SEO QUESTIONS - YOUR GUIDE TO ASKING HIGH-QUALITY QUESTIONS
As you work towards building a career, you will be involved in professional events which will give you the opportunity to
ask questions. This could be during in-person or virtual meet-and-greet/networking sessions, Q&A forums, corporate
presentations, interviews, business meetings etc. The quality of questions that you ask can make you stand out positively.
As we aim to help you maximize all opportunities to stand out positively, we are giving you a framework/set of principles,
called the principles of ‘SEO Questions’, which you can rely on to formulate and ask high-quality questions.
PRINCIPLES OF SEO QUESTIONS
Principle 1:
Your question must be positive or neutral i.e. it should focus on either neutral or positive themes. It must not be focused
on anything negative, such as something highly controversial or embarrassing. Your question should not convey
antagonism, shame, judgment or cynicism.
Principle 2:
Your question must be leading i.e. open-ended. This means that the answer to your question should not result in a simple
‘yes’ or ‘no’ or otherwise very short response. Your questions should always be an opportunity to invite conversation.
Remember, it is through conversation that connection and networking can occur.
Principle 3:
Your question should be well-researched, which means that (i) your question should demonstrate that you have put in
effort into researching the person, company, industry or topic and (ii) all facts/data mentioned in the question must be
accurate and verifiable i.e. should be derived from credible sources.
Principle 4:
Your question must be meaningful. This means that your question should be worthwhile (i.e. of general importance or is
relevant to what is being discussed) and should be one which has relevance to the person/event/company/industry in
question. The individual being asked the question should be in a position to answer it. As an example, if you have a
question about a company’s financial performance, the best person to ask will be someone in the company’s Finance
Department, rather than an IT or HR staff member.
Principle 5:
Your question must be of general benefit. This is usually applicable when you are in the midst of others, rather than when
having a one-on-one conversation. This principle means that the answer to your question should benefit others around
you, not only yourself.
Principle 6:
Your question should be brief. This means that the question must not be longer than the answer. Ideally, your question
should never leave a listener confused as to the direction in which your question is going.
Additional Guidelines:
▪ The preamble of your question should have a strong correlation to the main question. As an example, the
question “This company has tripled its staff strength over the last 5 years. Where do you see the company’s
financial performance going in the near future?” has a preamble that has nothing to do with the question. A
company’s projected financial performance has no direct correlation to the company’s staff strength.
▪ Questions should not have unprovable assumptions embedded in them. For example, the question, “You
worked in Securities Trading for 5 years then took a year off work after which you moved into Technology.
Can you tell us about how your gap year inspired your change in career?” assumes that this individual’s gap
year inspired a change in their career. Unless this individual has explicitly stated this, this assumption may be
false.
▪ Questions should not start with the phrase, “Thank you for the opportunity to ask this question” or any
variation of this.
EXAMPLES OF SEO QUESTIONS
Scenario 1
A company’s CSR representative is hosting a media session to discuss its recent philanthropic projects. A journalist asks,
“This company has donated USD 50 million to a programme which supports SME digitization in Ghana. What has been
the most impactful story you have heard from one of the beneficiaries?”
Scenario 2
The Public Relations representative of an e-commerce company is meeting with the media to discuss the company’s
recent financial performance and internal changes within the company. A journalist asks, “During your most recent
interview with Sky News, you spoke about your company’s CEO’s plan to step down within the next 3 years. Can you
walk us through the progress which the company has made with succession planning?”
Scenario 3
A pension fund manager in Ghana has organised a media event to discuss its portfolio strategy and performance as well as
its history of regulatory compliance. A stakeholder at this event asks, “The introduction of Ghana’s Pensions Act in 2008
required pension funds to completely change their KYC and investment processes. Can you describe how your company
was able to adapt to these changes very quickly?”
Scenario 4
As part of efforts to promote healthy eating, an employer has organised an interactive session between its employees and a
renowned nutritionist. An employee asks, “You published an article which discussed the proliferation of plant-based diets
over the last decade. Can you share with us your thoughts on the biggest future drivers of veganism?”
Please refer to the following links for videos on themes highlighted above:
▪ Overview of SEO Questions framework: link here
▪ Question lacking brevity: link here
Revision Exercise:
1. What is the purpose/benefit of asking high-quality questions?
2. What are the six (6) principles of an SEO question?
3. Explain the importance of a preamble when asking a question.
4. What is the importance of asking questions that are rooted in fact, rather than rumours, false news or
assumptions?
5. What is the difference between an open-ended and a close-ended question?
6. Outline a way in which you can determine if a question lacks brevity.