50 Content Writer Interview Questions & Answers to Know: 2023

Are you an author? Do you enjoy writing and want to work as a full-time writer? Are you seeking full-time or part-time content writing jobs? You have come to the right spot because in this post I will share with you the most frequently asked content writing interview questions and how to properly answer them so that you impress the recruiter and boost your chances of being selected.

Let’s have a look at the questions.

01. Tell us something about yourself.

Ans. This is the most common question that every interviewer asks. When introducing yourself, only mention the things you believe the interviewer should know about you. Avoid talking and giving unnecessary details which are not related to the job or are not important in general. 

During your introduction, you should mention the following:

• Firstly, who you are? I.e. your name, where you reside and how many members there are in your family.
• Secondly, your educational background (always start with the most recent education you are either pursuing or completed.)
• Finally, what are your interests? What do like to do in your free time?

The interviewer asks about yourself to ascertain the type of person with whom they will be working in the future. Whether you are qualified for the specific job position? How well you can address a specific issue in the workplace? Etc.

As a result, you must tread cautiously when responding to this question. Prior you go to the interview, think about it and prepare notes.

02. How did you become involved in content writing?

Ans. You can explain how you got started writing in this section. What drew you to writing in the first place? Whether it was your initial love for the writing, or you began because someone you know writes and it piqued your interest, or for any other reason, just tell it here.

03. What distinguishes you from everyone else?

Ans. Once more, the most often asked question in content writing interview. Explain the distinguishing characteristics that set you apart from others. Whatever it is, explain all you know and consider what talents you hold that others might or might not have. Because there may be other individuals in line for the exact job and if you don’t have anything unique and helpful to give the organisation, so why should they hire you? Therefore, make sure you have a particular feature that only you have, and even if others have it, they can’t beat you in it no matter what.

04. What are your strong points and weak points?

Ans. Be truthful about your merits and negatives, but make sure that your strengths outnumber your problems. Your assets should outnumber your weaknesses, not the other way around. Because nobody appreciates flaws, present your strengths in such a way that they outweigh your flaws.

05. What motivates you to work here?

Ans. This is also one of the often asked in content writing interview questions. Every organisation wants to know this answer. Why do you want to work for that particular company? Here you can say about the firm (all good things) because the interviewer likes hearing positive things about the firm. Describe the perks they provide to their employees which mostly struck you. Address the company’s setting if you liked it and would like to work there. Explain how you believe the company will help you grow, and if you want to offer any other details. Your response to this question should be firm and compelling.

06. Explain your Hobbies.

Ans. Although you mentioned your hobbies while introducing yourself, it’s okay to mention them again in this question, and you can enlarge on them here.

For instance, suppose you enjoy reading. So you can talk about how reading helped you expand your diction, your creativity, your literary tone, and so on.

Mention a few hobbies that have helped you develop both mentally and physically.

07. How do you define quality content?

Ans. Another most asked content writing interview question. In response to this question, the recruiter expects you to emphasize the key features that distinguish the content piece. Your article should be interesting to the reader. Elements such as appropriate headlines, graphics, and organisation contribute to an interesting read.

You should generate your content with the reader’s interests in mind. This has a serious influence on audience engagement as well as the visibility of blogs and articles.

Your primary responsibility when creating content is to make it believable. The information in an article or blog should come from a reputable source.

Plagiarism is a significant no-no in the content writing profession. You must avoid it completely; nevertheless, some firms accept a limited level of plagiarism; however, it is preferable to avoid it entirely since it can have a detrimental effect on your company’s future along with on search engines.

08. How do you determine the tonality of a piece of content?

Ans. To determine the tone of the text, we must first determine the audience we are writing for. Who is the core demographic? After you’ve identified your target audience, you may determine their level of comprehension, age group, and vocabulary, among other things, before deciding on the tonality of your writing. It doesn’t matter if it’s official, informal, or semi-formal.

For example, if your target audience is a foodie or a gamer, the tone of your content should be casual and entertaining.

09. How will you establish the credibility of your content?

Ans. With this question, the interviewer is attempting to evaluate the extent to which you perform in-depth research. If you want people to find your blog posts and articles engaging, you must contain credible information. You cannot make up facts or fabricate information while writing the piece unless it is creative writing and the corporation allows you to. Make certain that none of the information you have provided is fraudulent, as this will land you and the company in severe trouble.

