What is SEO outsourcing?
SEO outsourcing is the process of working with a partner agency or freelancer to provide one or more types of SEO services. By outsourcing SEO needs, you gain a number of advantages and benefits that you might otherwise miss.
What is an SEO company?
An SEO company is a company that focuses specifically on search engine optimization projects for business and organizations. SEO consultants will often partner with businesses to understand and then help them achieve their goals of improving online presence, growing brand awareness, and increasing traffic to their website.
Some SEO service providers may operate within larger firms, such as digital marketing agencies or web development companies. But there are many SEO firms and even some freelancers who provide search engine optimization services only, and they specialize heavily in staying current with the latest tools, techniques, and approaches for improving SEO performance.
What are SEO services?
Search engine optimization is much more than just a one-step process, and there are several different SEO outsourcing services available to businesses of all sizes. Those include:
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Off-page optimization - Off-page SEO involves link building, guest posting on other sites or blogs, and social media marketing efforts. All of these do not affect your business’ website, which is why they are called “off-page.”
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On-page optimization - On-page SEO or on-site SEO is focused on improving your main website’s performance in search engines. This includes improving content to include more keywords that you are targeting, optimizing content for readability and clarity, creating new content, and regularly updating pages when possible.
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Technical SEO - Technical or functional SEO focuses on the performance of your website, including speeding up page loading times, improving navigation, restructuring pages and content to improve user flow, and so on.
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Local SEO - Localization is designed to improve your site’s visibility in a specific geographic area. Components of this process include updating Google Business Profile, creating local content, sourcing reviews from local customers, and more.
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Mobile SEO - Mobile search engine optimization is a sub-discipline of on-page optimization focused on making your site more mobile friendly, faster loading, and easy to use on mobile devices.
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Competitive research + analysis - Learning what is working for your competitors, and learning what strategies and options they are not utilizing, provides your business with a competitive edge and specific paths to pursue in terms of SEO strategy.
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Keyword research + strategy - Speaking of strategy, SEO agencies will provide you with in-depth keyword research and strategy that incorporates your business goals, industry standards and trends, competitor analysis, and recommendations specific to your site and content.
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Content strategy creation + content development - SEO agencies also have experienced content experts who understand the importance of optimizing content while also making it accessible and informative for customers. This expertise in turn improves readability, which is a key factor in search engine optimization and site ranking among search providers.
There are some other types of specialized SEO services, but these examples are the top services that most SEO outsourcing firms focus on.
Benefits of outsourcing SEO
As with other essential business functions that SMBs and even major corporations utilize, outsourced SEO offers many benefits and advantages. A few of the top reasons why business leaders choose SEO outsourcing services include:
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Serious know-how - While many companies now employ some SEO experts in their marketing or analytics departments, it is still impossible to beat the amount of expertise you gain by partnering with a reputable SEO agency. Their experience working with different clients in different industries, and their knowledge of multiple search engines and their requirements, gives your business a major advantage.
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Time savings - You and your team could certainly learn about SEO and train yourselves on the latest approaches, but search engine optimization can have a steep learning curve. By working with an SEO agency you can have a dedicated team up and running in much less time, and the results will begin to show up even faster.
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Cost effective - Although the price of SEO services is always one of the first questions a business leader asks, the truth is that the SEO services cost is a fraction of what the DIY approach would run. For the many types of SEO services, the expertise, and the results, working with a dedicated SEO agency is well worth the money for most companies.
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Additional improvements - Undergoing an SEO process with an agency often also identifies issues that provide other benefits and improvements. Your website will function better and provide a better user experience, which in turn can mean that you receive more leads from more customers or clients. SEO projects also improve brand reputation and trustworthiness, enhancing customer loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing as well.
How much does outsourcing SEO cost?
Like many agency services, the average cost of SEO services can vary in a big way. Agencies have their own rates, their own billing options (monthly, hourly, per project, etc.), and their own way of defining the scope of your project.
Still, understanding how much do SEO services cost is critical to knowing whether your business can partner with an outside agency for SEO outsourcing services. For many businesses, the pricing of SEO outsourcing services may range from $1,500 per month to $5,000 per month or more. Major corporations with enormous ecommerce websites may see the price tag rise to $10,000 or more each month, but SMBs with specific goals in mind will not see their SEO services pricing run that high.
Some of the factors that will impact the total price include:
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Business size - Larger companies with more needs, or in a crowded industry with a lot of competition, may see a higher price tag for SEO services because of the challenges that need to be overcome.
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Location - Local businesses in smaller towns or cities, and those that have less competition, will see a lower price tag than a restaurant in downtown New York City, for example.
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Goals - What you want to achieve with your search engine optimization project will impact pricing. Simpler goals will require less work, which in turn means a lower price tag. But larger and more specific goals will affect the timeline, which will affect the number of hours that your SEO agency partner spends auditing your site, creating content, and so on.
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Size and complexity of the website - More pages obviously means more work, the need for more content, and more analysis. As a result more complex sites will necessitate a higher price for SEO services.
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Current stage of SEO efforts and progress - If your team has already completed some of the SEO work and begun optimizing your site or content, this may save an agency partner time up front and reduce costs overall.
As a general rule, many SEO experts and firms suggest that spending between 5% and 10% of your business revenue on search engine optimization is a good place to start. This will give you a reasonable number to begin your conversations and negotiations with as you begin the search for a great SEO agency.
Should I outsource SEO or do it in-house?
Many businesses have one or more SEO experts on staff. The value of having in-house expertise when developing or revamping your website is terrific, but may not be enough to help your business achieve the goals you have set. Many local businesses who handle their SEO campaigns in house have reported spending more money for their results than they would have when working with an agency.
There are a variety of reasons why an in-house approach may limit your results. First, having only one or two people devoted to your SEO campaign will mean that you have limited time and resources to devote to research, optimization, functionality improvement, content creation, and so on. Second, it can be difficult for smaller teams or just a few individuals to consider all options and identify new opportunities. And with how frequently Google and other search providers update their search algorithms, it takes a lot of time and effort to stay up to date on best practices and optimization techniques.
Working with an SEO services provider usually means that you have more brain power applied to your project. Your SEO agency partner will also have extensive experience in a variety of industries and fields, allowing them to provide valuable perspective and techniques that have worked across several clients. Finally, you get a team of experts that will be focused on your needs and goals for a fraction of what it would cost to build a dedicated SEO team within your organization.
How to choose the best SEO service provider
The question of how to choose an SEO company is answered by first gathering the information you need. This includes developing a complete understanding of what your goals are, your current site performance metrics (if available), and of course the budget you have available to cover the cost of SEO services.
You should also develop a list of questions to ask SEO agencies. Just like interviewing a job candidate or prospective partner, having a good batch of questions that can guide and further your conversation will provide you with a great deal of information to help evaluate your choices. Such questions can include:
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Have you worked with other companies in our industry before?
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What does your complete SEO process look like in terms of steps and timing?
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Can we speak to some of your past and current clients?
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Who is on the team and what is their expertise and experience?
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Can you share some case studies that highlight your success with sites similar to ours?
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How long did it take to achieve results with those clients?
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What tools do you use to inform your SEO strategy and tactics?
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What type of reporting do you provide and at what frequency?
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Will you need access to our systems? If so, which systems and what type of access?
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How much of our time will you need to support this project?
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How do you keep up with the latest trends and tactics in SEO ?
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What is your approach to link building?
You would also benefit from developing a list of the specific types of SEO services you believe your company needs. Are you looking to begin solely with on-site optimization? Or are you looking to focus on technical SEO that will improve site functionality and usability? These considerations will help guide your conversations with prospective agency partners.
