Many businesses don’t know which direction to follow when choosing between hiring an in-house SEO specialist and entrusting the job into the professional hands of a top-notch SEO agency.
Of course, no one can say one better than the other on a general note. It all depends on individual expectations, financial capacity, and other factors.
Before making your verdict, we will advise you to clearly state your SEO goals, objectives, budget, and expectations. All that will help you to decide whether to employ an in-house SEO specialist or hire an agency to handle the campaign.
When choosing between an seo agency and a specialist, it is necessary to consider both options’ expertise, expenses, and resources. That’s how to select the option that best suits your business.
Honestly, your search should not be about going for the better option between an SEO agency and an in-house SEO specialist. It must be about choosing the right one to help you achieve your business vision and mission statement.
Mind you, this article doesn’t aim to choose for you. Instead, we have helped you conduct thorough research to present the two options with a balanced view. In short, we will give you the pros and cons of hiring SEO agencies and SEO specialists, then leave you with the option to choose according to your business objectives.
Who’s an In-house SEO specialist?
This personnel is an individual you employ in your company to work as part of the team managing your SEO campaign. If you are a full-grown business empire, you can afford to hire an entire group of SEO specialists. However, a startup business would prefer to employ one SEO specialist with the required experience to deliver the best.
`Pros of Hiring In-House SEO Specialist
- Brand Knowledge
An in-house SEO specialist will get familiar with your business correctly. He will have a more profound knowledge of your brand’s vision, missions, core values, and objectives. Since he works as a staff member, he would understand the culture and standards of the company and know how to promote the company’s value more than an SEO agency.
An in-house SEO specialist will know the exact needs of your business and draw a marketing strategy out of an informed mind to take your business to the next level.
- Team Spirit
An in-house SEO specialist will work with a more concerned mindset than an SEO agency because the company’s progress affects him directly. Conversely, an SEO agency might not handle your project with ultimate concern. Since there would be some projects from other companies on the table, there is no chance they will treat your project with more concentration.
Also, it is easier to communicate any issue on the SEO results with an in-house specialist than with an agency. In SEO, communication is key to quick and great success. So, having your SEO personnel sit in your office every day might be an added advantage.
- Maximum concentration
An in-house SEO specialist cannot pair your company’s SEO campaign with another. That means he would focus mainly on how to generate traffic to your website and convert visits to physical patronage. Also, he will have the time to do everything necessary to make your business relevant on major search engines.
Since all he does is your business, an in-house SEO specialist will always report every early warning sign and suggest the proper quick response to get things on the right track. But, an SEO agency might be handling more than your job at the same time. So, the concentration on your SEO projects can be minimal.
Cons of Hiring In-House SEO Specialist
- Reduced capacity
An SEO campaign is not always a one-person task. Of course, a versatile and experienced SEO specialist can pull a few strings alone. Yet, he can’t cover every other aspect appropriately. SEO involves content creation, link building, auditing, technical fixes, and more. Understandably, one person cannot do all these tasks efficiently, like if we have a group of people with access to every tool and connection necessary for the job.
Indeed, you can hire an in-house team of SEO specialists. But, it can be more expensive than hiring an agency in the long run. Remember, the team would be on your payroll for a long time.
- Difficulty in keeping staff
Not many employees want to stay with a company when another business is bidding for higher pay. So, one of the biggest challenges in hiring an in-house specialist is that they are hard to keep. In-house SEO specialists are not advisable to handle a long-term SEO project because you are not sure they will stay the next month.
Aside from the possibility of keeping them, it is also hard to find an in-house SEO specialist as most good ones prefer to work for SEO agencies.
What’s an SEO Agency?
An SEO agency is a body of experts with vast knowledge of search engine optimization at its best. An agency constitutes SEO consultants, content creators, social media marketers, PPC experts, technical members, and more.
Having built a vast capacity, an SEO agency can offer a wide range of SEO services that suit all business goals and objectives. They can perform any task whatsoever to achieve the desired results.
Pros of Hiring an SEO Agency
- Great Expertise
SEO agencies have almost everything it takes to make a business prominent and relevant in search results. Agencies employ only professionals with vast knowledge of their respective fields. Your business will undoubtedly benefit from the team’s collective expertise, guaranteeing excellent results.
- Detailed report and analysis
A competent SEO agency knows how to analyze data in detail, which could allow your business to grow. Also, an SEO agency has a collection of necessary tools, resources, and kills to provide on-time, regular updates about your website’s performance on relevant search results.
- Teamwork
Hiring an agency amounts to employing a team of SEO experts. But, it is more cost-effective. An SEO agency will use excellent strategies to boost the performance of your website through solid teamwork. Honestly, SEO works are more than one person’s work.
Cons of Hiring an SEO Agency
- Expenses
If you are planning to hire a competent SEO agency, you must be ready to bring money out of your pocket. With that, I mean, you will have to set aside some amount of money to see the project through. Since you already know that an agency is a team of professionals, you must prepare your mind.
- Little brand knowledge
It takes an in-house SEO specialist to know your company’s core values and ultimate objectives. Although, you can create a time to discuss your SEO expectations extensively with the agency. Yet, they would still have to miss out on some core business objectives.
Final Thoughts
You, as an intelligent business owner, can determine whether to hire an in-house SEO specialist or an agency. Take a careful look at the above pros and cons to decide which option would suit your business better.
