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   Listen to 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.