multiple-choice questions, the SEO test evaluates candidates on their knowledge of technical SEO and strategies to generate search engine traffic, as well as software knowledge and best practices.
A high score on an SEO test indicates a candidate is competent to deliver the work required from an SEO specialist.
SEO Test
SEO is a vital part of traffic and lead generation for websites and has become an integral part of most marketing departments. An effective SEO team can have a huge impact on revenue, building brand awareness, reaching new customers, and increasing leads.
The SEO test assesses whether a candidate possesses the required knowledge to perform successfully in an SEO position, so you shortlist the right candidates.
It can be difficult to shortlist SEO applicants from a talent pool, especially if they appear to have similar levels of experience. Resumes alone can often give limited insight into a candidate's skills, which could lead to decisions being based on instinct rather than data.
An SEO test helps solve this problem by providing you with comparative data to base your decisions on. You can easily administer the test to a large number of candidates in your talent pool to receive comparative data that reveals the most suitable candidates for your position.
The test will highlight a candidate's proficiency in key areas required to be successful in an SEO role, such as their knowledge on researching keywords and competitors, crawling, indexing, analytics and technical SEO.
An SEO test could be useful for the following roles:
Results for the SEO Test along with other assessments the candidate takes will be compiled to produce a candidate report. The report is automatically generated and available both online and as a downloadable pdf so they can be shared with other team members and employees alike.
Candidates will need to answer a range of questions that measure industry-specific technical skills where applicable (e.g. Google Analytics), soft skills (e.g. interpersonal), aptitude (e.g. error checking) and relevant personality dimensions (e.g. detail orientation). The results present a holistic view of how well suited each candidate is for the job at hand, using a data-driven approach.
The format varies by type of question, including multiple-choice for aptitude and technical skills, situational judgement for soft skills and agreement on a Likert scale for the personality dimensions. This approach ensures candidates are being assessed in an accurate and fair manner, and that results reflect the true underlying qualities of each candidate.
The characteristics, abilities and knowledge necessary to be an SEO specialist were identified using the US Department of Labor's comprehensive O*NET database. O*NET is the leading source of occupational information that is constantly updated by collecting data from employees in specific job roles.
During the development process, test questions were rigorously analysed to maximise reliability and validity in line with industry best practices. They were created by our team of I/O psychologists and psychometricians – who collaborated with subject-matter-experts – and field-tested with a representative sample of job applicants who have varying experience, just like you might find in a talent pool.
Each test is reviewed by a panel of individuals representing diverse backgrounds to check for any sensitivity, fairness, face validity and accessibility issues. This ensures each candidate has a fair chance of demonstrating their true level of expertise.
Our SEO test is monitored to ensure it is up-to-date and optimised for performance.
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Simple, easy-to-use candidate comparison reports mean you don’t need to be a psychologist to interpret them.
“We used Picked as part of our Finance Graduate Scheme recruitment and it was just what we needed – really simple to send candidates the link to complete and clear to see how they all compared. And great value for money!”
Our team of assessment experts is made up of I/O psychologists and psychometricians who are dedicated to making all of our tests as reliable, valid and fair as possible. They strictly adhere to best practices in the industry and stay on top of the latest innovations to ensure job candidates’ unique profiles of characteristics, abilities and knowledge are being measured accurately while minimising bias. They leverage decades of research and advanced predictive analytics to build assessments that link to outcomes that matter, such as job performance, turnover, engagement, culture fit and more.
“Personality profiling allowed us to perform lookalike modelling of our most successful employees and use this as a blueprint for new hires.”
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) specialists help generate website traffic referred through search engines, allowing businesses to generate more potential leads, grow their brand awareness, and increase revenue.
Other tests that might be worth considering are software skills tests in specific SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs and Google Analytics, as well as a personality test for cultural fit, numerical reasoning and error checking.
Picked operates on a monthly or annual subscription basis. We have several plans to suit your hiring needs, which you can check out here. Alternatively, you can get in touch with us to discuss a custom plan.
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