65 Great WordPress Interview Questions to Ace Your Dream Job

wordpress interview questions.

Applying for a job and want to know what WordPress interview questions will be asked?

Or are you a hiring manager who wants an exhaustive list of questions related to WordPress?

I've got you covered.

Here's a list of 65 WordPress-related questions that are likely to be asked in job interviews.

If you're looking for a side hustle where you can learn more about WordPress and make money online, check out The Authority Site System. Taking this course will definitely make you stand out in your new role.

General WordPress Interview Questions

This first set are general questions about WordPress you can expect to hear in a job interview.

What Is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) or software used for building websites.

What Can WordPress Be Used For?

Websites
Blogs
eCommerce sites
Portfolios
Forums and communities
Membership sites
Event or booking sites
Directory sites
Knowledge bases.

Why Use WordPress Instead of Building a Website From Scratch?

WordPress is easy to use and learn
You don't need to know how to code
No limit to customizations
Saves time
Great for SEO
Has built-in security
Great for scalability.

When Was WordPress Released?

WordPress.org was released on May 27, 2003, and WordPress.com was released on November 21, 2005.

Is WordPress Safe?

Yes. WordPress has built-in security features, it's updated regularly, and there are many ways to harden its security further.

What's The Difference Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

WordPress.org is a free, open-source software that you download and install on your own web hosting. You get full control and ownership over your website, but it needs to be managed by yourself or a developer.

WordPress.com is a hosted version of WordPress that you sign up for without needing a web host. There are free and premium plans to choose from and customizations are limited in this version.

As of March 2023, the market share of WordPress is 43.2% of all websites on the internet.

What Is Required to Use WordPress?

Web hosting
A domain name
A database
WordPress itself.

What Are The Server Requirements for WordPress?

These are the server requirements as of March 2024:

PHP version 7.4 or greater
MySQL version 8.0 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.4 or greater
HTTPS support.

What Are The Steps for Installing WordPress?

Get WordPress web hosting
Buy a domain name
Add name servers or DNS records in your domain registrar
Install WordPress (through one-click installation or FTP)
Create a database
Run the WordPress installation wizard
Log into the WordPress dashboard.

Can You Explain What WordPress Updates Are?

WordPress updates are upgrades to the code for security purposes and to improve its features.

Updates are made to the WordPress core, themes, and plugins.

How Do You Change the Front Page and Blog Page in WordPress?

To create a static home page with WordPress and move the blogroll to a different page, you have to create two new pages, Home and Blog.

Then you navigate to the WordPress Reading settings and update the front page and blog page to their respective pages.

What Was The Latest Version of WordPress in 2023?

WordPress 6.4 “Shirley” was released on November 7, 2023.

How Do You Install WordPress Locally?

You can download software that creates a local server environment on your PC.

Here are some available options:

WAMP
XAMPP
MAMP
DevKinsta
Local by Flywheel
Bitnami
Laragon.

Which Web Development Languages are Used in WordPress?

PHP
HTML
CSS
JavaScript.

Can You Explain What Permalinks Are?

Permalinks are a custom linking structure for your WordPress site's pages.

It's short for “Permanent Links” and can be changed in Settings > Permalinks.

What Are The Files .htaccess and wp-config.php Used For?

The file .htaccess in WordPress configures things on the server such as URL rewriting, redirects, directory access, blocking IP addresses, and more.

The wp-config.php file is primarily used for connecting to the database. Other uses include enabling debugging mode and setting configurations for multisite, memory limits, automatic updates, post revisions, and more.

What Is a WordPress Multisite, and When Would You Use It?

WordPress multisite allows you to create a network of individual websites from a single WordPress installation.

Businesses with multiple departments, blogs, or publishing networks, or educational sites are a few examples.

WordPress Interview Questions on Content

This section of WordPress Interview Questions relates to content for a WordPress site.

A blog roll is an archive list of all the articles published on a WordPress site.

What's The Difference Between WordPress Posts and Pages?

Posts are time-based entries that are displayed in reverse chronological order on your blogroll. They're used for articles and content that might change over time.

Pages are static and timeless entries that provide information about the business or website. Examples include an about page, a contact page, and a privacy policy.

What Are Custom Post Types?

Custom post types are additional types of content that can be added to WordPress. They help organize extra content such as product reviews, portfolios, events, recipes, and more.

What Are WordPress Comments?

Comments refer to user discussions that can be posted on a WordPress post or page. They can be useful in getting feedback and creating engagement on your site.

What Are Categories and Tags?

Categories and tags are known as taxonomies and are used to organize posts or a custom post type.

The difference is that categories are used to group broad topics, and tags are to highlight specific keywords and details about content.

