It is a widely held belief among business owners and marketing managers that search engine optimisation is highly beneficial to any marketing plan. According to the State of Inbound 2016, strengthening organic presence and SEO topped the list of most companies’ marketing priorities—mirroring the year’s top challenge, which was generating traffic and leads.
Implementing SEO—keyword research, on- and off-page optimisation, monitoring and analysis—can be difficult; the specialised skills needed take time and resources to develop and can be difficult to screen for in interviews. A common solution, therefore, is outsourcing.
According to a 2017 online marketing trends survey, 50% of small to medium business are either considering or have already invested in SEO outsourcing services. They’ve allotted 30% or less of their budget to digital marketing methods, including SEO. Furthermore, 31.6% said that SEO and website development were the digital marketing services that generated most revenue for their businesses.
Choosing to outsource professional SEO services has big advantages in terms of execution of task. Industry specialists already have the skills and knowledge and cost less in time, money, and effort spent on training and tools.
Human Resource Cost: SEO outsourcing will save on manpower and time. Hiring or (re)training an internal SEO specialist, which would cost more in salary and further outlays to keep their skills sharp. When you outsource, however, all you have to worry about is the monthly fee—the agency will cover the training needed to keep their staff competitive.
Expertise: Hiring from professional outsourcing companies will ensure the success of your SEO campaigns. They’re the one who’s well trained, knowledgeable in different seo strategies and best practices that fits to your business needs.
Better Resources: SEO outsourcing companies already have the necessary tools, such as software, dashboards, report makers, etc. to track the progress of the website’s strategies on the daily basis.
For most businesses today, it would be preferable to avail of SEO outsourcing services. It’s the best way to increase the company’s online reputation, ranking, and website visibility.
The main advantages are that you’ll spend less and have the potential for more revenue growth. But you’ll also be able to focus on your business’s core tasks. Building trust in, and keeping clear communication with an SEO outsourcing company can also be a beneficial for your business.
Some companies choose not to outsource SEO because of possible issues in transparency and the accountability; others want their marketers focused on their business only, and therefore hire an in-house SEO. Sometimes, they don’t feel secure disclosing confidential metrics of the company such as finances, email credentials, etc.
While outsourcing may not ultimately be the solution for all companies, these problems shouldn’t be considered insurmountable. A good SEO provider should be able to address such issues. Regular meetings and clear points-of-contact, for instance, can solve problems in accountability and transparency, while information security and NDAs can resolve fears in confidentiality. Dedicated SEO specialists—those who deal with one account only—are generally available, as well.