Outsourcing SEO Services vs. In-House SEO: Which Is Right for You?

An online presence might have been optional years ago, but not today. In today’s day and age, if you’re not on the internet, you’re basically non-existent. But even if you are there on the internet, you need to be visible if you want people to find you, otherwise, all your efforts can be in vain. The best way you can achieve internet visibility is with the help of SEO. There are two main ways in which you can do SEO, you can either do in-house SEO or you can try outsourcing SEO services from a specialized company. If you want to try out SEO for yourself but don’t know where to start and whether you should go for an in-house or a third-party SEO, then this article is here for you to help you make an informed decision.

Understanding In-House SEO

In-house SEO refers to a company’s decision to hire a team within their organization, which can handle everything SEO-related. That means that said team is part of your company and that they are salaried employees who are part of your organizational formula. 

While there are some benefits surrounding the idea of an in-house operation, such as real-time collaboration and control, there are many cons businesses encounter when doing in-house SEO, in opposition to third-party services.

Cons and Benefits

The first con is regarding the costs. Managing a full-time, in-house, SEO team can be very costly, especially for a start-up. Not only do businesses have to cover the monthly salaries of multiple people but tools, technologies and training can add up even more costs to the equation. For a small or medium enterprise, this additional cost can be the final nail in the coffin, especially since SEO is a long-term investment. 

Not only would you end up spending a lot more money, but the results you’re hoping for might not even come and that’s because, oftentimes, the specialists who end up hired within an internal team do not always keep up with the industry trends. That’s not due to malicious intent; it is simply a result of working within the same context constantly. Third-party agencies are used to working with multiple clients, which exposes them to new trends, technologies and strategies, but that is not often the case for in-house operations.

Going back to the issue of costs, it is important to take into account scalability. The more you expand as a business, the more people you would need to hire and you still might find them lacking simply because SEO is comprised of multiple elements and it might be impossible for a team of a few members to cover all of the technical parts. If you plan on expanding your business in the future, you might want to keep this in mind. 

Understanding Outsourcing SEO Services

Outsourcing SEO services means hiring an external agency to manage every SEO-related aspect of your company.  Most of the time, these agencies have entire teams focusing on certain aspects, each with a dedicated field of work. While some would prefer to have their optimization team under their immediate control, many businessmen out there would rather outsource the search engine optimization process by hiring an external professional team.

Cons and Benefits

Probably the best benefit of going for a SEO outsource company is the fact that you get access to a team of experts with both theoretical and practical knowledge about technical SEO, on-page SEO, off-page SEO and everything else and in-between. This can speed up the results you want for your business.

Let’s now talk money. You will see that, in comparison to an in-house team, outsourcing SEO services is more cost-effective and that’s because you’re paying for specific projects and not for a full-time position. Moreover, because of this, you also know exactly what you’re paying for and you have complete access to what SEO investment your money goes into.

Speaking of control, many people believe that entrusting your online visibility to an external team means you’re no longer in control of what’s being done and posted, but that is not true. No SEO company would do or post something that is not pre-approved by the client. That’s just how things are done in this field. So all that talk about losing control? It’s all just a rumor.

Now that we have that settled, let’s also mention scalability. It is every business’s goal to grow, isn’t it? Why, then, would you not take that into account when starting SEO? Instead of going through all the trouble of hiring an internal team, it would be far more effective, both from a time and money perspective, to outsource this service. Not only is it cheaper and more professional, but when the time comes for your business to grow, you will not have to deal with hiring another person. As mentioned earlier, these SEO agencies have their own teams of specialists and can increase the number of specialists attributed to your business in just a few seconds.

A third-party agency will also be, surprisingly, more efficient than an in-house team and that’s because, usually, they have a far better and more professional system in place. They are backed up by strategies that are proven and have created step-by-step processes which are fast, effective and successful. This is granted by the vast experience these companies have on the market, an experience which resulted from many years of activity with multiple clients over time.

 Conclusion

The main conclusion of this article is that, typically, outsourcing is a better option, one that can save you both money and time. If you’re just starting with your business or if you want to give digital marketing a shot, the best course of action would be to contact an agency and set up a meeting to see all the ways in which they can help you achieve your goals.