Outsourcing SEO vs. In-House SEO: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Outsourcing SEO vs. In-house SEO both bring their unique perspective to a business. One focuses on approaching SEO services from the outside whereas the other works to make a business self-reliant.

To have a simpler grasp on both these concepts, let’s look at their definition.

When you go outside of your organization for help with optimizing your website for search engines, it’s called “Outsourcing SEO.” 

However, in-house SEO means that search engine optimization for your website is handled internally, within your own business. 

For a start-up, it’s common to face the question ‘What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing SEO and in-house SEO for startups?’

As the SEO services can be performed in-house by a knowledgeable employee or contracted out to an outside agency specializing in SEO. 

Neither is inherently better than the other; both are valid methods for putting search engine optimization principles into practice.

Your interests, budget, and desired level of involvement should determine whether you go for in-house or outsourced SEO. 

An in-house SEO methodology might be useful for a large business with the resources to recruit or educate an employee and the desire for complete campaign autonomy. 

Outsourced SEO is helpful for businesses with the agility to function without a dedicated employee and the marketing infrastructure to support a full-time staff.

The truth is that there is no one “best” choice for businesses. 

On the contrary, marketing research has shown that in recent times 81% of online businesses have preferred to outsource their SEO services given their quality and timely nature.

When you outsource SEO, you usually work with a group of people that make their living doing SEO.

An outsourced SEO agency will have a team of specialists that have polished their talents to perfection to perform excellent optimization on a website, rather than working with a generalist who may or may not have experience in digital marketing.

In the next section, we will individually discuss the advantages and disadvantages of SEO In house vs Outsourcing and then provide a comparative analysis.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing SEO

Advantages of Outsourcing SEO

1. SEO Professionals with Varied Experience

When discussing the advantages of seo in house vs outsourcing, one thing outsourcing SEO guarantees a business is the varied exposure and experience of the SEO agency. As they have already worked on a plethora of projects consisting of a broad spectrum of topics.

So, the business takes advantage of that experience and can expect that the hired agency would have worked on something like this priorly.

Outsourcing SEO brings an assured trust which may or may not is expected from an in-house SEO team given their monotonous environment.

2. Flexibility 

SEO strategies are prone to failure and success. For a business head to make an instant decision regarding their SEO strategy gains more flexibility and command while it’s outsourced rather than within the organization.

When a business has hired an agency for its SEO services and wants to have an immediate stop to it, it can easily opt for such a decision without witnessing any hard feelings or backlash from its outsourced SEO agency.

3. Updated and Well-Equipped

SEO is a complex strategy. It needs to stay updated with all the latest algorithmic updates on the search engine along with being proficient in all the SEO professional tools.

A start-up can expect such a level of professionalism from a well-reputed SEO agency that is well-versed in all such tasks, so the concerned organization should avail of all such perks by outsourcing SEO services.

4. Efficient and Specialized

Every business in its initial stage requires to grow rapidly and for that, they require impeccable SEO services. Now, when the decision lingers between seo in house vs outsourcing, the best is to rely on ‘quality’.

Well, research has proved outsourcing SEO services to be more efficient and specialist when it comes to ensuring business growth and higher ROI.

5. Cost-Effective and Time-Saving Process

Outsourcing SEO saves a firm from making additional expenses in terms of training employees about SEO from scratch and providing them with expensive SEO-related tools for making analyses and audits.

As the hired SEO agency already has paid subscriptions to the best SEO tools its direct benefits are received by the business which ultimately saves a huge chunk of money for them.

The time savings your business will experience as a result of entrusting SEO to a third-party firm is arguably the most significant advantage of outsourcing this task. 

As soon as you sign a contract with an agency, they can go to work for you since they already exist and have the means to do so. 

If you wanted to recruit someone full-time or start your in-house SEO team, you’d have to put out an ad, filter through resumes and interview prospects, and then wait for the successful applicant to complete his or her two-week notice at their existing employment. 

That’s at least two months down the drain when an agency should have been getting started on-site research and development.

6. Focus on Main Objectives

For a business, its scaling and growth should remain pivotal to its functioning sometimes managing services like SEO can act as a distraction from the actual goals.

So, it’s better to seo outsourcing company and streamline your attention to the progress and success of your business. 

Furthermore, to know more about this particular topic you may check out our SEO outsourcing guide.

7. Increase Customer Base

Outsourcing your SEO work might help you reach more customers. 

Offering SEO services is now a viable option for bringing in consistent monthly income. 

It’s becoming increasingly clear that building a strong online presence is a top priority for companies of all sizes, making SEO a tool that every company must employ. 

You can outsource the service to true specialists if your customer base is large enough. All while operating under your label. There are numerous commercial advantages to outsourcing, and this is one of them.

Disadvantages of Outsourcing SEO

1. Loss in Accessibility and Control

The chances of your hired SEO company might not suggest desired solutions for a rising problem can be high.

It’s more probable that you’ll have to wait for an answer if you can’t see it leading to numerous follow-ups. 

Many businesses express this worry, and it stems from the negative effects of the slow reaction time. Poor results are almost certain if your outsourced SEO firm lacks professionalism.

2. Dealing with Black Hat SEO Tactics

When you hire an SEO agency it’s very difficult to be vigilant over their every move given the physical distance your business and their agency work in. 

In such situations, you are unable to maintain authority and understand whether the tactics to boost your online traffic and sales deployed fall under the white hat or black hat SEO tactics.

If the former happens it’s well and good but in the case of the latter chances of your website being banned increase profoundly. 

Even, the rampant creation of content through some of the top AI content-creating tools can fall under the wrong practices in the eyes of any search engine.

So, you need to be always careful when you outsource SEO services.

