Handling SEO Needs Individually Vs. Hiring an SEO Team

If you’ve recently decided to focus more heavily on your company website and related search engine optimization (SEO) areas, you might be considering a common choice for business owners or online marketing managers. Do I attempt to handle SEO on my own, or do I hire an SEO team that will complete many of these areas for me?

It’s Technically Possible

Technically speaking, it’s possible for non-SEO professionals and company owners to handle their own SEO. Areas like link outreach, blog writing and others involved in SEO can all be done by such individuals.

The primary issue here, however, relates back to time and the limited number of hours in the day. SEO is a labor-intensive process in many cases, with a steep learning curve for those who are not in the industry. You’re liable to miss certain elements that might drop your rankings, for instance, or at-risk of failing to pick up on a recent change to a Google algorithm or program that needs close monitoring for SEO success. Simply put, if you want a robust SEO effort, most business owners and in-house employees simply don’t have the time and expertise available.

How SEO Teams Help

To get a bit more specific, here are a couple distinct areas where an SEO team provides expertise and services that usually are not realistic for non-professionals:

• Publishing: My team has been working on our publishing network for over seven years – we have a great familiarity with it, allowing for direct benefits to clients. We hand select the sites we are willing to partner with.
• Technical SEO: There are several areas within SEO that are highly technical, from on-site optimization to advanced technical SEO. Some of these areas can be done by company individuals, but this area is where we see most companies are missing the details.

Outsourcing Themes

Some of the thematic benefits of outsourcing to SEO pros include:

• Quicker implementation of SEO needs, particularly relative to Google updates or other timely scenarios.
• Greater efficacy in SEO efforts based on years of experience and connections in the industry.
• Ability to devote focus to other business areas and determine how much time you spend on SEO.
• Ability to select the proper package for your budget.

Full-Time In-House SEO Pro

This option technically isn’t outsourcing, as it involves hiring someone to a role dedicated only to SEO, but it’s the most significant option out there when you’ve decided you want to make a major investment in this area. An in-house SEO pro brings you every benefit possible: Not only will they carry major SEO expertise and the knowledge to assist you in many areas, their embedding in your company will allow them to learn specific business needs and goals and target SEO efforts in this direction.

Now, the somewhat obvious downside here for many businesses is cost. Many cannot afford to pay a full-time employee for this role; there are part-time options available here, but you risk quality level slipping at this point and you might be better off going with an agency.

SEO Agency

For many clients, the ideal middle ground here is an SEO agency like SEO Werkz. While our SEO pros technically do not embed in your company, they might as well do so in many cases – our work involves a detailed investigation of all the most important sectors of your business as they pertain to SEO and related areas, plus implementation of proper themes to meet your needs.

As a long-running SEO agency, we have fantastic local and national connections in terms of publishing, link-building and many other important SEO practices. We also have the expertise of having dealt with numerous company types and business needs, ensuring your business won’t be unfamiliar to us.

SEO Freelancer

For those with a lower budget but who still want to outsource some SEO services, you may consider a freelance SEO consultant. This type of individual usually has a solid understanding of the industry, though tends to lack the resources of an SEO agency in most cases. For those only looking for occasional help, however, the ability to hire a freelancer for hourly, monthly or even one-time services may be valuable.

Cost and Services

Like with any other service you’re paying for on the market, one of your top considerations should be the cost and what you get for the money you’re spending. SEO costs and deliverable services can vary incredibly widely depending on who is doing the work.

Generally speaking, there will be four pricing methods available within the realm of SEO outsourcing: Hourly work, project-based jobs, monthly retainers or specific SEO packages (most common among agencies like ours). Individual SEO consultants often charge hourly; packages are usually most popular because they give you the best idea of what you’re getting.

Some general services to ask about while investigating your optimal partner:

• Proof of previous results and tactics
• Experience in your industry
• Up-to-date with latest Google and other search engine algorithms
• Link building strategies used
• Analytics and reports generated
• Packages or payment programs involved
• Can they work with a third-party contractor for certain services?

Be Wary of Guarantees

One big red flag to be extremely wary of during your search for SEO pros: Any freelancer or agency who says they can “guarantee” particular results or sales could be trying to take advantage of you. This is a constantly-evolving industry where even the top professionals can never be 100% sure of results – we have a great understanding of algorithms and how to best position you for success, plus how to avoid penalties and get results over time. But we will not promise any particular benchmark, and neither will other top pros.

Results-Based Payments?

Another area that’s generally a no-no within the SEO world, for similar reasons, is a contract where you pay an SEO professional only based on the results they generate. While certain freelancers may offer such options to try and generate business, we don’t recommend going this route – SEO results can take time to show up in many cases, and are absolutely a long-term investment. You need SEO pros who can be flexible with their strategies, and this means trusting their judgement and expertise to some level.

We’re proud to offer SEO services in varying packages, allowing our clients to determine their level of input and involvement to a great degree – we’re happy to work with clients in numerous areas if you’re interested in pushing many efforts forward yourself, or we’re happy to handle your SEO and related web design, PPC and other online marketing areas entirely while you focus on running your company. We’ll go over this conundrum of self-completed SEO tasks compared to hiring an SEO team, including some important factors to consider while making this choice.