Hiring and onboarding SEO interns

A couple of years ago, I started an online store selling houseplants. From the very first day, the idea was to invest heavily in Content Marketing and SEO. But, like any startup, we had literally no resources.

Besides me creating all the content, our (interim) solution was to hire interns and train them. 

This is my playbook for hiring and training the right people to produce extraordinary content that ranks and converts. Let’s dive into it!

From do-it-all to content team leader

At the beginning, there were just four of us – the CEO, the designer, the product specialist and me, the SEO and Chief Content Officer. In this initial startup phase, all focus was on the product – getting the quality right and producing long-living, healthy plants that survived a ride with the Swiss postal system.

How would we package the delicate plant leaves?

How could we ensure no soil would fall out of the pots?

After a test phase with friends and colleagues, we started with Instagram and, shortly after, Google ads. The idea was to replace ad spending with purchases from organic sources gradually. As such, we needed content – a lot of it.

And not just any content, but the most helpful, most easy-to-digest content out there. While I know how to produce and enjoy that sort of content, I also know about my weaknesses: I’m quite slow and overly exact with my research.

A team had to be found – relying on virtually no funds.

Hiring the right SEO & Content Marketing intern

While we couldn’t afford professionals, I knew who I wanted on the team:

• someone who’d be really quick at learning
• someone who understood (and therefore ideally was from) our target group – young, hip, urban
• someone who had a real love for plants & researching

Finding and hiring the right people would be crucial for company growth. We perfected our hiring process – and now I let you in on the secrets:

Be crystal clear about who you need

If necessary, hire an expert to do a quick 1-2 hour assessment of your website. Are there big technical hurdles? Or should you focus on content? This will allow you to write a better job description and narrow down candidates.

Map out the tasks

Building on what you find in (1), map out the tasks of your future teammate in as much detail as possible. What will be expected of them? Keyword research, content briefs, towering blog posts, implementing hreflang tags on Shopify? You get the idea: the more concrete, the better.

Write the job description

Include the tasks to perform, the expected skill level and any additional job requirements (like the number of office days, dog or no dog policies, etc.). We included the odd little “have you read it all” trick, prompting applicants to use a specific word in their motivational letter. Apart from that, we left a few things unsaid but called for creativity – which we expected them to have in order to write extraordinary content for us. What we completely forwent? Education and previous work experience.

Look on owned channels

Publish your job ad on the usual platforms and your own channels. In our case, that was the website, newsletter, and social media (mainly LinkedIn and Instagram). The ideal candidate would already be familiar with our values and company and would find it easy to use our tone of voice. That is why we mainly hired from our (luckily growing Instagram) community.

Optional: prompt 1-2 writing examples

We only did this during later hiring rounds when we expected more applications. Set a couple of activities asking applicants to provide writing samples.

Video interview

Of course, A young, agile startup wouldn’t rattle down any old interview catalogue. So, the initial “interview” was a casual chat online. While I liked to ask about certain aspects of their CV for clarification, the main goal of this stage is to get a feel for the person.

Getting to know the team

I highly recommend letting 1-2 candidates meet the team. If I were excited about who I’d met on that video call, I’d invite them to have lunch with the team. Why lunch? Because it’s a somewhat relaxed setting, and no one is trying to meet some urgent deadline. Everyone can take their time and spark up a conversation. We had this enormous former canteen table that would fit everyone, so nobody felt like they were on the “special guest” hot seat.

Trust your gut

After that, it’s all just gut feeling. The team would always have the last say – or rather, the leadership would observe how the team and the potential newbie communicated. Although I must admit, you practically hit the finish line once you got invited to lunch.

After having onboarded 4+ members of just my core team, I can proudly say that gut feeling never wronged me – and I would strongly advise you to listen to yours, too.

The SEO/Content Marketing intern’s first day

In the bustling atmosphere of a startup scrambling for resources, you can imagine onboarding new hires like this: The morning was for acclimation. After lunch, they were almost fully functioning team members.

Not everyone will adapt this fast. This is why the hiring process is so crucial (see above).

On their first workday, our new team members would bring their own laptops, get to know the whole team, be shown where utilities, coffee machines and other life-saving devices were, and set up the most important accounts (Asana, Notion, Email).

To get the new hires up and running quickly, I established a 2x daily check-in: getting clear on the tasks and requirements for the day in the morning, checking output and open questions in the evening.

