Struggling to make time for important search engine optimisation duties? Outsourcing search engine optimisation may be the answer.
Outsourcing search engine optimisation permits you to leverage skilled information and liberate time for different important points of what you are promoting.
To outsource successfully, you’ll want to rent an search engine optimisation freelancer or an search engine optimisation company and resolve what components of your search engine optimisation marketing campaign you wish to delegate.
On this newbie’s information, I’ll clarify what search engine optimisation outsourcing is, share companies typically outsourced, and talk about finest practices based mostly on my company expertise.
I’m guessing you clicked on this publish to see if outsourcing search engine optimisation is correct for what you are promoting. However what’s it precisely?
search engine optimisation outsourcing entails hiring an exterior company or freelancers to deal with search engine optimisation duties. Whether or not you want a freelancer for key phrase analysis or a full-service company to deal with each side of search engine optimisation, outsourcing may be tailor-made to your particular wants.
For instance, it might seem like this—with a single search engine optimisation freelancer supporting your organization.
However, if what you are promoting wants extra help, a lone freelancer will not be sufficient, and chances are you’ll must outsource search engine optimisation to a devoted company, which could seem like this.
And typically, an organization might outsource components of its search engine optimisation marketing campaign to a mixture of freelancers and companies, as illustrated under.
The fact is outsourcing search engine optimisation takes completely different kinds and depends upon what you are promoting wants.
So, when do you have to think about outsourcing search engine optimisation? There are two foremost causes:
- The primary is urgency – If you happen to want a undertaking delivered inside a brief timeframe, outsourcing search engine optimisation is often the best choice as a result of hiring a full-time worker takes time to rent and practice them
- The second is finances – Outsourcing search engine optimisation is often cheaper than hiring a full-time worker as a result of you’ll be able to rent freelancers for particular duties and never should pay advantages or wage
There are additionally extra particular causes the place search engine optimisation outsourcing may be helpful.
As an illustration, if you:
- Want very particular search engine optimisation experience – e.g., Law firm SEO, plumbing SEO, dental SEO, etc.
- Need to reduce the workload for in-house teams quickly
- Need speed and efficiency of delivery
- Have a new client but don’t have time to hire an FTE
- Want a hands-off approach to SEO
- Want to focus on an area of SEO you’re good at rather than something you’re not
If these feel like familiar challenges, it’s worth considering outsourcing SEO.
If you wish to outsource your complete search engine optimisation technique and don’t have a lot information of search engine optimisation your self, then an company might be the best choice (assuming you’re keen to pay $1001+ per month.)
Here’s why.
- You get access to an account manager and a team of SEO experts
- You also get access to the best tools in the business – Although agency fees are typically higher than a freelancer’s, agencies often have access to many different tools, some of which could be unaffordable for either your company or a freelancer
- You get expertise – Agency SEOs don’t just work on one client. They work on many different client accounts spanning many different industries – they bring this expertise to the table in every meeting
However, if you’re looking to outsource a specific part of your SEO strategy, such as content, keyword research, or link building, and you’re working on a tight budget, then it could be better to start talking to a freelancer.
- Freelancers are usually more cost-effective – They usually have fewer overheads than agencies. According to Josh’s SEO pricing study, SEO agencies charge 138% more than freelancers
- Freelancers are often faster to work with – Due to less paperwork and onboarding processes
Both agencies and freelancers can meet your SEO needs, but your choice depends on your desired level of involvement and budget.
To summarize, SEO agencies are ideal for businesses with a hands-off approach or a larger budget. Freelancers are best for accessing specialized knowledge within a tighter budget.
Outsourcing permits you to delegate time-consuming or advanced search engine optimisation duties with out overburdening your workforce.
Listed below are some key companies you’ll be able to outsource in search engine optimisation.
As there are at the very least 67 types of SEO, I can’t cover every service here, but you get the idea—almost everything in SEO can be outsourced for a price.
Here are the most common outsourced SEO services based on my previous agency experience.
Content creation
Sometimes content creation can become overwhelming, and you may need extra support. Outsourcing parts of your content creation can help ease the workload.
So, what do you need to know when outsourcing content? These are the most important considerations:
- What it costs to outsource content
- What to look for when outsourcing content
- What risks are there with outsourcing content
Cost
The cost of outsourcing content can vary a lot. You can pay as little as a few dollars or thousands of dollars per article. It depends on your budget.
Ahrefs’ study into cheap vs expensive freelance writers revealed that the median value of a author was ~$0.15 per phrase. It could be kind of relying on what area you’re in, however this offers you a benchmark of what you’ll be able to anticipate to pay for content material.
In my expertise, I’ve by no means employed a author for as low-cost as $0.02 per phrase. I often pay ~$0.20 upwards for content material. The explanation: I’ve discovered by means of expertise that very low-cost content material, though tempting, typically requires a variety of modifying.
