While SEO is an important aspect of the growth of a business, it’s a complex and time-consuming effort that requires a lot of patience to generate the desired results. Many business owners tend to see SEO efforts in a similar light to investing, since in both cases their options are to either do it themselves or outsource their efforts.
Many business owners see SEO as a difficult thing to do – and it is, at least for people that don’t have the right experience. It requires a lot of knowledge beforehand, and it requires dedicated effort, which people might not have enough time to pursue. However, there are certain things that businesses should consider before they decide to outsource their SEO.
Costs
The first thing that business owners should consider if they’re looking to outsource their SEO efforts is the costs. Search Engine Optimization is not a cheap task, especially when it’s executed well. That means a business will be focused on the best SEO techniques, and not the cheap, wrong, and easy ones. All of these things are not easy questions to answer for many business owners, and there are certain things that need to be taken into consideration beforehand.
For example, the business owner should consider whether the team of marketers that’s already on board will be able to keep up with the demands of SEO-related tasks too. Another thing to consider is whether the team has previous knowledge, or if there’s going to be a big learning curve. There’s also the current SEO score of the company’s website. Finally, there’s the ultimate long-term cost of outsourcing SEO efforts, because SEO requires consistency over a long period of time.
Impact
Two other things that businesses need to consider before deciding to outsource their SEO is how much of their marketing efforts are reliant on SEO, as well as the maturity of their current SEO efforts. That means taking into account whether current SEO efforts are delivering results or if the business has to start from scratch. It also means considering whether the company just needs more manpower to increase and improve its existing SEO efforts.
Businesses that are just starting their SEO efforts should learn about all of the SEO best practices and start implementing them. They should also conduct an audit to learn the company’s SEO needs. Fortunately these days, there are plenty of digital tools that can help businesses with their SEO audits. One such tool is Alexa, which gives businesses a custom report as well as recommendations on what needs improvement.
Brand Identity
Finally, the last thing that companies should be considering before outsourcing SEO is the impact that outsourcing will have on the identity of the brand itself. When a company decides to outsource SEO to someone that’s not familiar with the business, it means giving someone else the responsibility of creating SEO content that accurately represents the brand and includes a good keyword strategy.
That’s why companies that do decide to outsource their SEO should be sure that whoever ends up in charge of their SEO Strategy is intimately familiar with the business and its strategic goals. That requires an onboarding strategy and getting that person familiar with the brand guidelines, vision, success metrics, and all creative materials.