White Label Vs. In-House SEO: Why an Outsourced Team Wins Out

There’s no question that you need to offer SEO services for your clients. In a world that’s increasingly reliant on the internet for answers, search engine optimization allows you to ensure that a given website can provide the information and value that web users are searching for.

But you might not be so certain about how to offer those services. It might seem like having a dedicated in-house team is the best solution, but many business owners fail to consider the immense costs involved. What’s more, hiring employees to take on these tasks simply might not be practical for your business — and this decision could impede your organization’s ability to grow as it should.

So what’s the alternative? Rather than taking the time to hire staff and find a way to pay for their wages, you can streamline the process and obtain great results by outsourcing. Working with a white label SEO company can remove barriers to your success and allow you to build mutually beneficial relationships at the same time. 

Let’s take a closer look at what you might want to keep in mind when making this choice — and why, for many agencies, working with a white label provider is the best course of action.

What to Consider When Hiring In-House For SEO

Having your own in-house team of SEO experts might sound like the ideal scenario. But while your company might be self-sufficient in terms of developing and delivering SEO services, that’s not always the most efficient way to go about it.

From a practical standpoint, you’ll first need to determine whether this expense is one your business can afford. Keep in mind that you might spend anywhere from $50,000 to $90,000 a year on just a single employee who has the expertise you’ll need to ensure campaign success. You’ll take on the financial burden of paying hourly wages or a salary, health insurance benefits, payroll taxes, paid sick leave and vacation days, and additional overhead costs (like office equipment or necessary hardware and software). In addition, the time and money you might spend on training or turnover can be significant. 

It’s also important to remember that hiring an in-house employee doesn’t guarantee optimal productivity. If you have a full-time staff member in charge of SEO campaign development and execution, you can’t possibly expect them to reach their maximum potential 40 hours per week — especially if you simply don’t have the amount of work they’d need to occupy their time. 

Hiring any new employee is a big commitment. If you’re looking to fill a temporary need or you don’t have a clear idea of how your business might grow in the coming months, this might be a big risk to take. Being able to accurately project your needs is essential when it comes time to hire; if your business is relatively new or you don’t have the ability to concentrate on sales, hiring in-house can be risky. And if your organization is B2B (meaning that your clients are other businesses), it can be difficult to assess whether an economic downturn could impact your future needs. 

While hiring an in-house SEO expert might make sense in certain situations, doing so represents a larger economic investment that can sometimes put businesses in a precarious spot. If you’re worried about the cost impact associated with hiring an employee but don’t currently have a consistent way to offer SEO services, you’ll want to think about outsourcing.  

Why White Label Outsourcing Wins

There are a few different ways you can outsource your SEO needs, but working with a white label SEO company can provide the brand consistency and sense of collaboration your business requires. 

A white label SEO firm won’t merely provide the strategy and deliverables your clients expect. They’ll also offer you access to their dashboard and the branded reports you need to ensure you can maintain regular and well-informed communication with your customers. In other words, it’s like having your own team without any of the financial hassle.

With a white label SEO company, you’ll be forming a partnership that benefits your business and your clients. You’ll have the freedom to focus on sales or other aspects of your business without sacrificing on SEO campaign results. You can feel secure in the knowledge that your SEO agency partner will deliver results on time and will be fully accountable to those results. Best of all, your clients will have a consistent experience from start to finish — thus improving your branding and their overall satisfaction.

If you’re currently weighing your options to determine the best way to deliver SEO services to your clients, you should be careful not to overlook working with a white label SEO firm. While it might sound enticing to bring all of that work in-house, the reality is that this decision may not actually pay off. Whether you’re in the process of scaling your business or you’re unsure about your yearly projections, it’s often a lot safer — and more fruitful — to outsource. And when you work with a reputable white label SEO agency, your campaigns will ultimately be healthier for it.