10. What is the distinction between blogging and writing an article?

Ans. This is one of the most commonly asked questions in a content writing interview, so make sure you comprehend the differences. The primary distinction between articles and blogs is that articles must be composed in straightforward language; initially, articles are produced to deliver information on a specific subject or news.

Blogs, on the contrary, are written in a more personal and friendly tone. The authors can even converse with their readers one-on-one. Blogs are typically used to express sentiments, discuss views, exchange knowledge and share experiences.

11. What are your favourite aspects of content creation?

Ans. Take into account that the recruiter seeks to understand how dedicated you are to pursuing a career as a content writer. The answer varies depending on whether you are a novice or an expert.

If you are a newcomer, emphasise your key skills and relate them to how they inspired you to become a content writer. Suppose you enjoy creative writing, for instance, describe to the recruiter how you intend to exploit this skill.

Providing you have prior experience, you might discuss how your previous employer assisted you in developing your content writing talents as well as what you learned whilst working there. You can explain how, after years of expertise, you have begun to view diverse writing projects as a real challenge. You can also say that you enjoy experimenting with different writing styles, tones, and forms.

12.  How can you make content creation enjoyable?

Ans. The interviewer is judging your sincerity and enthusiasm for content creation. If writing is your passion, you will never be bored because  Content writing is one of the few professions that allows you to learn and improve.

You might inform the interviewer that you occasionally get irritated when writing on the same subject or expertise. However, explain right away that you have your own strategies for dealing with this circumstance.

13. How thoroughly do you comprehend SEO?

Ans. This question is designed to assess your knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and whether you can write an SEO-friendly blog or article. SEO is essential for creating high-quality online content. That is how the Google algorithm and On-Page SEO function. There are some SEO practices that every writer should be aware of, and they are as follows:

•  Keyword density
•  Meta tags 
•  Alternative tags 
•  Body tags 
•  URL structure 
•  Internal and external linkages

14. Are you acquainted with any content creation tools?

Ans. One of the most commonly asked content writing interview questions. You can list some of the content production tools that you are familiar with, even if you haven’t done any research on them before the interview.

Some instances of content developer tools are:

• Grammarly
• Canva
• Google Trends
• Hemingway Editor
• Microsoft spinning tool

 15. Are you familiar with any other kinds of writing?

Ans. When it concerns content writing, there are numerous writing styles to choose from. The interviewer is attempting to gauge your knowledge of the content creation realm by asking this question.

Among the numerous writing styles some of them are listed below:

• Story writing
• Technical content writing
• Newsletters
• Blogging
• E-books
• Novel writing
• Copywriting
• Medical content writing
• Website content writing
• Social media content writing
• Product review writing
• Script writing and many more.

16. Can you operate under extreme stress? How effectively can you handle deadlines?

Ans. Balancing deadlines and delivering work on time is a vital component in not only the content writing profession but also in every business. When answering this question, make sure to emphasise your passion towards content writing.

The recruiter wishes to understand how you deal with time constraints and how serious you are about doing your assignment on time.

 17. What are some of the talents essential to become a skilled content writer?

Ans. The most basic requirement is that you desire to write and that you can write. You should understand your audience’s needs, be accurate, clear, and proficient in written communication, and know how to organise paragraphs so that readers can effortlessly understand the content.

Furthermore, every content writer should understand how to write an article/blog that will capture and hold the attention of their readers from beginning to end.

18. Do you think you’re qualified for this position?

Ans. The interviewer is looking for confidence and self-awareness here. So, bear in mind the role you’re looking for and spotlight all relevant factors. If you go too far in describing how well you fit for the job, the interviewer may believe you’re boasting about yourself and lose interest in you. Simply highlight the points that you believe will be valuable towards you.

19. Can you operate in a team or do you prefer to work alone?

Ans. The recruiter is interested in knowing how sociable you are and whether or not you can work well in a team. He will assess your agility, social skills, and efficiency here.

20. What exactly are landing pages?

Ans. This is a type of website page that receives visitors through sponsored adverts, internet advertising, or other sources.

