In-House SEO Vs SEO Agency – An Overview of Pros and Cons of Both Options

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As you most likely already know, having a website is not enough to succeed online. To make your online venture a success, you need to attract as many visitors as possible. And to do that, you need your website to appear high in search engine results pages (SERP) for relevant keywords. Search engine optimisation (SEO) can help you achieve just that.

You have basically two options when it comes to SEO. You can either hire an SEO specialist to make your website more search engine friendly or outsource the whole optimisation thing to an SEO agency. Each of both options have their pros and cons, and to make your decision easier, we will briefly look at both advantages and disadvantages of the two options.

In-House SEO

Pros

  • Having an SEO specialist working exclusively on your website. By employing an SEO specialist, he or she will focus exclusively on your website as opposed to SEO agencies that typically work for multiple clients at a time.

  • Complete control over your SEO project. Having an SEO specialist working next door or down the hallway gives you full control over the strategies he or she uses, what has been done, what will be done, when, how, etc.

  • Better understanding of your company and specific needs. An SEO expert that works directly for your company understands your business, day to day operation and what you need (and don’t need) a lot better than someone who has never set foot in your company.

Cons

  • Higher costs. SEO specialists are very expensive, especially if you want them to dedicate themselves exclusively to your business. Unless you run a larger number of websites, hiring an SEO expert can be a serious financial strain.

  • Uncertain results. By hiring an SEO specialist, your SEO project depends exclusively on a single person as opposed to outsourced campaigns that are typically developed and implemented by a team of SEO experts rather than one person.

SEO Agency

Pros

  • Lower costs. SEO agencies which deliver what they promise aren’t exactly inexpensive but the overall cost of the campaign is typically considerably lower in comparison in-house SEO.

  • Experience. The fact that SEO agencies work for multiple clients can also be viewed as an advantage because it means they have experience working for a wide range of businesses. Also, a long list of satisfied clients is the best proof that they deliver high quality service.

  • Expertise. To ensure the best results, SEO agencies typically entrust development and implementation of their SEO campaigns to a team of specialists rather than a single person.

  • Results-driven. When you have an SEO specialist working for you directly, you have to give them the agreed salary regardless if their work brings results or not. SEO agencies, on the other hand, can’t afford not to bring results because if they don’t stand up to their promises, they can’t expect to win new clients or retain the existing ones.

Cons

  • Virtual service. When you work with an SEO agency, you often don’t even see the people who are optimising your website.

  • Sharing SEO specialists with other website owners. When outsourcing SEO, you may need to wait for your turn.