Freelancers, agencies or in-house SEO?
Decide whether you need a freelancer, an agency or your own SEO team to optimise your site
In my experience hiring a freelance SEO rather than employing an agency or an in-house SEO team often works out more cost effective and successful.
As a freelancer I’m able to work on a lower day rate than most UK SEO agencies and working across a number of projects including managing my own sites means I can bring a varied bunch of up to date skills to your SEO campaign.
As a freelance SEO I’m able to dedicate myself to a small number of projects and deliver work myself rather than employing inexperienced juniors onto your campaign. I also have the flexibility to dip into a great network of other freelancers like writers and developers who I work with regularly on SEO campaigns.
Benefits of an SEO agency
However there are times when I still think it makes more sense for businesses to hire an SEO agency to run their project. Large corporations with lots of internal stakeholders in the SEO work are the best example of a company who should work with an agency. SEO agncies should have a dedicated ‘account manager’ (or similar) to deal with inevitable questions and requests which fall outside normal reporting provided by freelancers.
It’s stuff like this which often makes freelance SEO projects stall because the freelancer spends their entire time answering emails, attending meetings or sitting on conference calls. As a result either time allocated to actual SEO work suffers or the freelancer ends up working extra hours, meaning the project isn’t profitable for them- in my experience this situation can lead to a lower quality of work and the start of a downward spiral for an SEO campaign.
It’s the job of an SEO agency to not only build into their pricing the manpower involved in the physical SEO work but also this account management time- this is one of the reasons agencies can command a higher day rate than freelance SEO’s.
Personally, as a freelancer, I actively avoid projects which I think could go this way- ironically these also tend to be the more valuable projects- c’est la vie!
DIY SEO
There is of course a third way to get your SEO work done- do it yourself. This can be a feasable option for small companies with a limited budget who only need to optimise their site for a small number of less competitive keywords.
At the other end of the spectrum there’s the large companies who have enough budget to hire their own SEO team as members of staff. I’ve seen a number of forward thinking ecommerce, publishing and travel businesses get great results from investing in an in-house SEO team.
Whichever route you end up taking for your SEO project I can help to get you started.
- Looking for a freelancer to manage your SEO campaign? Find out more about my freelance SEO services.
- Think an SEO agency will be a better fit? Read my guide to hiring an SEO agency.
- Want to take your SEO in-house? Talk to me about bespoke consultancy or training to help you setup your in-house SEO team john@ioptimal.co.uk