Normally, you can abandon the majority of these check-ins within a matter of weeks. That, in my opinion, helps to avoid micromanagement and strengthens a sense of self-accomplishment in the SEO intern. And, by that time, they should have learnt that your door is always open.

Note: In my experience, an open-door policy pays off. If you have very “asky” interns, introduce check-ins/question hours with fixed times again.

Onboarding your SEO/Content Marketing intern

I’ve hinted at it: For good or bad, startup culture is intense – virtually no resources, bring your device (and sometimes even chair). We were young, we were foolish, and I was the only one in the leadership who had previously been a team leader.

I was convinced not to let my, even younger, interns notice that. So, although a lot of the processes were makeshift, I ensured onboarding would make our new hires feel safe and accomplished.

Follow these steps to onboard your SEO intern:

Getting the tool stack

The vision for our toolset was that no changes were needed when the company grew. For writing, editing and content planning, I recommend a tool like Notion. I love that Notion tracks all the changes made by various people in a document and lets you just as well manage daily tasks and the publishing process of each content piece. It even makes repurposing and adapting content a piece of cake. We did use Asana, too, but it didn’t have any added value for the editorial content team. For SEO, I gave my interns a deep dive into Google Search Console and Sistrix. Limit your toolset and let your interns learn everything about the few ones in use.

Create branding guidelines

When it comes to tone of voice, I found it to be enough to have a “living” document on Notion – meaning, it would be extended whenever I noticed patterns in my own writing or found great examples online. It was a bulleted list of rules and ideas (use active voice instead of passive, strike adjectives, address the reader as “you”, …). I included a few links that my SEO interns should quickly read on their first day:

• Backlinko’s SEO Copywriting Guides
• Copywriting Tips from Marketing Examples

As well as a few recommended newsletter subscriptions.

Image made with Napkin AI

The first task: a “template style” blog post

To get your Content Marketing interns started, ideally, choose a content format that’s a) heavily standardized and b) has loads of pieces published already for reference. In my case, an intern’s first task would involve writing a plant encyclopedia entry. Every plant we sold (and many others) received its encyclopedia entry on the website, complete with where it’s from, why it’s called,d what it’s called and, in much detail, how it is cared for.

All of these content pieces would roughly follow the same structure:

• Light & location
• Watering [plant]
• Fertilizing [plant]
• Toxicity of [plant]
• Other [plant] species & colours
• Growth, size & flowers of [plant]
• Diseases & pests of [plant]
• Overwintering [plant]
• Repotting [plant]
• Propagating [plant]

Writing a plant encyclopedia entry as their first content piece meant interns would not need to worry about structure and keywords just then.

Learning SEO: Keyword research made easy

Starting with a template-style blog post (see point 3) also means easing into their first-ever keyword research. Since all those content pieces followed the same structure, the initial task for my new Content Marketing interns was only to find variations: Look for interesting keywords, especially or solely important for the care of this particular plant. An example would be the guide on carnivorous plants. It included the main points of every plant care guide, tips on what and when to feed them, and instructions on the different traps (e.g. Can they be touched or does that harm the plant? Should I add water to the digestive secretion?).

This approach gives the SEO intern ample freedom within the template’s limitations and the opportunity to try out keyword research tools without going overboard.

Review: Help the interns become better SEOs

I would always review my team members’ work, even after their onboarding phase, to provide an extra set of eyes. During their early days, I would focus on spot patterns (e.g., excessive use of passive voice). I recommend handling minor adjustments and changes in notion and commenting on bigger issues or patterns in one of the daily check-ins.

And yes, while we did have branding guidelines, I encouraged my Content Marketing interns to find their own voice. Some might go crazy on emojis, some came up with the most colorful metaphors (I’m looking at you, Silke!). That is fine and, in my opinion, only adds to the authenticity of a brand.

Switching from interns to professionals

There you have it, my playbook for hiring and onboarding SEO and Content Marketing interns!

I have to end on a more critical note: Being a startup is all good. But at some point, there should be a switch towards a more professional way of thinking. Five years after founding, you can no longer call yourself a startup just because you’re small. So when is the right time to switch from interns to professionals, and when is it too late?

I’ve personally heard all the excuses: We’re too small. We’re too young. We’re not willing to spend money on something that is not the core of our business.

But is it not? Writing is customer care. Writing is connection. Writing is sales.

So, in closing, I’d advocate for hiring professionals as soon as possible – and paying them what they’re worth. Hiring and training SEO interns is a great thing. But not when doing it for the wrong reasons.