How to use these questions
Ask every candidate the same twelve questions, write down what they say, and judge the answers on specifics. You do not need SEO knowledge to do this. You need to notice whether an answer is about your store or about SEO in general.
The questions are in four groups: experience, your WordPress setup, the work itself and the business terms. Each has a good answer, which is specific, honest and checkable, and a weak answer, which is vague, evasive or too sure of itself. We describe both so you can recognize them live.
Before you start, it helps to know what you are hiring for. Our overview of the kinds of help a WooCommerce store can buy, and how to choose between them lays out the options, so the questions land on the right person. If you have not decided between an individual, an agency and a service, do that first.
Send the questions in advance if you like. Good candidates appreciate it, and you learn something from whether they read them. Then take notes during the call, quoting the answers as closely as you can. Memory favors whoever you spoke to last, and notes are fairer.
Questions about experience
1. Which WooCommerce stores have you worked on, and what changed?
Good answer: They name a type of store, describe what they changed, such as category copy, redirect cleanup or a speed fix, and show a Search Console view or a live page. They are honest about what took longer than expected.
Weak answer: A list of famous logos, a statement that they have worked with many ecommerce brands, or an example from another platform with no WooCommerce detail.
2. What would you look at first on my store, and why?
Good answer: Something concrete and sequenced. They would check whether Google can index the store, look at Search Console for the pages that already get impressions, and check hosting speed, before touching content. They may name one or two things they noticed on your site already.
Weak answer: A standard process in general terms, or an immediate sales pitch for a package before they have looked at anything.
3. What results can you show, and how were they measured?
Good answer: Clicks and impressions for specific pages, taken from Google Search Console, over a stated period, with an honest note on what else might have contributed. They explain that results take months and say what a realistic first quarter looks like.
Weak answer: A rankings screenshot with no date, traffic numbers with no source, or a promise to match results from a case study. Watch for results that count branded searches, where people already typed the store name.
Questions about your WordPress setup
These are the questions that separate a WooCommerce specialist from a general SEO. They are also the ones many store owners never think to ask.
4. How would you deal with my hosting and site speed?
Good answer: They would test the store with Google's PageSpeed Insights, separate what is fixable inside your current setup, such as image sizes and caching, from what needs a different host or a developer, and tell you honestly if the host is the limit.
Weak answer: That speed is not part of SEO, or that they will install a speed plugin and consider it done. Speed is shared between hosting, the theme and the plugins.
5. How do you handle plugins, including the SEO plugin I already use?
Good answer: They would review what is installed, keep one SEO plugin and not several, avoid adding plugins that duplicate what you have, and explain what each change costs in speed and risk. They point you to each plugin's own documentation for current settings. Our page on what SEO plugins do on a WooCommerce store explains what a good answer covers.
Weak answer: A plan to replace your plugins with their preferred tools without looking at what you have, or a claim that a plugin alone will do the SEO.
6. What do you do before you change anything on the live store?
Good answer: A backup first, always. For anything risky, such as redirects, permalink settings or theme changes, they test on a staging copy. They ask for limited WordPress access, not the owner login, and they keep a log of every change.
Weak answer: No mention of backups, a request for your admin password, or a casual attitude about editing live files. This is the answer that matters most. Read how to give SEO help access to WordPress safely before the call so you know what to expect.
Questions about the work
7. What will be live on my store in 90 days?
Good answer: A list. For example, fixes to redirects and duplicate URLs, a set of category pages rewritten, a number of product pages improved, and a first group of articles. They name the pages they would start with.
Weak answer: "A comprehensive strategy" or "ongoing optimization." Anything that cannot be turned into a list of things you can open and look at.
8. Who will actually do the work?
Good answer: A name and a role for each task, who writes, who edits in WordPress and who reviews. They are open about any contractors.
Weak answer: A team described only as experts, or an answer that changes depending on who is in the room. A senior person in the sales call and an unnamed junior on the work is a common pattern.
9. How would you handle the duplicate URLs my filters, tags and variations create?
Good answer: They explain that stores often expose many near-identical URLs, decide which pages should be in search, and use tools such as canonical tags and noindex settings for the rest. They say they would check your own site to see how many exist.
Weak answer: A blank look, or an answer that treats every page as worth indexing. This is a WooCommerce-specific problem and a good expert has dealt with it before.
Questions about reporting, promises and leaving
10. How will you report, and from which tool?
Good answer: A monthly report that lists pages published and changed, with Google Search Console numbers for those pages that you can open yourself. They explain what a quiet month looks like and how they would tell you about it.
