Outsourcing your search engine optimization (SEO) has many advantages, like saving time and utilizing expert skills whenever needed. However, as with anything, there are certain mistakes you want to avoid in this process — so today, we’ll shed light on how to outsource SEO correctly.
Successful SEO strategies often require the right expertise, which business owners might not always have. That’s why outsourcing SEO services to a freelancer or a professional SEO company can be an effective decision.
- Outsourcing SEO can help you save time and benefit from expert skills.
- It’s cheaper to outsource search engine optimization than to hire an in-house team.
- Common tasks to outsource include on-page, technical SEO, and link building.
- Freelancers are affordable but may lack the capacity for larger projects.
- Clear collaboration rules can help avoid delays and miscommunication.
- Tracking key metrics is important to see the effectiveness of outsourced tasks.
What Is SEO Outsourcing?
SEO outsourcing means hiring someone else, either an agency or a freelancer, to perform all or part of the SEO tasks for your business. It’s a convenient option for companies that don’t have the time, skills, or the necessary tools in-house to manage these tasks.
You can choose which specific services you want to delegate. Additionally, you can decide whether you need a one-time project, ongoing management, or consulting services.
Benefits of Outsourcing SEO
There are quite a few benefits of delegating your SEO. Let’s look at some of them:
Time-Saving
Outsourcing SEO will free up your time to invest in more urgent needs within your business. Rather than learning optimization strategies yourself or managing a new hire, you can bring in experts who are already equipped with the tools to deliver the results you need.
This not only speeds up the implementation of your SEO strategy but also minimizes the risk of errors. At the same time, it keeps your team productive in other areas.
Expert-Driven
When you outsource, your SEO deliverables are executed by professionals who practice search engine optimization every day. Such specialists continually update their knowledge with algorithm changes and new strategies. They also know how to work with specialized tools and often have in-house software to deliver the best results.
What’s more, smaller companies often don’t have the budget to recruit a full-time SEO expert. So, outsourcing SEO for small businesses allows them to work with an expert at a much lower cost.
Cost-Effective
When you are building an in-house SEO team, you have to deal with huge upfront costs for recruiting, training, and salaries of full-time employees, not to mention expensive tools. All this can add up pretty fast.
But when you outsource SEO, you pay only for the services you actually need. As for the tools, you wouldn’t have to worry about them either, as professional agencies and contractors already have access to them.
What SEO Services Can You Outsource?
Some services are outsourced more frequently than others. Here’s a quick look at what makes sense to hand off to an expert:
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO services cover tasks that concern different elements of the page. They include keyword research, optimizing content for relevant search queries, improving the structure of a site, and integrating internal links.
Agencies and freelance contractors often use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to find keywords with good traffic potential. They later add these keywords naturally to your content to help your pages rank better and attract the right audience. That’s one big reason why outsourcing on-page optimization makes sense.
The same goes for internal linking. An SEO consultant can help you develop a linking strategy that focuses on your most important pages. They can also fix issues like broken links to help your site perform better in search engines.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page optimization is a process that involves actions outside your site to increase your credibility and improve your search engine rankings. These include but are not limited to getting backlinks from authoritative sites, collaborating with others in your niche, and registering your business in local directories.
Acquiring quality links is the most important part of this list, as backlinks are a crucial ranking factor for your website’s performance in search engine results pages. However, getting other authoritative websites to link to yours isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Because of this, many businesses are outsourcing SEO to digital marketing agencies that have established connections with other websites and use proven link building strategies. They can help secure backlinks and make your site look more credible and trustworthy.
Technical SEO
A technical SEO audit creates the foundation for optimizing the performance of your website. It helps to find issues like broken links, slow loading, and crawl errors that can hurt your search rankings.
If you’re a small business owner, you probably don’t have in-house developers on your team who can handle such tasks. Therefore, outsourcing this service makes the most sense. SEO specialists will audit your site and focus on the most vital parameters to make your site run smoothly and offer a great user experience to the visitors.
International SEO
Optimizing a website for multiple countries involves much more than just content translation. It requires fitting content into local cultures, using geo-targeting so the right information is shown to the right audience, and understanding how people search in different regions.
It gets technical, which explains why most companies outsource it to experts within the industry. Professional agencies handle all these details for you, ensuring that your website performs optimally in every country where you operate.
Local SEO
Local optimization helps you show up in local search results and Google Maps so that people can find your products or services much more easily. Some tasks involved in local SEO are setting up and optimizing your Google Business Profile, finding the best keywords in your area, and registering in relevant directories.
An outsource SEO company can help you improve your local online visibility without adding extra work to your plate. They’ll create custom local strategies to help you attract more visitors to your site, get more foot traffic, and increase sales.
