{"id":144161,"date":"2022-09-26T17:49:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T17:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=144161"},"modified":"2022-10-24T05:36:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T05:36:59","slug":"in-house-seo-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-who-wins-the-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2022\/09\/26\/in-house-seo-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-who-wins-the-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"In-house SEO vs outsourced agency talent: Who wins the debate?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144165\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/In-house-SEO-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-Who-wins-the-debate-1024x273.png\" alt=\"In-house SEO vs outsourced agency talent Who wins the debate\" width=\"640\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/In-house-SEO-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-Who-wins-the-debate-1024x273.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/In-house-SEO-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-Who-wins-the-debate-300x80.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/In-house-SEO-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-Who-wins-the-debate-768x205.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/In-house-SEO-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-Who-wins-the-debate.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO involves a lot of tasks, processes, and technicalities that are hard to master and manage<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Investing in an in-house team can have lots of advantages, like building specialized talent, greater control over performance, productivity, brand and process alignment<\/span><\/li>\n<li>However, outsourcing to an SEO agency may not deliver the above-mentioned benefits but can be easier on your marketing budget and overheads<\/li>\n<li>So, how do you identify the right fit for your business?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are too many parts of SEO and many of those parts are constantly moving and changing. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more a site grows, the more challenging SEO is going to be. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what\u2019s a better approach: to start building your own in-house SEO team or rely on an agency or freelancers?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s see\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Pros and cons of building your own team<\/h2>\n<h3><b>Pro #1: You build your own internal talent and knowledge<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your team is your biggest asset. Your company is only as good as the people behind it. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are all cliches but they hold true.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having an in-house team to rely on makes your SEO strategy more consistent and aligned with your company\u2019s culture and your product positioning strategy. Plus, there is a smoother flow of ideas and communication that leads to better results. You also stand to gain from the cross-pollination of talent that feeds into innovation and greater problem-solving.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Con #1: Talents tend to move on<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s one huge issue with talented people: They tend to overgrow their employing businesses, and they do that pretty quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It often becomes hard (and expensive) to keep the talent, even if your organization was the one that grew it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Pro #2: You hold someone responsible<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are good at hiring, you will likely find someone responsible who will take their training and tasks seriously. The person will have clear ownership which makes everyone&#8217;s lives easier and your business more effective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any business initiative is going to be successful only if there\u2019s someone inside the company <\/span><b>to \u201cown\u201d it<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/how-walgreens-scaled-its-performance-storytelling\/266621\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In-house teams<\/a> are easier to control, you can ask for and obtain reports within a day. You can ask for clarifications without running out of your billable hours.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Con #2: It is expensive<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not many businesses can afford to have an internal SEO that has nothing but SEO\u2026 Apart from regular and inevitable payroll, there are also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hibob.com\/hr-glossary\/hr-processes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HR processes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that contribute to the overall expenses. And let\u2019s not forget about employee insurance and other benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, growing your own team is generally a great investment but only if your budget allows it. Plus, there\u2019s always a risk your investment will simply leave your company one day (see above).<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Pro #3: You own your data<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Privacy is a big issue when it comes to letting anyone do marketing for you. On the other hand, you can also control the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/showcase\/best-identity-theft-protection-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">technology and privacy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> much more efficiently ensuring that your data is accessible to your internal team only.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, when you outsource anything, you will inevitably miss lots of data, like contacts that were acquired, templates that worked better, and other assets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you have the work done internally, you end up accumulating contacts you can rely on going forward. You also eventually build your own data and find innovative ways to build it into your search marketing strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Con #4: It is slower<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unless you have a huge team, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2016\/01\/27\/14-most-important-seo-tasks-in-order-of-priority\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO tasks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will pile up. They are very hard to organize and scale without outside help because there are too many variables and most of them are done on a continuous and regular basis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Relying on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.webceo.com\/blog\/seo-for-freelancers-how-to-automate-your-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">freelancers to outsource SEO<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tasks is often the only way to get things done and free some time for looking into analytics to align your <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2022\/09\/15\/an-seo-strategy-flywheel-to-win-leadership-buy-in-and-drive-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEO strategy<\/a> better.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Pro #5: The process can be better integrated<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO is no longer an island. It can only be really effective if it is well-integrated into all processes within an organization, including product development, IT, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2022\/08\/18\/how-do-you-use-seo-to-scale-revenue-and-market-share\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sales<\/span><\/a>,<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zendesk.com\/blog\/seo-customer-service-benefits-aligning-efforts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">customer support<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The intersection of digital and physical consumer experiences is also a strong reason as to why SEO needs to have strong integration with digital marketing, martech, and sales. Your business can achieve its goals only if it has a unified footprint.