To boost your site’s rankings on Google, there’s no two ways around it: you must devote resources to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Though this may feel like just another hit to your marketing budget, successful SEO can reduce your reliance on both traditional and digital media, saving you money. As 89% of purchases now start with a search query, ranking highly in a Google search can produce a great return on your investment.
Before you pass the SEO task onto a co-worker, or hire a new employee for the job, consider these 4 reasons why hiring an agency may be the right call.
1. An agency will give you quality work.
When you hire a marketing or SEO agency, you’re not only getting fresh ideas from an outside perspective — you’re getting instant bench depth. There’s typically a range of experience and expertise within an agency, and this works to your advantage. A single in-house staffer’s experience may be limited, and their time can easily be stretched thin.
Speaking of time, it takes quite a bit of it to keep up with the ever-changing world of search. Each year, Google makes hundreds of changes to its search functions, and a few major algorithm updates over the last several years have transformed the way it delivers search results. Today, Google is scary smart, using over 200 factors to rank websites and putting greater emphasis on context and meaning to determine user intent. Simple or outdated SEO strategies are no longer enough to compete effectively on Google, so agencies like Stride have been evolving their SEO knowledge to keep up.
Generally speaking, agencies tend to outperform solo employees with better tools and strategies, and are continually honing their processes as they meet the challenges of different clients.
2. Hiring an agency saves time.
To make a successful SEO employee hire, you’ve got to invest time in both the hiring process and the onboarding process. By the time resumés are reviewed, interviews are done, an offer is negotiated, and onboarding is complete, three to six months may easily have passed. Meanwhile, you’ve put your website on hold while your competition may have been investing in theirs.
Hiring an agency takes far less of your time, and together you’ll be able to hit the ground running. Since agencies tend to juggle multiple clients each day, they’re accustomed to being efficient with their time. Account managers are expert at keeping projects on budget and on schedule for their clients. This isn’t always the case with in-house teams, which can be less strict with timelines.
3. Hiring an agency saves money.
There are multiple ways in which an agency can charge for SEO work: by the hour, by the month, by the project, or through an annual retainer. For example, at Stride, we offer a few different types of engagement based on client needs and goals, and never restrictive contracts.
If your agency costs for SEO work reached as high as, say, $50,000 per year, that may represent a significant investment for your company — but it’s actually quite low when compared to hiring a dedicated SEO employee. When compensation, taxes, benefits, and training are all factored in, your annual cost for an employee can easily be double that.
4. It’s less risky to hire an agency.
If you hire a marketing agency and are not satisfied with the work, it’s usually pretty easy to walk away and hire another. If you make a bad hire in your workplace, the repercussions can be extensive, taking a toll on your office culture, your profits, and even your own mental health.
And of course, employees get sick and need time off — an average of 17 days a year. When you’ve got an agency working for you, you’ve got a team that can keep things moving forward when a key member is out.
The value of an agency for SEO is clear.
Websites that rank in the top organic spots on a Google results page enjoy amazing click-through rates — and those rankings bring customers to their doors. With almost everyone performing an online search before making a purchase, your rankings on Google are more important than ever.
Making the right investment in search engine optimization could be critical to your success… so make the right call and hire an agency for SEO.