When Should You Outsource SEO?
Now that we’ve covered the services, let’s look at when it makes sense to outsource SEO.
You Lack Time or Expertise
If your in-house team lacks the expertise that is needed to perform search engine optimization tasks, it’s a good idea to outsource SEO services. This way you won’t have to worry about the quality of the results.
The other consideration is time. If your team is already busy with the task at hand, outsourcing can free up their time for other important business tasks.
You Need Better Results
If you realize that your in-house efforts don’t bring the results you aim for, experienced professionals could expedite this process. Expert agencies know how to find easy wins for your website with the help of site audits and competitor analysis.
They can help you identify keyword and backlink opportunities and implement data-driven strategies. This, in turn, will help to yield faster and more noticeable outcomes for your business.
You Want to Scale
As your business grows, your needs will change and you’ll need to adapt your SEO approach accordingly. So, if you’re trying to reach new markets or compete with bigger companies, SEO outsourcing services can give you access to the right expertise and tools.
This way, you can free up your time for other important areas of growth while a dedicated team does the optimization work for you.
Get better results with our award-winning agency. SeoProfy specializes in professional SEO services that help you achieve higher rankings and attract more customers. With us, you can:
- Get more organic traffic to important pages
- Improve your rankings for target keywords
- Increase sales and revenue
Outsourcing SEO Services: SEO Agency vs. Freelance vs. In-House
You have a few options if you decide to outsource your optimization. To help you compare the pros and cons and choose the one that fits your situation, here is an in-depth comparison of managing SEO in-house vs. hiring an agency vs. working with a freelancer:
SEO Agencies
With an SEO agency, you will have access to a team with a broad skill set and expertise who can carry out most or all of the services you need. These agencies also use advanced tools or even custom-built software that help them create an effective SEO strategy and monitor important changes.
Unlike hiring only one freelancer, SEO outsourcing agencies can handle large SEO campaigns. They have a diverse team of technical experts, outreach specialists, link builders, and content writers, which allows them to provide end-to-end support.
But it’s important to understand that while SEO outsourcing companies are capable of delivering top-tier work, their price will also be on the higher end. So, they might not be the best choice if you have budget constraints.
| Pros | Cons |
| Access to specialized experts | Higher costs |
| Use of advanced tools | Potential communication issues |
| Comprehensive support | Less direct control |
| Ongoing campaign monitoring |
In-House Optimization
This approach is best for those who need complete control over their strategies and have the resources to grow their team. But this approach can also be costly because you’ll need to invest in hiring new employees, training them, and purchasing specialized tools.
In addition, scaling SEO efforts in-house can be time-consuming. So, it may be worth considering whether such a long-term investment will pay off or if it’s better to outsource SEO projects for more flexibility.
| Pros | Cons |
| Complete control over SEO strategy | High investment in hiring and training |
| Easy coordination across departments | Limited expertise compared to agencies |
| Quick adaptability to changes | Slower implementation |
Freelancers
In general, a freelancer will be the cheapest option if you want to hand off some of your optimization tasks. Depending on their skill level, the cost of outsourcing SEO will range from $25 to $150 per hour. This makes it a perfect option for small businesses — which only need to outsource keyword research or on-page optimization, for example.
At the same time, given that a freelancer is only one person, even the most capable SEO professionals will have limited capacity to take on large or otherwise complex projects. Plus, it can be hard to find a good freelancer who consistently delivers quality work and is flexible to your needs, as they usually have more than one client.
| Pros | Cons |
| More affordable than agencies | Inconsistent quality |
| Flexible contracts | No end-to-end support |
| Personalized attention | Potential delays in delivery |
| Good for specific tasks | Limited availability |
How to Outsource SEO the Right Way
To walk you through the process of achieving optimal results, here’s a step-by-step guide along with some useful SEO outsourcing tips:
Define Your Goals
When you have clear goals, planning becomes a lot easier. You’ll know exactly which services you need to outsource and which tasks you can manage with your team.
For example, if you want to attract more local customers, you might only need to delegate tasks related to local optimization. On the other hand, if you have bigger goals like outranking your competitors, you might need comprehensive SEO services that will include technical and on-page optimization, content writing, and link building.
Knowing what big-picture outcomes you are trying to achieve will make managing outsourced SEO easier. It will also be much simpler for your team to design a strategy to meet those needs effectively.
Evaluate Different SEO Service Providers
The first thing you need to do before choosing a service provider is to evaluate factors like experience, how fast you need the results, and the cost you’re willing to pay. Here are a few questions you might want to answer:
- Have they ever worked with companies in your niche? Do they offer the specific services your business needs?