A landing page is thus named because it is the location to which a viewer lands after clicking on a hyperlink in a commercial or another online advertising campaign.

Landing pages are often created with the goal of converting visitors into buyers of a specific product or service. The focus in this case is on copywriting instead of SEO. A landing page addresses legitimacy clues, uniqueness, desirability, and other equivalent issues in order to attract more clients.

21. Do you understand what proofreading entails?

The technique of rectifying typos, grammar, punctuation, and other surface errors in a piece of writing is called Proofreading.

Proofreading skills necessitate the capacity to communicate in the language in which the information is written. Its goal is to modify the content before proceeding with publication.

22. Do you have strong grammar and vocabulary?

Ans. The interviewer is interested in learning about your grasp of the language of the subject you will be writing. A writer must have appropriate grammar and vocabulary in the content’s required language so that the company does not experience needless obstacles while editing and reviewing the information.

23. Do you enjoy reading? What are some of your favourite books?

Ans. Reading, as we all know, is an excellent way to expand one’s vocabulary, tone, and style of writing, and people who enjoy writing also enjoy reading.

If this question is asked during your content writing interview, list your top favourite novels and, if possible, explain what you learnt from them or why you like them.

The nicest aspect of this question is that you don’t need to prepare anything ahead of time; simply be honest.

24. Who is your favourite author and why?

Ans. Usually, this question comes when you are applying for a position in a Publishing house or Storytelling/Story writing and Ghostwriting jobs.

So make a list of your top authors and list out the unique aspects that you like about them or the way they write a particular novel, story, poem etc.

25. Which author is your favourite, and why?

Ans. This question is typically asked while applying for a position at a publishing business, as well as positions in storytelling/story writing and ghostwriting.

So prepare a list of your favourite authors and write down what you appreciate about them or how they write a certain novel, tale, poetry, etc.

26.  Do you know what the term plagiarism means?

Ans. As a content writer, you ought to be informed of plagiarism and its repercussions. This question is also asked often in a content writing interview. Plagiarism is defined as copying from other websites or content, pasting it, changing certain words, and presenting it as your own. This is a serious felony in the writing profession, and you will face harsh consequences if you choose to commit it.

27. What exactly is freelance writing, and would you consider it?

Ans. Freelance content writing is a project-based profession. In exchange for money, freelance content writer pitches the company, picks their own clientele, and produces the content required by their clients. Understand that a freelance content writer is not the same as an employee content writer. Furthermore, they have the option of working from home or from a rental office location. This question is also commonly asked in a content writing interview.

28. Are you familiar with Grammarly?

Ans. Grammarly is now one of the most popular writing tools used by practically all content creators. It can help you improve your grammar and spelling, change the tone of a sentence or word, recommend good terminology, and suggest other required content-changing ideas to make your written piece more enticing.

29. What do you enjoy most about working as a content writer?

Ans. The most typical mistake most authors, especially newcomers, make when answering this question is to say, “I love to write or I love writing.”

Don’t. The interviewer already knows you enjoy writing because you applied for the job in the first place.

Instead, you might begin by explaining why you began writing in the first place and how it piqued your interest in the writing arena. What do you love doing the most when creating content? Whether it’s your writing tone and style, your speciality, or a certain topic you enjoy researching and writing about, etc. 

30.  How do you handle a challenging content fault?

Ans. Every writer encounters problems at some point. The major reason for asking this question is to find out when you will have similar problems in the future how will you deal with them.

Writer’s block, writing about an unfamiliar topic, managing deadlines, decreased creative freedom, severe rivalry, and many more challenges are among them.

What is your plan for dealing with these circumstances when they arise? What do you do to help you get through all of these hurdles and stay motivated? Mention these points when responding to this question.

31. What exactly is the distinction between editing and proofreading?

Ans. Proofreading and editing are comparable in many ways, yet there are some distinctions. Most writers believe that these two terms are interchangeable, although they are not.

Let us examine these distinctions:

• Editing occurs after you have completed your initial draft of the content, which is still raw.
• Proofreading is done after editing is completed.
• While editing the article, you can add or remove certain sentences or words from the manuscript, which will modify the total word count of your blog/article.
• Proofreading ensures that the modified content is free of errors while editing raises the overall quality of the text.
• Generally, editing addresses the major flaws of the content, whilst proofreading addresses surface faults. 