Weak answer: A dashboard of keyword positions with no link to clicks, hours logged instead of pages shipped, or a report built only in their own software.
11. What will you not promise?
Good answer: A ranking position, a date by which traffic doubles or a result that depends on Google's decisions. They explain what they do promise, such as a standard of work and reporting.
Weak answer: A guarantee of page one, or a quick answer to every question you ask. Confidence is fine. Certainty about something nobody controls is not.
12. What happens if we stop working together?
Good answer: You keep everything. The content, the changes, the notes and your Search Console and analytics accounts, which stay in your name from day one. They give you a handover document and a clear notice period.
Weak answer: An accounts setup under their login, a long lock-in, or surprise at the question. A provider who expects to be asked this has thought about it.
When you have all twelve answers from each candidate, put them next to each other. The differences tend to be obvious. If you want a structured way to compare, our page on comparing WooCommerce SEO companies on the work they would ship turns the answers into a sheet.
Common questions that will not help you choose
Some questions get asked on every sales call, and every provider has a smooth answer ready.
Can you get me to page one? Every answer is yes or a hedge. Ask which pages on your store they would change first and how you would see the effect.
How long have you been doing SEO? Years say little. Someone with three focused years on WooCommerce can beat someone with fifteen years of general marketing. Ask for recent work on stores like yours.
Do you keep up with Google updates? Everyone says yes. Ask how they would know if an update had affected your store, which tests whether they can read your data.
What is your process? Every process has a similar shape. Ask for a list of what they will do in the first two weeks instead. It gets at the same thing with less room to hide.
Swap each of these for a question only a specific answer can satisfy, and you will learn more in less time. Also, trust your sense of the person. If they listen, answer directly and tell you what they do not know, that is worth more than a polished pitch.
After the calls: what to do with the answers
Write your deal breakers before you read your notes. A rankings guarantee, a request for your owner login, no mention of backups and no willingness to show any work are all reasonable ones. Cross out anyone who trips one.
Then pick the best two or three and ask each for the same small test, such as a rewritten category page or a review of three product pages. Compare the results with names hidden. A candidate who answered all twelve questions well and then produced a generic sample has told you something important.
Finally, agree the first 30 days in writing. Which fixes, which pages, which report, on what date. Then check one thing yourself in the first month, by opening a page they say they changed. Good providers like being checked.
If it turns out that you can do most of this yourself, that is a fine result too. Our WooCommerce SEO guide covers the work in order, and the answers you collected will help you judge it as you go.
The short version for a first call
If you only have ten minutes with a candidate, use these four. They are the ones that tell you the most, fastest.
First, what would you look at first on my store? It shows whether they have looked, and whether they think in a sensible order. Second, what will be live in 90 days? It shows whether they can name work. Third, what do you do before you change a live store? It shows whether they respect the risk. Fourth, how will I be able to check your results myself? It shows whether they are willing to be held to account.
If a candidate answers all four well, book the longer call and use the full list. If they stumble on two or more, you have saved yourself an hour and likely a lot more.
What a good call feels like
Numbers and checklists matter, and so does the feel of the conversation. A good call has a few signs you can notice without any expertise.
The candidate asks you questions, and not only about your budget. They want to know what sells, what your margins are like and what you have tried. They listen to the answers and use them later in the call.
They say I do not know when they do not. They tell you where their experience stops, and what they would need to check. This kind of honesty is rare enough that it is worth giving weight.
They do not hurry you. You are about to give someone access to a live store. A candidate who respects that will encourage you to take time, compare others and test them first.
How RunOctopus handles this
These are good questions to put to us as well. Here is how we answer the main ones for a WooCommerce store.
RunOctopus is a done-for-you service. Its AI, Ollie, researches your business, then writes and publishes pages directly on your own website. A team plans, writes, reviews and publishes alongside Ollie. It works with Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce and Wix. You install nothing, approve nothing, upload nothing and schedule nothing, and pages go live on their own.
The first week brings 8 long-form articles, 6 pages and a custom interactive tool built for your niche. After that it is 175+ pieces of content a month, written, published and linked. You also get reports on where ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini name your business. The promise is more visibility on Google and in AI answers within 90 days, measured against the 90 days before you joined, or every dollar back.
For scale, an agency doing this work charges about $3,209 a month (2026 average, 439 providers) and publishes 4 to 12 pieces. You can see what Ollie would do for your store before you decide anything. Paste your address into the free site read. Ollie reads the site and shows the plan. No account, no call.