This, for my part, defeats the aim of outsourcing search engine optimisation within the first place—as you both should edit your self or rent an editor. Typically, it’s simply higher to get a good author the primary time round.
What to look for
Listed below are the important thing issues I regarded for when hiring content material writers at my earlier search engine optimisation company:
- Understands the content material temporary and requires minimal “hand holding”
- Native-language speaker
- Confirmed expertise in writing concerning the matter
- Conscious of suggestions
Potential dangers
There are three key dangers of outsourcing content material:
- AI or automation – The cheaper your content material author is, the upper the probabilities they might be utilizing automation or AI to create the content material. Ask your writers how they create their content material. Utilizing AI doesn’t imply your content material gained’t rank in Google, however it’s one thing to concentrate on as a result of your author might not have even reviewed the content material themselves
- Yawn-inducing content material that sends your readers right into a coma – Freelance writers are much less invested in your model, so they might not convey a lot character of their writing. Counteract this by creating detailed briefs instructing the author in your model’s tone of voice
- Over-optimized search engine optimisation content material – Typically, writers go overboard mentioning particular key phrases or having an H2 heading each three sentences: “FoR tHe SeO.” Counteract this by instructing them what the headings needs to be and the way they need to point out key phrases
Discovering content material creators
Want a dependable content material author? Right here’s the place I often begin trying.
If you happen to want a longer-term dedication on an even bigger scale, working with a content material company may be a greater possibility.
Tip
Maintain a spreadsheet of your favourite freelance writers and companies, together with their charges, your assessment, and their specialization.
Hyperlink constructing
Like content material, hyperlink constructing is commonly outsourced for a similar cause—it’s time-consuming.
So, what do it’s good to know when outsourcing hyperlink constructing? These are a very powerful issues:
- What it prices to outsource hyperlink constructing
- What to search for when outsourcing hyperlink constructing
- What dangers are there with outsourcing hyperlink constructing
Value
Certain, you should purchase hyperlinks from Fiverr for 5 bucks, however these hyperlinks gained’t make it easier to rank in Google for lengthy—or at all.
So, what’s the typical value of hyperlink constructing? Properly, it relies upon…
For instance, it depends upon your location:
And the kind of hyperlink constructing you’re doing.
Sidenote.
Earlier than we proceed, it’s price noting that Google considers buying links for ranking purposes a link spam technique — so take my recommendation right here at your individual threat.
What to look for
Listed below are the important thing issues I regarded for when hiring hyperlink builders at my earlier search engine optimisation company:
- Can construct high-quality hyperlinks that assist enhance rankings
- Has a popularity for rating web sites within the trade I used to be on the lookout for
- Understands what a high-quality backlink looks like
- Creates the links themselves in-house
Potential risks
The number one risk of outsourcing link building is getting low-quality links. So, how can you avoid this?
Here’s what I check:
- Is the site a legitimate website? Does it look like a website you would trust?
- Is the site getting actual organic traffic? Check the Overview report in Site Explorer
- Do the Ahrefs metrics align with other sites of a similar authority? Check anchor text, and referring domains
- Does the website look like it’s selling links? Look for anchor text with high commercial intent that looks suspicious, like the below example
In the image above, there are two examples of commercial anchor text in red that look unnatural.
Finding link builders
My go-to place for finding link builders is freelance platforms like Upwork.
If you need to scale faster, an agency might be a better option. There’s no shortage of link-building agencies out there, and for a fee, they will help you get links for your website.
Technical SEO
When your site has a serious technical issue and performance has dropped, you may need to hire a technical SEO. The first indicator that something could be wrong is if you notice a significant drop in the health score of a tool like Ahrefs’ Site Audit.
That may look something like this.
If this is combined with a drop in organic traffic on Site Explorer’s Overview, you may need to find a technical SEO freelancer—fast.
Cost
Technical SEO varies in complexity and cost, making it crucial to choose an experienced partner who can quickly address issues to prevent sustained traffic loss. After looking at Upwork, you can get a freelancer for as little as $8 to $200 an hour.
It’s a huge variation, so to avoid disappointment I normally stay clear of the lower end of pricing.
What to look for
Look for someone with:
- Significant proven experience in technical SEO — Check to see what level of experience they have
- Knowledgeable about your area of search — Check to see if they’ve worked on similar websites before
Potential risks
Unfortunately, like links and content, there are also risks associated with outsourcing technical SEO.
So what are they?
- Bad advice – Incorrect advice could lead to more problems
- Wrong prioritization – The wrong issues may be prioritized, leading to prolonged loss of organic traffic
- Communication breakdown – If a technical SEO leaves mid-project, it could cause further ongoing issues
Finding technical SEOs
Look through LinkedIn and message technical SEOs for advice. One of the big advantages of using LinkedIn is that it’s free to message people.
