For the average website, organic search fuels more than half of all traffic. Yet, in-house marketing teams sometimes struggle to prioritize SEO amidst competing responsibilities, or worse – they neglect their search presence entirely.
As SEO specialists at Upward Engine, we firmly believe in the value of outsourcing Search Engine Optimization, especially for B2B companies and industries that heavily rely on organic traffic. The technical skills, complex content strategies, specialized (and expensive) software, and constantly evolving search algorithms make SEO a challenging field for in-house teams to master and maintain.
Below are some key reasons why outsourcing SEO can be beneficial, along with considerations to ensure you get the most out of working with a third-party SEO agency or freelancer.
Reasons to Outsource SEO: Unlock Growth Potential
Organic Search is the Primary Source of Website Traffic:
A 2019 study by BrightEdge found that over 53% of all website traffic comes from organic search. For B2B companies, this is even higher – organic search contributes an average of 64.1% of total website traffic. In our experience at Upward Engine, organic traffic often contributes the majority of B2B website leads as well.
Nurturing your search visibility yields lasting benefits to website traffic and lead activity. Organic traffic tends to compound over time as you publish new keyword-targeted product/service pages or blog articles.
It’s a Highly Specialized Field:
Most digital marketers know something about keyword-rich copy and metadata. However, the more technical aspects of SEO can be intricate. Less-experienced marketers may struggle to conceptualize and align various components of a search-oriented content strategy: keyword research and mapping, content hierarchies, internal linking, and conversion rate optimization.
SEO professionals in agencies are exposed to a variety of websites with a wide range of technical SEO issues, content strategies, and content management systems. This experience, along with ongoing training and development, makes it difficult for in-house marketers to keep up. Even if you have basic SEO proficiency in-house, a one-time technical audit or content analysis can establish a solid technical foundation or define major content priorities.
SEO Software Can Be Expensive:
SEO experts leverage cutting-edge software platforms to better understand the search landscape and track SEO performance. However, these software suites can be pricey, with a learning curve.
Popular SEO platforms like SEMrush, Moz, and Ahrefs start at around $100/month, but the introductory features can be limiting. Most SEO agencies leverage multiple platforms with specific focuses. For example, an agency might use software for keyword rank tracking, a platform to track backlinks and expedite link building, an AI writing assistant to help with copywriting and content optimization, a website-crawling tool to examine technical issues, and platforms for performance tracking. These platforms can add up to thousands of dollars per month.
Most Companies Can’t Justify a Full-Time SEO Expert:
You’d need a huge website or many different domain properties to justify a full-time employee dedicated solely to SEO. In the B2B space, it’s not usually cost-effective to hire an in-house SEO Specialist, as there likely isn’t 40 hours’ worth of weekly SEO work to do long-term.
That said, there are often in-house “T-shaped marketers” proficient in SEO who also work on complementary functions like copywriting, website management, search advertising, and measurement/reporting. Unfortunately, in-house marketers often don’t get the ongoing training and diverse, hands-on experience like dedicated SEO practitioners.
Search Engine Algorithms Are Always Evolving:
Keeping up with the latest Google algorithm updates and recommended SEO tactics can be daunting. Agency professionals are usually on the lookout for the latest search algorithm updates and are surrounded by like-minded individuals tuned into digital marketing news. Agencies typically invest heavily in digital marketing conferences and SEO courses to develop their team members – a luxury that may not be cost-effective for in-house team members.
You’re Redesigning Your Company Website:
We’ve seen too many website redesigns or migrations result in a nosedive in organic traffic when SEO is ignored. If you don’t have someone proficient in SEO involved in a new website launch, you’re putting your existing marketing funnel and inbound lead activity at risk. This is particularly problematic for companies with substantial organic traffic or domain authority.
An SEO expert riding shotgun during your website project can be a huge boost. Not only can they help avoid organic traffic losses, but new websites present a great opportunity to expand your organic visibility and broaden your keyword coverage with a more robust sitemap and optimized copy.
