Erika Varangouli

Head of SEO Branding | 12+ Years

About

Who is Erika Varangouli?

Head of SEO Branding at Semrush.
I’ve worked in digital marketing for over 12 years. I’ve focused on organic search – SEO, content marketing, link acquisition – and brand management.
I have two birthdays. (I’m not kidding.)

Erika Varangouli is the Head of SEO Branding at Semrush. In this role I am responsible for creating educational content around SEO, content marketing, brand marketing and more. My key focuses are:

To build meaningful relations with the community and to act as a liaison between users and Semrush
To share SEO best practices and
To leverage data to shed light into topics that are relevant to the community.

I’ve worked in digital marketing for over 12 years. For the majority of them, I’ve focused on organic search – SEO, content marketing, link acquisition – and brand management.

I worked agency-side for 7 years, building search strategies for SMBs, big brands, and enterprises. Then, as Semrush’s Global Content Strategist (at first) and then Director of Organic Search, I helped build and oversaw our organic program. It helped Semrush grow its organic visibility by over +600% in the first year.

Throughout all these years, I found myself feeling increasingly uneasy with the idea of SEO working in silo. As Head of International Brand and Head of SEO Branding, I’ve been able to bridge the gap between different disciplines and to work on multi-channel campaigns and strategies.

I love helping businesses and brands grow in ways that are meaningful and make an impact.

Advice For Anyone Joining The Industry

Be curious. Question all things. Get your hands dirty, break things, come up with ways to fix them, test all the ideas. Use data instead of opinions. Gradually, find trusted sources of knowledge and inspiration, join communities where members genuinely support and help one another (there are a few!) and reach out to people for help.

Areas Of Interest

Content Marketing
Brand Management
Seo Strategy

Education, Awards, Certifications

LLB in Law
MA in Communication and Cultural Studies

Published Work & Inclusions

Any Results/Highlights From Your Work You Want To Promote? Any Impact You’re Proud Of?

Growing Semrush’s organic visibility by +600% within less than 12 months
Setting up a new discipline and program within the Semrush Organic Search team which allowed us to improve monetization of our content
Creating 10x ROI from content marketing for ecommerce and fintech companies within 12 months

Favorite Articles/Publications You Share/Follow

Aleyda Solis’ SEOFOMO newsletter
Kevin Indig’s Growth Memo newsletter
Nick LeRoy’s #SEOForLunch newsletter
Marie Haynes’ The Search Bar Community
Search Engine Land
Anything Barry Schwartz writes on Search Engine Land and on Search Engine Roundtable
What Pandu Nayak Taught Me About SEO – AJ Kohn
The SEO Weekly with Garrett Sussman
SERP’s Up – Wix Podcast with Mordy Oberstein and Crystal Carter

Cool Fact

I have two birthdays. (I’m not kidding.)
I love writing film analyses and reviews.

Favorite Food And/Or Restaurant

I love the Mediterranean cuisine more than anything.
I enjoy Mexican, Brazilian and Turkish cuisines.
And I survive pretty much all other cuisines apart from: sushi and bananas. (Sorry! I’ve tried!)