Basic SEO Literacy Test

How the Basic SEO Literacy Test works

The Basic SEO Literacy Test shows one question at a time. Pick an answer and the card turns to Google's answer: the exact quote, a link to the Google page it comes from, and a screenshot of that passage with the words highlighted.

The test mixes 17 multiple choice and 13 true or false questions, and the multiple choice answers come in a new order every time. After question 30 you get your score out of 30, a score for each of the ten areas, every question you missed with Google's words, and a link to share your result. You pass with 24 right.

Nothing here is an opinion. If Google's own pages don't settle a question, it isn't in the test.

What the SEO literacy test covers

The SEO literacy test covers ten areas of how Google Search works, with three questions in each:

• How Search worksThe three stages of Search, paying Google, and whether indexing is guaranteed
• Crawlingrobots.txt, noindex, and repeat indexing requests
• IndexingSitemaps, canonicals, and "Crawled - currently not indexed"
• Status codesRedirects, 404 versus 410, and server errors
• On-pageMeta descriptions, title links, and word count
• Content and E-E-A-TE-E-A-T, AI content, and search quality raters
• LinksPageRank, paid links, and nofollow
• SpamCloaking, manual actions, and core updates
• Experience and localCore Web Vitals, page speed, and local results
• AI searchAEO and GEO, llms.txt, and SEO tool scores

Where the SEO literacy test answers come from

Every SEO literacy test answer quotes Google's own public pages, copied on October 25, 2026: Google Search Central documentation, the Google Search Central Blog, and Google's help centers. These are the 26 pages the test quotes:

1. SEO Starter Guide: The Basics
2. Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
3. In-depth guide to how Google Search works
4. Introduction to robots.txt
5. Block Search indexing with noindex
6. Ask Google to recrawl your URLs
7. Learn about sitemaps
8. What is canonicalization
9. Page indexing report Search Console Help
10. Redirects and Google Search
11. How HTTP status codes affect Google's crawlers
12. Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking 2009
13. Influencing your title links in search results
14. Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content 2023
15. Spam policies for Google web search
16. How Search Works: Rigorous testing
17. A guide to Google Search ranking systems
18. Qualify your outbound links to Google
19. Evolving "nofollow": new ways to identify the nature of links 2019
20. Manual actions report Search Console Help
21. Google Search's core updates and your website
22. Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results
23. Understanding page experience in Google Search results
24. Tips to improve your local ranking on Google Business Profile Help
25. Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search
26. Do you need an SEO?

SEO literacy test FAQ

The SEO literacy test FAQ covers who made the test, what passes, and why only Google's words count.

Is the SEO literacy test made by Google?

The SEO literacy test is an independent quiz, not made by Google and not affiliated with Google. It quotes Google's public documentation and help pages, and links to every page it quotes.

What score passes the SEO literacy test?

The SEO literacy test pass mark is 24 of 30, which is 80 percent. Your result also shows a score for each of the ten areas, so you can see where you're strong and what to read next.

Why does the SEO literacy test only accept Google's answers?

The SEO literacy test grades against Google's own words because Google is the primary source on how Google Search works. Studies, tools and experience are useful too, but they aren't what this test checks.

Can you take the SEO literacy test again?

Yes, you can take the SEO literacy test again as often as you like, and the multiple choice answers come in a new order each time.