Many web design agencies claim they offer “SEO-friendly websites,” but this usually just means that the website design will meet basic technical SEO needs. It doesn’t protect existing traffic or create a content strategy that will expand your organic visibility and activity. We’ve seen a lot of new, expensive websites that are beautifully designed, but they totally miss the mark on SEO and conversion rate optimization. In those cases, companies often have to hire SEO consultants just to remediate their losses to organic traffic and conversions. For example, we see many websites that are not ranking for keywords because the website has a low domain authority.
Considerations Before Outsourcing SEO: Questions to Ask
What Is Our Bandwidth for Content Creation?
SEO engagements often involve extensive content creation or revisions to existing content. Expanding your search visibility and keyword coverage typically requires large amounts of well-written text, so you should be prepared to bolster your content marketing efforts in house or budget for outsourcing copywriting in addition to SEO. You’ll also want to consider any design and multimedia needs, especially to accommodate longer-form guides or new website page templates.
See this blog on creating content for best practices.
Will Our Website Be Redesigned Any Time Soon?
If you’re planning on redesigning your website soon, you may want to bundle a revised SEO strategy with the new website project. It’s easier to make major revisions to sitemaps and overhaul navigation and link structure with new websites rather than finding workarounds and applying band-aids to existing website designs. There’s also no reason to spend money on a technical SEO audit if a website redesign is on the horizon.
Consider checking our website to see our website design services.
Are We Able to Edit Our Website and Add New Pages?
I’ve had engagements where clients have complex website content management systems or hard-coded pages and are unable to edit or scale up their website content to accommodate a broader SEO strategy. If that’s the case, you may have to budget for third-party support to manage and edit your website and meet your SEO needs.
What Type of SEO Do I Need Support With?
Scopes of work for SEO can vary dramatically based on the client’s needs. Traditional B2B businesses with regional, national, or multinational audiences are mostly focused on optimizing their website properties. Companies with a largely local customer base may invest heavier in local SEO, which usually includes managing directory platforms like Google My Business. Brands with a lot of video content may prioritize YouTube SEO and video optimization. For more information on local SEO, check out this article.
It’s also important to consider technical SEO needs vs. ongoing content optimization. If your website hasn’t been audited from a technical standpoint, it may be time to invest in a technical SEO audit to lay a solid foundation for your content marketing efforts.
What Level of Proficiency Do We Have In-House?
If I ever work in another internal marketing role, I’d probably be peeved if management tried to outsource SEO. There may be instances where an internal team has quite a bit of SEO expertise and doesn’t feel the need for outside support. For those companies, they may want to outsource other digital marketing functions like PPC advertising, social media management, or design so the internal team can focus on SEO tasks.
You can check out our PPC services here.
If you have a basic level of SEO proficiency internally, it might make sense to look to an agency for periodic guidance and audits rather than an ongoing monthly retainer. If no member of your in-house team has experience with SEO, you’ll probably want a more involved relationship with an agency.
How Are We Tracking Website Performance?
It’s tough to determine the success of an investment in SEO without data to back it up. Most SEO engagements include reports on website traffic and keyword rankings, but website conversions and qualified leads are typically the SEO metrics that matter most to your sales funnel. If you haven’t configured a measurement platform like Google Analytics to track conversion activities on your website, you’ll want to get that sorted out prior to making major changes to SEO. That way, you’ll have a clear idea of the ROI and value of any SEO work you outsource. For more tips, check out this article on marketing analytics.
Will This Engagement Help My Internal Team?
One of the main benefits of outsourcing any marketing work is the knowledge transfer that comes from working with an expert. If you’re working with an agency or freelancer that isn’t sharing their thought processes, methodologies, and data sources, you may want to find a new partner. We believe in transparently teaching our customers what we know and how to use the skills we taught to grow.
Unlock Your SEO Potential with Upward Engine
Whether you’re looking for ongoing campaign management, a one-time audit to point you in the right direction, website redesign support, or SEO training sessions to expand your internal capacity, Upward Engine can help. We pride ourselves on maintaining accountability to our clients’ ROI along with our transparent approach to guiding our clients.