- Can you wait while trying different tactics, or would you like to see faster results?
- What is your budget and what return do you expect to see from outsourcing SEO?
If you decide to go with freelancers, review their client feedback, the specific results they’ve achieved, and what they specialize in. If the decision is to hire an agency, look at their case studies and industry experience.
Also, take into consideration the location of the SEO provider and try to choose one from the country or region where you’d like to grow your business. Agencies and freelancers in that specific location will know the local mentality and search habits of your target audience, which can lead to better results.
Unfortunately, finding the right specialists in the right location isn’t always possible — but it’s also not always necessary. You can work with experts from other countries, too, but it’s important to choose wisely.
Some of the best countries to outsource SEO are the United States and Canada. Their specialists are known for great SEO expertise but their services can be expensive. If you’re looking for a perfect balance of skills and price, European countries like Ukraine and Poland can be a great choice.
If you are on a very tight budget, countries like India and the Philippines offer more affordable prices. But be aware that cheaper rates often correspond to lower quality.
Finally, compare various providers and see how they match your goals and expectations. This will give you an insight into which provider will be the best fit for successful SEO outsourcing.
Agree on the Scope of Work
Defining a scope of work for outsourcing SEO will help you and your provider stay on the same page. Here’s a breakdown of what you might want to do:
- Outline the tasks, expected outcomes, and the timeline for completion.
- Break down the project into milestones and set deadlines.
- Schedule regular check-ins to go over the progress and make necessary adjustments.
- Agree on what KPIs to track, be it organic traffic growth, keyword rankings, or anything else.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to decide on the pricing model with your provider. It can be either a one-time project if you need something specific or ongoing monthly SEO services. Knowing this helps to avoid any misunderstandings and better plan your marketing budget.
Establish Collaboration Rules
Once the scope of work has been approved, the next step is to set up collaboration rules with your SEO outsourcing company or a contractor. Clear rules of collaboration will help to avoid the common risks of outsourcing SEO, like delays and miscommunication, and let the process go hassle-free.
Decide how you’ll check in on your progress, whether through monthly or weekly meetings, e-mail updates, or project management tools. You can also determine the feedback process and discuss how you’ll give input on deliverables.
Monitor Progress and Evaluate Results
Tracking your progress will allow you to understand how well your outsourced SEO services are working and where changes are needed. You can start monitoring the results right after the SEO service provider completes their task.
First, check if the quality of the work provided meets the deliverables you agreed upon in the scope of work. Then, you can look at the metrics like keyword rankings, organic traffic, and the number of backlinks.
It’s worth mentioning that SEO takes time and you won’t be able to see the full impact of the work in the first month. This Ahrefs survey found that it can take 3-6 months to see the results from SEO. So, be prepared for a gradual improvement rather than immediate changes.
Mistakes to Avoid When Outsourcing SEO
Outsourcing has many benefits, but — as with anything — there are also some common pitfalls that you’ll want to avoid:
- Unclear goals: Communicate your goals, objectives, and expectations clearly to the outsourcing provider, so that there’s no misalignment or ineffective strategies.
- Focusing on cost instead of skill: Low prices generally go with outdated or shady techniques, which will ultimately hurt your website’s ranking. Therefore, prioritize quality over the cost.
- Choosing the wrong SEO provider: Carry out research before outsourcing SEO and choose a provider who has a proven track record of experience in your industry.
- Trusting services that offer guarantees: If an agency or a freelancer guarantees fast results like ranking on the first page of Google within a month, it’s better not to work with them as they might do more harm than good to your site. So, try to avoid guaranteed SEO services.
- Poor communication: Stay in contact with your contractor and collaborate regularly to improve your strategies and keep track of timelines.
- Not measuring outcomes: Check your key performance indicators consistently to see how your strategies are working.
- Lack of ongoing optimization: SEO never stays in one place, so you need to monitor algorithm changes to keep your strategy effective.
Ready to Outsource Your SEO?
We have discussed the benefits and best practices for outsourcing SEO — now the choice is yours whether you want to run your optimization in-house, hire a freelancer, or opt for a professional digital agency. Whichever option you choose, it’s important to clarify your goals, avoid common mistakes, and make sure that your SEO partner can live up to your expectations.
If you are looking for a reliable partner to outsource SEO services, then SeoProfy is here to help. We have more than 12 years of experience in the field and can work with you to improve the quality of your website, increase visibility, and drive sales.
Interested in learning more? Schedule your free consultation today.
Andrew is the Head of SEO at SeoProfy. He has been involved in search engine optimization since 2016, gaining practical SEO experience across various niches and countries.