For example, here’s a snapshot of a LinkedIn profile from one of my former colleagues. You can see this person has solid technical SEO experience. This is what a good profile looks like—but it will cost you.
With an SEO of this caliber, you only need to spend a few hours consulting with them to work out your technical SEO issues. However, if you continuously spend money at the lower end of the spectrum, you may never get your technical SEO issues resolved.
Keyword research
If you want to rank on Google, you can try guessing what keywords will bring you traffic. Or you can reverse engineer what is already working in Google using data from tools like Ahrefs Keywords Explorer.
For one or two keywords, you can research using our free keyword generator. But if you need a lot of keyword research, for instance, for a new website, then it could be a good idea to outsource it.
Cost
Keyword research on Upwork starts at ~$50, cheaper than most other SEO services mentioned here. But like many of the other SEO services mentioned here, there is good keyword research and bad keyword research.
What to look for
- They use a trusted keyword research tool like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
- They go beyond just search volume and the keywords and look at metrics like Traffic potential and Keyword Difficulty
Potential risks
Here are the risks of outsourcing keyword research based on my experience:
- Targeting the wrong keywords – Sometimes, after you’ve written an article, you’ll find that it doesn’t get much traffic. Often, the reason is the article that you’ve written doesn’t completely fulfill the search intent for that precise keyword
- Data is inaccurate due to using a low-quality SEO tool
- Data is too simplistic – e.g., only keywords and search volume. In my experience, I would expect metrics like Keyword Difficulty and Traffic Potential to be included as well to help make an informed decision of whether the keyword was worth targeting
Finding keyword research experts
Keyword research is usually provided as a standard part of an agency’s SEO services, but if you’re not with an agency, you can either hire a freelancer to do it or do your research using a tool like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer.
Through the years, I’ve spent a small fortune on freelancers. Some have been unbelievable, and a few have been extremely dangerous. Keep away from the dangerous ones by following my hard-earned finest practices.
Request this stuff when working with outsource companions
I’ve labored with many outsourcing companions in my company profession, from freelancers to exterior companies. If I wish to work with them, I all the time request three issues:
- An SEO proposal for the work. Ask for an SEO proposal of what they are going to do, check out my article on SEO proposals to get a rough idea of what one should look like
- References from their recent work. Ask for references. Don’t have any? That’s an instant red flag. This is less about the references themselves and more about seeing how fast a potential outsource partner can share a glowing reference. Look for someone who has a good track record in your industry or particular niche
- A video call interview. If they’ve passed the first two tests, it’s time for a quick 30-minute interview. Again, this is less about talking about what they’ve achieved but rather about seeing whether you could work with this person or group regularly
Use a Kanban board to track progress toward your goals
Kanban boards are the perfect way to track tasks when outsourcing SEO, but many people overcomplicate them.
When I worked in an agency, I had a simple setup like the one below.
I ran and managed a ~$50k pm enterprise SEO account, several external agencies, and a development team using this exact Kanban board format.
The lesson here: don’t overcomplicate things. You can use many tools, but my favorites are Notion and Trello.
Tip
Combine a Kanban board with a tool like Slack to quickly resolve queries from external agencies and freelancers.
Create standard operating procedures (SOPs)
Without clear SOPs, work can be easily misinterpreted, leading to last-minute revisions. Define tasks clearly from the start to ensure desired outcomes.
Create SOPs to define exactly what you want delivered. Otherwise, you will not get the desired output.
For basic tasks, you can create a basic SOP for free using a tool like Google Docs, Trello, or Notion. You can even use ChatGPT to create one.
Here’s an example of a prompt I used to create an SOP for Keyword Research using Ahrefs.
Or, for more complicated tasks that involve multiple tools, techniques, or processes, use a tool like Scribehow—it’s helpful for shortly constructing extra detailed SOPs that contain a number of instruments or processes.
Set clear objectives and monitor progress utilizing Ahrefs
When you’ve employed your outsource companion, you need to set up clear supply deadlines and schedule common check-ins to make sure your supply date is achievable.
However when you have no idea search engine optimisation, how are you going to make sure the job has been accomplished properly? You should utilize instruments like Ahrefs to examine.
Use Site Audit to check technical SEO performance.
Use Keywords Explorer to double-check keyword research.
Use Rank Tracker to monitor important keyword rankings over time.
If you have a copy of Ahrefs, you can monitor almost every aspect of what your outsource partner is doing. So, even if you aren’t doing SEO yourself but want to keep track of progress, it’s a useful tool.
Final thoughts
If you want to outsource SEO, there’s no shortage of people to fill the role, but finding your perfect outsourcing partner(s) is usually the biggest challenge.
To get the right partner, vet thoroughly, create SOPs, and set clear expectations and goals, and you won’t go far wrong. If you are unsure of the quality of the work delivered, you can double-check using tools like Ahrefs to monitor their progress.
Got questions? Let me know on LinkedIn.
