Intro
Most candidates ask the same questions in interviews:
“Where do you see the company in five years?”
“What’s the culture like?”
“What are the next steps?”
They’re fine… but they don’t help you stand out.
If you want to leave a strong impression (and also avoid walking into a bad job), you need questions that show you think like a strategist, not just an applicant.
Below are unique interview questions to ask an employer — including smart options for SEO and marketing roles.
Unique Questions That Reveal the Real Expectations of the Role
1) “What would success look like in the first 30, 60, and 90 days?”
This forces the employer to define outcomes, not vibes.
2) “What’s the biggest challenge the previous person in this role struggled with?”
You’ll learn what’s really hard before you accept.
3) “What does a ‘great hire’ in this position do differently than an average hire?”
Great for uncovering the standard you’re being held to.
4) “If I started tomorrow, what’s the first problem you’d want me to solve?”
Shows you’re action-focused.
5) “What are the top 3 priorities competing for this team’s attention right now?”
Helps you understand whether the team is focused or constantly firefighting.
Unique Questions That Help You Spot a Bad Environment Fast
6) “How do you handle mistakes here?”
The answer tells you if it’s a blame culture or a learning culture.
7) “What causes high performers to leave the company?”
Hard question, but the best employers will answer honestly.
8) “What’s something people here don’t say out loud, but is true?”
This is an elite question. You’ll often get a revealing pause.
9) “How does the company make decisions when there’s disagreement?”
You’ll find out if the place is collaborative… or political.
10) “What does your team do when workloads spike?”
A direct way to uncover burnout risk.
Unique Questions That Show You Think Like a Leader
11) “How do you measure performance without micromanaging?”
Great for remote roles or roles with autonomy.
12) “If you could change one thing about the team immediately, what would it be?”
The answer shows self-awareness and honesty.
13) “What traits do your top performers share?”
Lets you assess if you fit the environment.
14) “What’s the biggest opportunity the company isn’t taking advantage of yet?”
Shows strategic thinking.
15) “What would make you confident that hiring me was the right decision?”
This frames you as someone who wants to deliver outcomes.
Unique Questions About Growth, Learning, and Promotion
16) “How do promotions actually happen here?”
Not “is there growth” — but how it works in reality.
17) “What skills would I need to develop to grow into the next level?”
You’ll learn if they invest in people.
18) “Do you have examples of someone who grew fast here? What did they do?”
Turns vague promises into proof.
19) “How do you support learning — budget, time, mentorship?”
If they say “we support it” but can’t describe it, it’s fluff.
Unique Questions About Strategy and Execution
20) “What’s currently working really well that you want more of?”
Lets you align with their wins immediately.
21) “What’s not working right now, but you hope I can fix?”
Great for identifying unrealistic expectations.
22) “How do you prioritize when everything feels urgent?”
This reveals process maturity (or lack of it).
Unique Questions to Ask If You’re Interviewing for an SEO Role
If you’re an SEO candidate, these questions will separate you instantly from 95% of applicants.
23) “What SEO work has already been done — and what results did you see?”
This shows you care about baseline + history.
24) “What does your SEO success metric look like: traffic, conversions, revenue, or pipeline?”
Most companies say “traffic” until you ask this.
25) “What’s your biggest constraint right now: dev time, content, backlinks, or internal alignment?”
This tells you what your real bottleneck will be.
26) “How do you currently handle technical SEO changes and prioritization?”
This reveals if SEO is respected or ignored.
27) “Do you have clear ownership between SEO, product, engineering, and content?”
SEO fails when ownership is unclear.
28) “How do you decide what content to create — and how do you measure content quality?”
You’ll learn if they are serious about topical authority or just publishing randomly.
29) “How do you handle SEO reporting and ranking visibility today?”
A great opening to talk about Ranktracker-style tracking and share of voice without sounding salesy.
Unique Questions That Help You Understand the Manager
30) “What does your ideal working relationship with me look like?”
One of the best manager-fit questions.
31) “What do you value most in your team: speed, quality, creativity, or consistency?”
The answer tells you what they reward.
32) “How do you like to communicate — async updates, meetings, dashboards?”
Stops mismatched expectations early.
Quick “Pick 5” List (If You Only Get Time for a Few)
If the interview is ending and you only have time for a few, ask these:
- “What does success look like in the first 90 days?”
- “What’s the biggest challenge the previous person struggled with?”
- “What’s not working right now that you want this role to fix?”
- “How do you measure performance in this role?”
- “How do decisions get made when people disagree?”
These make you look sharp, mature, and selective.
Final Tip (So You Don’t Sound Scripted)
Don’t fire questions like a checklist.
Instead, ask 1–2, then follow up with:
- “Why do you think that is?”
- “What have you tried so far?”
- “What’s preventing progress?”
That’s where the real insights come out — and where you stand out.
