In-House vs SEO Agency – Which One Is Better in 2023? [VIDEO]

3min.

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In-House vs SEO Agency – Which One Is Better in 2023? [VIDEO]
18 May 2023
In 2023, the choice between hiring an in-house SEO specialist or partnering with an SEO agency has become an important decision for businesses looking to boost their online presence. We explored the pros and cons of each option, considering factors such as cost, specialization, and experience with clients, to make your decision easier.

3min.

Comments:0

I’ve prepared a short video comparing the advantages and disadvantages of hiring an in-house SEO specialist and working with an SEO agency.

You can jump straight to it, or read the transcript below if you prefer.

In-House Specialist or SEO Agency?

What’s best for you in 2023? Keep reading and I will try to answer this question.

So first, let’s start with money and the cost of each option.

Money

When hiring an SEO specialist you are hiring a person for a full-time job and it might seem more cost-effective because you are paying for full time. But, you have to remember that you need to invest in his education, training, and networking so costs are adding up to this one.

Also, this guy or girl can be perfect in technical SEO or any other aspect but you might have to add some money for link building or for content writing. You need to remember that these costs are not ending with only salary. Hiring an SEO agency will not give you full-time support, that’s for sure, but the cost of education, equipment, and any other costs of employee is not your problem. Also, content, links, and any other expenses are very often within the budget.

So, while hiring an SEO specialist seems more cost-effective it might be a black hole for your budget.

The second aspect you need to consider is specialization.

Specialization

While working with an SEO agency a couple of people will work for your growth and each of them has unique skills and specialization. When an in-house specialist can be highly skilled in technical SEO for example, it doesn’t mean that he or she will know how to create a content strategy or set up a link building strategy. It can be of course done with external support, but as I told you before, it will generate more costs for your company.

Let’s move on to another aspect – experience with many clients.

Experience with Many Clients

SEO agency is working with many clients also from your industry, so they are testing and implementing different solutions and they are checking what works best. Then they can tailor the strategy for your website.

Working with an in-house SEO specialist you might lose the opportunity to benefit from accumulated experience. So now let’s try to sum it up a bit.

I have created a comparison of pros and cons for you so let’s dig in.

In-House Specialist Advantages

Let’s start with in-house specialist advantages. First of all, you have full-time specialists and you will be in constant contact, the person will report to you directly. Also, this person would have fast reactions to your questions. Aspects that can be quite important for you could be security and NDA aspects if it’s important for your company.

In-House Specialist Disadvantages

When it comes to the disadvantages of in-house specialists it can create additional costs of tools, content, and links. Also, you would need to educate this person and they would have only one specialization, so you could lose on lacking more specialists in the team.

This person might not have that many industry insights as he or she would work separately from other specialists and will not have cumulative experience. The other fact is that recruitment and onboarding cost a lot of money so you need to remember that you have to add these costs up.

Let’s move on to agency and let’s start with advantages.

SEO Agency Advantages

First of all, you don’t have any additional costs like tools or education because it is on the agency side. Agency’s specialists will be also keeping their hand on the pulse of all SEO changes as they are working directly with many SEO Specialists. They will also have cumulated experience because they are working with many clients and they will have industry insights from both, their experience and from the industry.

SEO Agency  Disadvantages

When it comes to disadvantages, obviously you will not have a full-time specialist on board. That also means that contact with the specialist might not be that instant because they are working with many clients simultaneously. If your company has strict security policies it also means that you have to be aware that you are giving your data to a third party and you might want to sign an NDA with them.

Summary

That’s all from my side. If you have any other thoughts on working with an in-house SEO specialist or SEO agency just let me know in the comments. I will try also to answer all of your questions if you have any.

Author
Kasia Zielosko Marketing Delante
Author
Kasia Zielosko

Marketing Team Leader

Kraków

She is responsible for the company’s marketing. She specializes in lead generation, international marketing, content marketing and analytics. Privately, she is a dog mom, saxophonist, macramé braider and travel lover.

Author
Kasia Zielosko Marketing Delante
Author
Kasia Zielosko

Marketing Team Leader

Kraków

She is responsible for the company’s marketing. She specializes in lead generation, international marketing, content marketing and analytics. Privately, she is a dog mom, saxophonist, macramé braider and travel lover.

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Awards

Award - Deloitte 2021 Award - European eCommerce Awards 2022 Award - European Search Awards 2022 Award - Global Agency Awards 2022 Award - IPMA Award - US Search Awards 2021

SEO SEM Agency based in Europe