Chris GMC Specialist Screening Test
GMC Specialist Screening Test
INTRODUCTION
This assessment is designed to get a sense of your skills across a few key areas: Technical SEO, Google Merchant Center, strategic thinking around search, and problem-solving. The right candidate will understand that e-commerce success in search depends on the ability to connect the dots between technical SEO, structured data, and shopping feed strategy. If you’re someone who can zoom in on the technical details and also zoom out to see the big picture, you’re in the right place.
Do your best with each question. Don’t worry if you’re not 100% sure on everything. Clear thinking and how you approach the questions matter just as much as the answers themselves.
START HERE
1. How would you explain the difference between organic search and organic shopping to a client?
Answer: | Organic search is unpaid listings on a search engine results page like google, when users type in a query they are presented with the most relevant results this can be a combination of websites and individual product listings. Organic Shopping in contrast will only appear in the shopping tab and will not show the most relevant websites, only the most relevant individual products pulled in through a sites merchant feed and can be adjusted with detailed and thorough filters to further fine tune and align with the users intent. |
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3. A client's products show rich snippets in organic search results but do NOT appear in Google Shopping results. What's the most likely explanation?
a) The structured data markup is broken and needs fixing
b) They have structured data on their pages but no Google Merchant Center account
c) They have a Merchant Center account but missing structured data markup
d) Their product feeds are disapproved due to policy violations
4. From a technical SEO perspective, how would you approach handling products that are temporarily out-of-stock vs. permanently discontinued?
Answer: | Out of stock: Keep the page live, clearly indicate in the UI that the product is out of stock and use the availability schema or potentially use canonical tags if there is a relevant product. Fully gone: Two scenarios
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5. How would you describe the difference between a product collection vs. a product category?
Answer: | Product collections can be a bit looser. A product category for example would be a category that follows more of a taxonomy relationship clothes -> jackets -> mens’ jackets.
Product collections could be a loose grouping of products that fall under a defined banner like Under $50, Gift’s for your girlfriend's boyfriend. |
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6. What key e-Commerce business factors would you analyse or consider when developing a customised SEO or GMC strategy?
Answer: |
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7. If a client’s product variant URLs are canonicalised to the main product URL, can those variants still appear as separate product listings? Why or why not?
Answer: | They can. Canonicalising is not this golden rule that google always follows. More often than I can count in google search console you will see the issue “Google chose a different canonical because it knows best.” It is just a general guideline that suggests to Google what the legit product is, it doesn't have to follow. Same goes for the robots txt, bots can just ignore it. |
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8. Given the sample product feed entry below, identify at least three errors or areas for improvement, and suggest how the data could be enhanced for better quality:
[id]
| 123456789 |
|---|---|
[item_group_id]
| 121212121 |
[title]
| Calibre9 Quarter Crew Socks - Blue - Size 10 SALE |
[description]
| Designed for everyday comfort and durability, these socks feature a cushioned sole, reinforced heel and toe, and breathable fabric to keep your feet cool and supported all day long. |
[link]
| https://calibrenine.com/products/quarter-crew-socks?variant=blue&size=10 |
[image_link]
| qc_socks_blue.jpg |
[availability]
| in_stock |
[price]
| $10.00 AUD |
[brand]
| Crew Socks |
[identifier_exists]
| true |
| [gtin] | |
| [mpn] | |
[color]
| Striped |
[pattern]
| Blue |
[material]
| Cotton |
[product_type]
| Accessories > Socks > Crew Socks |
[google_product_category]
| Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Underwear & Socks > Socks |
Answer: |
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8. A client's GSC data shows these top-performing product queries:
Query
| Impressions
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|---|---|
Mens leather jacket black bomber | 12,408 |
Womens winter coat long puffer | 8,803 |
Denim oversized vintage women | 6,064 |
Rain jacket waterproof mens hood | 4,430 |
Womens navy blue wool jacket | 3,238 |
North face fleece zip up jacket | 2,490 |
Mens varsity leather jacket | 2,337 |
Womens beige trench coat long | 2,278 |
Kathmandu mens black puffer jacket | 2,156 |
- Identify 4 jacket-specific attributes that should be prioritised in title formulas based on this data
1 - Gender
2 - Color
3 - Material
4 - type of jacket?
- Suggest an optimised title formula for a Leather Jacket product using these insights.
Follow the format as follows:
[attribute] + [attribute] + [attribute] + [attribute] + [attribute]
Attribute formula: [ Womens] + [Beige ] + [vintage ] + [ leather ] + [jacket ]
Example title output: Mens North Face Beige vintage leather jacket?