3. Outsourced SEO Services that are Demanding Less Money is not Always Better!

One of the most valuable benefits of outsourcing SEO services is its cost-effective nature. But, for services that offer less price, there’s no guarantee it will produce the desired results.

As you don’t have any autonomy over the outsourced agency you need to be extremely thorough with the SEO agency you hire.

Advantages and Disadvantages of In-House SEO

Advantages of In-House SEO

1. Control 

A dedicated team of SEO professionals under your direct command gives you complete autonomy or control over them. As a business head, you can track all their movements and understand their way of functioning.

This is one of the foremost advantages of this practice when discussing SEO in house vs outsourcing as such luxury is not enjoyed while outsourcing SEO.

2. Commitment and Understanding

Having your in-house SEO team gives you ready access to a dedicated group of specialists that can work on your websites. 

When the team is aware of your top priorities and company goals, they can better serve you. 

When a team is incentivized financially to work only on improving your site’s search engine rankings and conversion rates, they tend to be more dedicated to the task at hand and more nimble in their approach.

3. Strong Synergy

Any team that works in a proper office atmosphere gives them more chances to bond with the company.

Rather than working like fixed-hours employees, they start to consider other office members as their family.

When such kind of relationship is formed the output generated is positive and effective. Similarly, the same happens with the in-house SEO team, they give more than 100% to any task or any problem thrown their way.

Such kind of bond and synergy is absent with the hired SEO team or agency.

4. Future Prospectives

As a way of moving forward, the company hopes to raise a dedicated team in each department which over a while becomes specialist.

In the case of outsourcing this objective can never be achieved whereas when you have an in-house SEO team, you can expect them to stay with you and match your every footstep.

With your in-house SEO team, a business can see the future and expect to grow further with employees they know in and out.

5. Mold Strategies according to Your Business Goals

Another key advatange when discussing SEO in house vs outsourcing is when you focus on the latter, you should not necessarily anticipate individualized service. 

The agencies are businesses just like you, and to be competitive in the market, they may not always have the time or resources to devote to developing unique methods of addressing the always-shifting threats in a highly competitive market.

As time has progressed, SEO has evolved beyond its once-simple origins. Due to the increased complexity of the industry, outsourced SEO services may not always be able to meet your needs since they must prioritize other projects.

So, it’s advisable to have a diligent in-house SEO team who consider your wish as their command.

Disadvantages of In-House SEO 

1. Issues with Strategy Formulation

A lot of the time, an in-house SEO may feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks at hand.

The in-house SEO team can be so consumed by reacting to urgent issues and the priorities of other teams that may never get a chance to formulate its strategy, let alone put it into action, even if they have some ideas about which large initiatives will truly make a difference.

Also, your company likely has its share of bureaucracy and restrictions. So, the part of a specialist given to the in-house SEO team may be lost in several chains of commands.

Thus, affecting the effectiveness and streamlined SEO strategy formulation.

2. Not at All Cost-Effective

Often start-ups that run short on marketing funds allot SEO-related tasks to employees who are not aware of this strategy.

Thus, spending additional money on their training and providing them with expensive SEO-related tools. So, the point at which you were trying to save money ultimately you spent more than you would have expected on it.

Even if the company decides to hire SEO professionals and allow them to work in-house, it still causes a substantial dent in their funds.

3. Not Well-Verse with SEO Strategies

To make SEO a success for your business, it needs to work in a combination of several internal strategies consisting of a detailed content strategy, link-building campaign, keyword research, and so on.

Often in-house SEO teams are not aware of such strategies and they consider just by creating fresh content they would be able to rank their website and accumulate tonnes of traffic.

4. Lacks the Varied Effects of Algorithm Changes and Trends

SEO is an ever-evolving process. Search engines often make time-to-time algorithm updates to make the content more user-friendly. 

Certain practices that used to carry more weightage in SEO earlier, now hold no significance.

Now, when we consider the outsourced SEO agency, they would have a greater understanding of the varying effects of search engine algorithm changes than the in-house SEO team, given the variety of projects the former handles.

5. Lack of Exposure and Experience

For an in-house SEO team to have varied experience and exposure across various SEO-related projects cannot be expected. As they have worked in a monotonous environment and solved issues related to similar problems.

As a business, when you eye down diversification in the future it’s important to have an SEO team that would be well-versed in a varied amount of tasks and different sets of problems.

Outsourced SEO vs. In-House SEO! Which Option to Opt for?

To be honest, there is no clear answer to the dilemma of SEO in house vs outsourcing.

In 2016 a marketing study mentioned regarding small businesses that 60% of such businesses preferred in-house SEO, whereas the current data portrays only 19% of companies enjoy in-house services.

Statistically, speaking Outsourcing SEO seems to be the best possible option but in reality, doesn’t work on statistics.

When you choose outsourcing SEO, there is no doubt you’ll have access to professional guidance and a team of highly-skilled individuals who are committed to helping you achieve your goals. 

In addition, a hired SEO agency will also function with minimal oversight because of its inherent autonomy. If it makes sense for your company, you may give the agency you desire a shot and sit back.

But, you can’t sideline in-house SEO benefits especially, if you are a multi-national corporation or a large business as having your in-house SEO leads to complete control and strategy formulation.

However, you would have to give a lot of work, time, and energy into managing an internal workforce, from finding new employees to providing them with orientation and ongoing training.

Summing Up!

We’d like to wrap up the discussion of “Outsourcing SEO” vs. “In-House SEO” by noting that the decision is ultimately up to you and your company’s size, budget, requirements, goals, and objectives will define which one to select in SEO in house vs outsourcing.

So, why waste time and energy concerning SEO services, why not hire or talk to a professional? 

You may rely on Uvisible Outsourcing SEO services to help propel your business to new heights with our tailored strategies and tactics which will help you achieve the online visibility and success your business deserves.