32. What role does readability play in content creation?

Ans. Readability is vital in content writing since it helps to make the content more concise and transparent, keeps the audience interested, can increase your SEO, and effectively communicate your views, insights, or other information.

33. How many years of content writing experience do you have?

Ans. The answer varies depending on whether the person is new or experienced. Initially, this question is generally asked of experienced persons; it is uncommon to ask it of a newcomer. But don’t worry, we have a solution for that as well.

Presuming you are a newcomer, you can discuss your personal blogs that you may have written, your Instagram account if you have one for your writings, and whether you have written on any online platforms or participated in writing events.

If you have prior experience, you might begin by stating how many years you have individually and professionally authored content and If you have a personal blog with a large audience, it will be an added bonus.

34. What was your former company’s role?

Ans. This inquiry is generally used to determine whether you are qualified for the position being offered. To examine and compare your former employment positions to the one you’re being offered, to evaluate how you performed in your previous firm and if you’re capable of handling the one you’re being offered.

35. What makes you desire to work for us?

Ans. You can discuss the firm’s profitability, the atmosphere of the company, the temperament of the employees, the perks that you will receive if you are employed, and the rewards that the company will receive if you are hired.

Before attending the interview, conduct an extensive study on the company profile and accentuate all of the positive aspects of the organisation.

36. How many words do you think you can write in a day?

Ans. It all comes down to the type of content you’re creating. If you have done adequate research on the issue and it is relevant to your niche, you should be able to produce at least 3000 to 4000 words every day. There is no set word count.

For instance, if your specialisation is creative writing and you have been assigned to create a narrative on a specific topic, you can write the story indefinitely by conducting sufficient research and using your imagination.

37. What exactly is a newsjacking article?

Ans. Newsjacking article writing is a sort of promotional writing since it uses trending news items or events to promote the firm and its products and services.

38. What role do infographics play in content creation?

Ans. As the name implies, infographics (informational visuals) play an important part in content writing. Infographics are graphical representations of information.

Symbols, statistics, drawings, maps, photos, and prose can all be found in infographics.

39. How much plagiarism is permitted in a given piece of content?

Ans. To begin, your content must be completely genuine. However, there are a few conditions when you can disregard the plagiarised text displayed on the tools. For instance, quotations, phrases, expressions, remarks made by personalities, and so on.

The content writer should understand what must and cannot be avoided.

However, the average percentage of plagiarism tolerated by some companies is 5 per cent, with a maximum of 6 per cent not exceeding that.

40. What are the many forms of plagiarism in content creation?

Ans. Copying and pasting material from one article to another is not the sole kind of plagiarism. In content writing, there are three sorts of plagiarism: content spinning, content scraping, and accidental plagiarism.

Content spinning is the method of creating a copy of previously published compelling content via content spinning tools. Furthermore, it is labelled plagiarism if you copy from another source and personally redo it by altering a few words and substituting synonyms.

When you extract content from other blogs or publications, you are doing content scraping.

Lastly, accidental plagiarism occurs when you compose your content without duplicating it from other sources, yet some of the sentences mimic the content from other sites.

To avoid this, you must utilise at least two plagiarism detection software. To ensure this does not happen you must use at least two plagiarism checker tools.

 41. What role does the Headline play in a certain piece of content?

Ans. Headlines are highly crucial in content creation since a great headline captures the attention of readers and lures them to the website or blog, making them intrigued enough to read the complete article you have written.

The headline also provides some context for the written material. The headline analyser tool is one of the best for creating strong, catchy, and SEO-friendly headlines.

42. What are some of the strategies and tricks you use when writing content?

Ans. Firstly,  you must understand your target audience and develop content with them in mind.

Secondly, create a catchy, detailed headline to capture your audience’s attention.

Thirdly, use SEO tools to make the material SEO-friendly.

Lastly, emphasise the important aspects of your article.

43. What are the most typical mistakes you see authors make when creating content, in your opinion?

Ans. The following are some of the most typical errors that authors make when creating content:

• Using Google images directly. This can result in copyright concerns, therefore only use photos from free websites.

• Keyword repetition. Use a reasonable number of keywords in your article. It will simply make your text appear sloppy and cramped, and may anger your viewers.