In addition, categories are hierarchical, and tags aren't.

What Are Widgets Used For?

You can use widgets to add content blocks to specific locations on your website. For example, recent posts to a sidebar or a search box to the header.

What's a WordPress Taxonomy?

Taxonomies group and organize posts and custom post types. The defaults are categories and tags.

You can add more using code, for example, authors for a book's post type.

How Do You Change a User's Gravatar?

You create a Gravatar.com account and assign your image to the same email as your WordPress user login.

What Are Shortcodes?

Shortcodes are tags that let you add dynamic content to pages and posts. For example, you can create a contact form and add a shortcode to a page to display the form.

What Are Custom Fields in WordPress?

A custom field in WordPress is an extra piece of data that can be added to posts, pages, or custom post types.

For example Ingredients for a recipe post type.

What Are 404 Error Pages, and How Do You Create a Custom One?

A 404 page is used to let a visitor know the page they're looking for couldn't be found. Its purpose can be to help them find other WordPress content on the site.

You can create a custom 404 page by adding a 404.php file to a child theme, using your theme's built-in features, or using a plugin.

How Do You Create a Custom Menu in WordPress?

You can create a menu, and WordPress dropdown menu from Appearance > Menus or within a Full-Site Editor supported theme.

What's The Difference Between Gutenberg and The Classic Editor?

Gutenberg is the upgraded block-based editor that superseded the classic WYSIWYG editor.

The classic editor uses a single WYSIWYG text area with basic features, whereas Gutenberg uses individual blocks, each with unique styles and features.

How Do You Schedule Posts for Publication in WordPress?

You can set the publish date inside a post instead of leaving it to post immediately.

WordPress Interview Questions on Themes

Themes are a vital topic in WordPress. Here are some questions you can expect in a job interview.

What Are WordPress Themes?

A WordPress theme is a premade template you install that provides the design and layout for your website.

What's The Purpose of a Child Theme?

A child theme lets you customize the parent theme's code without losing changes during theme updates.

What's The Difference Between Free and Paid Themes?

Free themes offer basic designs and limited options to make changes to the design. Whereas paid themes offer more advanced and professional designs, plus tons of design customizations in the theme customizer.

What Is The Purpose of the WordPress Theme Customizer?

The theme customizer offers anyone the ability to make design changes and customizations to the theme, without the need for writing code.

What Files Make Up a Custom WordPress Theme?

index.php
header.php
footer.php
single.php
page.php
sidebar.php
archive.php
functions.php
style.css
screenshot.png.

WordPress Interview Questions on Plugins

WordPress plugins will most certainly be a topic of discussion, especially in a WordPress developer role. Here are a few questions you'll want to know the answers to.

What Are WordPress Plugins?

WordPress plugins are addons that extend the functionality of WordPress, such as a contact form or email opt-in plugin.

What Are The Default WordPress Plugins?

Hello Dolly and Akismet.

What Are Some Common Plugins Needed for Most WordPress Sites?

An SEO plugin
A contact form
Anti-spam plugin
Security plugins
Google Analytics plugin
Caching plugin
Social media sharing buttons
Email marketing plugin.

What Is An LMS, and What are Some Popular Options?

A Learning Management System (LMS) enables you to deliver online courses on WordPress.

LearnDash
MemberPress
LifterLMS
LearnPress.

How Many Plugins Can You Install on WordPress?

You can install as many as you need, and there are no limits. However, some people say that adding too many can slow down your site, so it's important to monitor site performance.

What's The Difference Between Activating and Installing WordPress Plugins?

Installing a plugin means downloading it from the plugin directory, and activating means switching it on so it's usable.

Can You Explain What WordPress Hooks Are?

Hooks allow developers to add custom functions and code snippets to plugins and themes, extending the default features.

How Do You Create a Custom Plugin in WordPress?

You create a plugin file and write functions, classes, hooks, and filters in PHP to add the functionality you want.

The file will look something like this:

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: My Custom Plugin
Description: Adds a description.
Version: 1.0
Author: Your Name
*/
?>

<?php
function name_of_plugin_function() {
// Code goes here
}
?>

WordPress Interview Questions on Performance

In a WordPress interview, you'll definitely need to know why a WordPress site is slow. Here are some WordPress interview questions you might hear about speed and performance.

What Are Caching Plugins and What Do They Do?

A WordPress caching plugin creates a static version of your site to speed up site performance.

Other features include:

File minification
Database optimization
Gzip compression
Image optimization
CDN Integration.

What Tools Are Used to Test WordPress Site Performance?

Google PageSpeed Insights
GT Metrix
Pingdom Speed Test
Google Search Console.