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Con #5: You cannot build a team that is good at everything<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biggest problem with SEO is that there are several moving parts that require absolutely different training and skill sets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember the graph?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144164\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-graph-and-relativity-1024x627.png\" alt=\"SEO graph and relativity\" width=\"640\" height=\"392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-graph-and-relativity-1024x627.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-graph-and-relativity-300x184.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-graph-and-relativity-768x470.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-graph-and-relativity-1536x941.png 1536w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SEO-graph-and-relativity.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tonyxrandall\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anthony Palomarez<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO always includes <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/category\/content\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">content creation and optimization<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/04\/technical-seo-six-areas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">technical support<\/span><\/a>,<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/11\/16\/top-strategies-behind-link-building-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">link building<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (which normally includes email outreach, relationship building, and linkable asset creation which, in turn, involves graphic design or video production tasks).<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>If you need to understand all of these moving parts better, I have a simplified flow chart for you:<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-144163\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/the-scope-of-SEO-1024x529.png\" alt=\"the scope of SEO\" width=\"640\" height=\"331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/the-scope-of-SEO-1024x529.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/the-scope-of-SEO-300x155.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/the-scope-of-SEO-768x396.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/the-scope-of-SEO-1536x793.png 1536w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/the-scope-of-SEO.png 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s not forget that many of those parts will have to evolve based on ever-changing Google guidelines and ever-developing search algorithms that are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/01\/21\/top-four-seo-myths-debunked-directors-cut\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hard to keep up with<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With such a variety of skills required, building a team that would handle almost everything is next to impossible, even for corporate entities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, today\u2019s technology makes it much easier. You don\u2019t have a web developer to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.namify.tech\/10-powerful-landing-page-builders-in-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">build a landing page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/03\/26\/on-page-seo-essentials-content\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">handle on-page SEO essentials<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You don\u2019t have to be a graphic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/09\/08\/transforming-advertisement-and-graphic-design-through-ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">designer to create visuals<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or even put together <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/optinmonster.com\/best-lead-generation-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an effective lead magnet<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But even with smart technology, to handle all the parts of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.overthetopseo.com\/seo-services\/\">SEO services strategy<\/a> you will need a pretty huge team, which is &#8211; again &#8211; expensive.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The truth is somewhere in the middle<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The takeaway from the above is somewhat of a dilemma: You want a team to control something that you may never be able to control.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best solution is usually in the middle:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hire an SEO manager who has thorough SEO knowledge<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let that SEO manager find companies and freelancers to outsource different moving parts to<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means having an SEO manager who is brilliant at both SEO and project management.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, it will take time to find the right person but finding the right person is never easy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is well worth your time though:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your in-house person will be able to \u201ctranslate\u201d any SEO jargon to you whenever you need to understand what is going on<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You will have someone owning the strategy and process\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There will be a person who will be inside your company to ensure your SEO strategy is aligned with your overall product positioning strategy and include other teams in the SEO processes<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In reality, if you want your SEO strategy to deliver results, you need both: An internal person (or a team) and someone outside your company to rely on. This is not a question of choosing one.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Managing SEO is hard. Don\u2019t feel discouraged. There\u2019s no valid alternative to organic search traffic. Find the right person who will be able to manage the process for you and find reliable partners to outsource different SEO tasks to. This way you will keep the strategy under control while still being able to afford it. Good luck!<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Ann Smarty is the Founder of Viral Content Bee, Brand and Community manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas. She can be found on Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/seosmarty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@seosmarty<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/#newsletter-modal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Watch newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for insights on SEO, the search landscape, search marketing, digital marketing, leadership, podcasts, and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Join the conversation with us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/61126\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sewatch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Managing SEO is overwhelming and every decision maker faces the inevitable dilemma, &#8220;should I hire in-house or outsource?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":144165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[574,536,19323],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-144161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry","category-seo","tag-cost-of-seo","tag-seo-strategy","tag-talent-acquisition"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":"Independent","tad_content_format":"Infuencer commentary"},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/In-house-SEO-vs-outsourced-agency-talent-Who-wins-the-debate.png","category":"Industry","timeago":"3y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144161"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=144161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}