How do I know if my SEO is doing a good job?



It’s been a few months since you hired an SEO; how can you tell if things are headed in the right direction?

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Lizzi and John interview Erika Varangouli, head of Branded Content at Riverside.fm, about all things hiring and working with SEOs. Just because uplift isn’t happening doesn’t mean they’re not doing work; we walk through practical things to check throughout the process, such as how things are prioritized, is there regular reporting, and proactive communication around things that don’t go as planned.

Resources:
Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr082-transcript
John’s initial LinkedIn Post → https://goo.gle/3XNOqfI
Erika Varangouli on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3ZukgiH
Erika on X → https://goo.gle/3XXGBUR
Do I Need an SEO? → https://goo.gle/4dabZUb
SEO Starter Guide → https://goo.gle/42alrmy

Watch more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt
Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral

Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

#SOTRpodcast

Speakers: John Mueller, Lizzi Sassman, Erika Varangouli
Products Mentioned: Search Console – General

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17 thoughts on “How do I know if my SEO is doing a good job?”

  1. Some valuable insights here. I did SEO work like this 20 years ago already. Yet even in recent years I witness SEO agencies that charge a lot, then outsource the actual work to Asia for cheap, create fluff self-promotional content with no value etc.

    Always ask who will do the actual work and what the payment is for. Often the agency CEO will parade at conferences while the latest intern will do your work.

    For example I worked for an agency that charged 2000 Euro per day and paid me 300 for doing the actual work even though I was a well know SEO specialist back then already.

    The rest of the money went for lavish offices in the center of the city, sending the founder from Berlin to Las Vegas to speak at a conference etc. So you can save the 85% and hire my directly as as an independent consultant now.

    With SEO agencies outsourcing to Asia (think India, Pakistan, The Philippines) 99% of your money is wasted. You can find those "SEO experts" on Fiverr yourself and cut out the middleman.

  2. @29:16 It's always fun to have this discussion with clients! I don't have specific numbers, but it feels 50/50 with people who see the light after the explanation and want to continue working with us and those that stand their ground and absolutely have to win on 5 specific keywords and that's all they care about – for many reasons my response here is usually that "This is what Google Ads is for."

  3. Your SEO is doing a good job if you have attributable conversion to the work that they are doing with a measurable ROI for that work. 21% of Q&A content pairs powered through Answerbase have attributable conversion, and SEO is mostly about creating valuable content……in business, value = money. In the past this was harder to monitor/track so impressions and clicks were enough, that isn't the case anymore…..impressions and clicks are just a step towards revenue….or needs to be for SEO agencies and experts to retain their customers over time.

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