• Failure to double-check the write-up following completion of the content. You should always double and triple-check your work before posting it online, as you may discover problems that you will be unable to correct once it is published.

• It is a great mistake not to perform extensive study on the topic you have decided to write about. Because you lack sufficient expertise in the subject, you may mislead your readers by presenting misleading information.

• Overt advertising and unnecessary word count in the text might also be off-putting to readers. One of the principles of content writing is that you cannot actively advertise products/services/firms in your written post. Writing extraneous information to raise the word count is likewise a no-no. Because nobody will read your material if it contains gibberish and irrelevant information.

• Failure to keep up with current trends and failure to check for plagiarism.

44. Are you familiar with the term “Ghostwriting,”?

Ans. Ghostwriting is when someone else writes content for you and you take credit for it. Of course, you will compensate them for their effort. Questions about Ghostwriting is most commonly asked in many content writing interview so make sure you have all the information you need.

For instance, if an author wants to write a book on self-help but has no idea what to write in the book, they can hire a ghostwriter who is knowledgeable about self-development techniques to write the book for the author, and in exchange, the ghostwriter is paid without receiving any royalties or ownership of the book.

He/she is no longer connected to the book in any way once he/she has completed it and turned it back to the author after being paid; they cannot even discuss it with their friends and family as this may result in a violation of the regulations and he/she may face significant consequences.

45. How important are keywords in content creation?

Ans. Commonly asked content writing interview questions. Keywords are useful in content authoring since they improve readability and efficiency. By integrating a proper number of keywords in your material, you may make it SEO-friendly and attract a broader audience, as people frequently look on search engines for specific terms only.

46. What are FAQs and how do they help with content writing?

Ans. In content writing FAQs are important since they answer frequently asked questions about a product/service or company. Typically, the FAQ section is more of an inquiry area where individuals hunt for answers to their questions.

FAQs improve customer experience, assist customers to make purchasing decisions by offering quick data, are good for SEO, and can raise sales.

47. What’s the distinction between content creation and content marketing?

Ans. Most commonly asked content writing interview question. Many people believe that content writing and content marketing are the same things.

No. When the article/blog is formally published, the content writing process is complete.

However, content marketing is the promotion of that already released material. Techniques and channels come in helpful here for content promotion, increasing traffic to the content, and ultimately satisfying essential marketing criteria.

A content writer’s primary responsibility is to create content. A content marketer, on the contrary, analyses and optimises content for SEO, promotes the article/blog on numerous platforms and engages in other marketing activities.

48. What differentiates your writing style?

Ans. Every writer has their own writing style. They use a variety of tones in their writing. For instance, a lighthearted tone, engaging one-on-one communication, and so on.

You must explain what distinguishes your writing style, what is exceptional about your content writing process, how your writing differs from others, and so on. This question is also one of the most posed in a content writing interview.

49. How would you persuade your audience to join a website or blog?

Ans. Your persuasion skills will be put to the test here. How well can you persuade your target audience to visit and subscribe to a specific website or blog?

50.  Do you have any questions for us?

Ans. This is one of the most important questions asked in a content writing interview. Never miss this question because the interviewer is looking to verify if you have done your research on the firm.

There will always be at least one question about the company that you can ask here. This is your sole opportunity to ask the interviewer questions, so don’t pass it up.

Henry Harvin is one of the top-tier universities teaching content writing, offering guaranteed job help and course accreditation, among other benefits.

Conclusion:

Content writing is currently one of the world’s top professions, and as a result, competition among authors is fierce. To be a good content writer, you must have a niche and a distinguishing feature in your content writing plan.

To be a successful writer, you must be well-versed in SEO writing as well as other writing tactics and tricks.

As we have addressed various common interview questions, the aforementioned questions will assist you in preparation for your content writer job interview.

Recommended Reads

• Introduction to Blogging – A Detailed Guide.
• Blogging For Writers: 12 Top Tips Every Creative Must Know.
• 7 Benefits of Having an Effective Blogging Strategy

FAQs

While responding to all of these content writing interview questions, simply be genuine and don’t bluff to the interviewer because if you get selected for the job and you don’t know certain things that you claimed to know, it will leave a very terrible impression on the interviewer.