Should Your Company Have an In-House SEO Team?

Every company has to make SEO a part of their marketing strategies. Otherwise, potential customers will have a harder time finding them. It would stand to reason, then, that every company should have an in-house SEO team that handles the job full-time. Nevertheless, this may be true for some businesses, but not all of them.

SEO is an ongoing process that requires the right expertise and investment. For some companies, that means assembling a dedicated staff. For others, it means hiring an outside team. Which team is right for your business? Keep reading to find out!

When to Hire an In-House Team

An in-house SEO team takes a long time to assemble and train, and it requires the right amount of financial and technical resources. However, it may be a good alternative if your company has these resources and requires greater control over your SEO strategy.

When you hire an in-house team, you can determine how the team works. You can determine the size of the team, delegate responsibilities and set goals and priorities. You can also regularly monitor the staff to ensure they’re up to the task. Most of all, an in-house staff isn’t dividing its time between your strategy and another company’s. It spends its entire day focusing on your company’s SEO strategy, which could result in better performance over time.

While an in-house team may be easier to manage, it can also be expensive and take up a lot of valuable resources. What’s more, you’ll need to make sure your team has the know-how to do the job and is keeping up to date on SEO trends. If you have to worry about those things, you spend too much time thinking about SEO and not enough time on your company’s core products and services.

When to Outsource

In-house teams make sense for some businesses, but not all. if your business doesn’t have the space, money or people to manage SEO internally, the entire effort could suffer. Outsourcing is a better option under the following circumstances:

  • Your Budget is Small: In-house SEO professionals require salaries, benefits and office space — all of which cost money. For a fraction of the money you would spend on new employees, you can hire an outside agency to build and manage an SEO strategy for you. Most agencies will develop a plan that fits your budget but make adjustments as your budget goes up or down. This leaves you free to invest more money in the products and services you offer.
  • You Run a Small or Startup Business: If you only have a few employees or your company is just starting out, you don’t have the time or resources to put an SEO team together. Until your business is large enough or established enough to manage an in-house team, an outside agency can take care of the task.
  • You Lack the Expertise: You know a lot about your line of business, but do you know enough about SEO to develop an effective strategy? If you don’t, it’s better to bring in an expert. If you’re running a business, you don’t have time to learn how to implement SEO, and you can’t afford to wait to get an SEO strategy off the ground. Hiring an SEO agency gives you the best of both worlds — an experienced team that can get started on your strategy right away.

As you can see, there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing an SEO team. Whether you decide to create one in-house or hire an outside agency, the success of your SEO strategy will depend on the team’s understanding of your business and SEO best practices. Make sure the team you assemble has both.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *