SEO Outsourcing
Many business owners are realizing that in order to succeed in this digital age, you need a strong and viable online presence. In order to do this, you will need to optimize your online content to rank better in search engines results. Unfortunately, this can be a daunting task, especially when coupled with other business needs. Because of this, many business owners have turned toward SEO outsourcing to get the rankings they desire. And, considering SEO is such a necessity for today’s businesses, SEO outsourcing is often a more feasible means to improving a website, as the costs are typically lower than hiring an in-house SEO.
When you do decide to employ SEO strategies for your website, whether that be on your own or by outsourcing the SEO work, you can track the progress of your SEO strategy with StatCounter to determine areas that could use improvement as well as tactics that are succeeding. This way, you can ensure your efforts are paying off and continue to make educated decisions as to where to go next with your SEO tactics. No matter what you choose, allow us to fill you in on some of the best practices for outsourcing SEO work and how it can benefit your company.
Suggested Reading
If you’d like more information on SEO, including tips and the tools therein, be sure to check out the pages provided below:
SEO Outsourcing: Best Practices
When looking into SEO service providers, many business owners are hesitant about the price. This can cause some to look into SEO outsourcing. While some SEO services can be outsourced, others may not be suitable for such.
For example, often times content writing can be outsourced easily. With this, you will only need to edit the content for accuracy and clarity, rather than write the entire piece yourself. Also, if you choose to outsource your content writing, be sure the company you are working with is able to write quality content in the language you need.
While content writing can often be outsourced, other services, such as keyword research and strategy development, may not be a wise choice to outsource. This is because these services require more in-depth knowledge and require intimate knowledge of the company itself, which an outsourced company will not have—at least not right away.
Furthermore, many SEO outsourcing companies use black hat SEO tactics rather than white hat SEO, which can actually harm a website more than help it. Misuse of the targeted keyword, for example, can make search engines believe your site is spammy, which could result in a penalty, further harming your keyword rankings. Considering these potential issues, be sure to do some extensive research into each prospective company’s SEO skill set before choosing one to outsource your SEO efforts to. Of course, we can provide you with some key tips for the selection process.
What to Consider Before Outsourcing SEO
In considering SEO outsourcing for your business’s website, there’s plenty to keep in mind as you sift through the prospective companies. While cost is always going to be a key consideration, there’s a few other aspects you should focus on to ensure you get your money’s worth. In short, SEO outsourcing is a viable option in garnering more traffic to site and increasing keyword rankings, among other goals—yet you need to be aware of the risks associated with such. Regardless, review the factors below as you seek SEO services.
Beginner Tips
As you determine your business’s and website’s needs in regards to SEO, consider what you can do on your own, as well as what you can outsource. As opposed to hiring an SEO company or in-house SEO, SEO outsourcing is best suited for specific tactics, such as content writing, social media posting, or coding and site design. Then, you can select a company to outsource based on your specific needs.
Your SEO Expertise
If you have a decent grasp on the basics of SEO, then you might be able to get away with developing your own strategy and simply outsourcing the content writing, like we’ve mentioned above. This will require more time on your end, yet outsourcing pieces of your SEO strategy can make quite the difference, allowing to you focus on more important tasks. In fact, outsourcing content writing can free you up to build a strong backlink portfolio and work on the technical SEO side of your site.
SEO Outsourcing Cost
Outsourcing SEO services to another country can often save you money, but you can sacrifice quality at times. If you are on a tight budget, you might want to consider outsourcing at least some of your SEO needs, but be sure to weigh your budget amount with the time you spend editing and revising the work you have outsourced. If you are spending too much time editing your outsourced work, it’s probably not worth the cost. Of course, this goes back to our tip mentioned above. It all really comes down to outsourcing services you couldn't otherwise do yourself, such as the technical coding to make design changes to your site or increasing its load speed.
Quality of Work
As mentioned before, the quality of outsourced SEO work can often be lower than you might desire. Sometimes, it is possible to simply edit it yourself, but this is only an option if you chose a sound SEO company to outsource your work to. Be sure to ask for writing examples before you sign on with an outsourced SEO company, as this will give you an idea of what the company is capable of and whether or not it’s worth outsourcing the work.
Regardless of which services you choose to purchase, SEO outsourcing presents a range of both pros and cons. While the pros often outweigh the cons (with the right research and selection process), the cons of such are always worth considering.
Pros of Outsourcing SEO
- Less Costly than Standard SEO: As with any business need, cost is always going to be a major factor. Since SEO is especially necessary for most businesses and websites, saving money wherever possible is huge. SEO outsourcing is typically offered at lower costs than standard SEO, considering ease of access and other factors.
- SEO Proficiency: While you may have some basic knowledge of SEO and the tactics therein, those you outsource your SEO work to should have a far better understanding. Many businesses don't want to spend the money, so they’ll often take a crack at SEO themselves. This can be problematic considering how technical SEO can get. Plus, one wrong move and you could harm your site more than help it. If you feel this could be your case, seek a company to outsource the work to.
- Less Time Required: Of course, the time saved by outsourcing SEO services is quite appealing from a business standpoint. Given the time and effort it takes to run a business, adding SEO to the mix can require much of that time. Since SEO is necessary and time is always of the essence, outsourcing the work will obviously save you time and resources.
Cons of SEO Outsourcing
- Unknown Risks: While you can practice due diligence in finding an SEO company to outsource the work to, working with a foreign company can present a range of uncertainties and risks. Both initiating contact and maintaining such with the company at hand will be done online or over the phone, so be wary in your search for a company.
- Cultural and Language Barriers: Of course, you probably won't be contacting any company who only speaks another language, yet the cultural barriers could lead to tension down the road. While this is only speculation, it’s something to keep in mind as you consider outsourcing SEO.
- Risk of Penalties: Not every company’s strategies are the same. In some cases, you may find the company you outsource to does whatever it takes to show you progress, even if that comes down to neglecting white hat SEO. If the company does practice outdated tactics, your website could end up with a penalty from search engines.
Use StatCounter to Track Your Progress
As you can see, finding a company to outsource SEO requires in-depth research and contact with the prospective companies. However, in selecting a credible company to outsource to, you could receive pleasing results for a much lower cost. Regardless of whether you are hiring an SEO consultant or outsourcing specific aspects so you can do your own SEO, StatCounter can help you track your strategy’s performance for better results.
If you have any questions, you can contact StatCounter member support by filling out the form below.
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