What Are The Biggest Causes of a Slow WordPress Site?

Slow web hosting
Large images
Poorly coded plugins
Excessive HTTP requests
External scripts.

What Are Some Ways to Improve SEO for WordPress Sites?

SEO plugins have built-in features to improve SEO in WordPress. These features usually include:

Meta tag optimization
Sitemap creation
Adding schema markup
Breadcrumb integration
Content optimization suggestions.

How Can You Optimize Images for Better WordPress Performance?

Use an image optimization plugin such as Imagify to automatically compress images as they're uploaded.

Or you can manually compress them with a site like TinyPNG.

How Does a Content Delivery Network (CDN) Improve WordPress Performance?

It takes a copy of your site and stores it on servers around the globe, then shows a version of your site closer to the visitor's location than the origin hosting location.

Security WordPress Interview Questions

Security is another vital topic in WordPress. These are some of the questions to expect.

How Can You Improve WordPress Security?

Adding a security plugin is a good first step. Other security measures might include:

Using strong passwords
Install an SSL certificate
Change the default admin URL
Change the database table prefix
Don't use ‘admin' as a username
Install a web application firewall (WAF).

How Do You Recover a Hacked WordPress Site?

The first step is to take the site offline by putting it in maintenance mode and then changing the passwords of your users, database, and hosting account.

These are some additional steps to get your site back online:

Scan your site for malicious code or unauthorized changes
Update outdated themes or plugins and the WordPress core
Check your security plugin settings are active
Enable two-factor authentication
Restore from a backup if necessary.

Why Is It Important to Keep Everything Updated for Security?

Because WordPress is licensed under the GNU General Public License, its code is accessible to anyone, including hackers.

This means that developers are constantly updating the code to prevent vulnerabilities and make everything more secure.

Therefore, when updates to the WordPress core, themes, and plugins are available, updates should be made promptly.

WordPress Interview Questions on Errors and Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting errors in WordPress is a common practice for developers and some website owners. Here are some questions you might want to know during a job interview.

What Is a 500 “Internal Server Error” and How Do You Fix It?

An Internal Server Error is a server-side issue caused by the server not responding to your website files or database.

It can be fixed by checking your htaccess file, disabling themes or plugins, and making sure your server is responding correctly.

What Is a White Screen of Death?

The “White Screen of Death” is an error that occurs when there's a conflict with a WordPress database or PHP file.

It's more specific than an Internal Server Error and can be fixed by checking error logs and disabling plugins and your theme.

Analytics and Reporting WordPress Interview Questions

Analytics is a great way to keep track of a WordPress site's performance. These WordPress tips help you stand out in your interview.

How Can You Integrate Google Analytics With a WordPress Website?

You add the GA4 tracking code manually or use a plugin. If you want to track performance inside WordPress, you'll need a plugin like MonsterInsights or Rank Logic.

What Are Some Metrics to Track the Performance of a WordPress Website?

Pageviews
Sessions
Average engagement time
Revenue
Click-through rate (CTR)
Conversions
Email sign-ups.

What Are Some Ways to Optimize a WordPress Website Based on Analytics Data?

Enhance website copy
Improve user experience
Use content marketing
Improve website speed
On-page SEO
A/B testing.

eCommerce WordPress Interview Questions

Here are a couple of questions that can be asked related to WordPress eCommerce sites.

What Is Required to Sell Products From a WordPress Site?

An eCommerce plugin like WooCommerce
A payment gateway such as Stripe or PayPal
Products listed on your site
Shipping options
An SSL certificate
Legal pages like Terms and Returns Policy.

What Are Some Useful WordPress Plugins That Can Be Used for an eCommerce Site?

WooCommerce
Easy Digital Downloads
Sure Cart
A funnel builder
Cart abandonment recovery.

WordPress Interview Questions on Community

WordPress has an amazing community, so it's possible to hear a question or two in an interview.

Can You Name Some Popular WordPress YouTube Channels?

WPCrafter
WPTuts
Ferdy Korpershock
Darrel Wilson
Let's Build WordPress.

What Are The Most Popular WordPress Sites?

WPBeginner
Themeisle
WPCrafter
Kinsta
Blogging Wizard
Niche Pursuits.

WordPress Interview Questions in Conclusion

There you have it. An exhaustive list of WordPress interview questions.

If you've got an important interview coming up, studying these questions will make you look like a WordPress pro.

And if you're interviewing people for your company, these are the questions you'll definitely want to ask.

What's next? Remember to check out The Authority Site System to become a WordPress pro and build an online business.

The post 65 Great WordPress Interview Questions to Ace Your Dream Job appeared first on Niche Pursuits.