Think back to the last time you wanted to buy a product or service for your business and had no existing supplier relationship. How did you find a supplier? Chances are, like most people, you searched on the Internet. You know the results in the right hand column are paid for, so you probably favoured those in the left-hand column, believing their high rankings meant they were reputable companies.
In fact the companies in the left column have probably paid as much for their position in the rankings as those in the right hand column. They will have achieved their position by paying experts to optimise their sites for precisely that purpose. While search engine optimisation (SEO) can be extremely effective, it is also complex. It involves mysterious algorithms, site coding, and enabling proper site ‘spidering’.
Given its effectiveness it is little surprise that website owners are prepared to pay large sums of money to people who can master this ‘black art’ on their behalf. However, many have found that SEO agencies do not always deliver what they promise and a growing number now prefer to keep it all in-house. Increasingly, the key issue is whether to build in-house resources or use an agency.
Why keep it inhouse?
Tom Cartmell, account director at marketing agency Mabox, outlines some reasons for keeping SEO in-house. “Good SEO is about knowing which keywords to appear under. You might have to spend time educating an agency on this, while your employees should already know. They will also know their internal IT infrastructure and have a better understanding of how to rapidly and effectively implement campaigns.”
He continues, “Inhouse personnel may be cheaper than outsourcing and the approach allows you to build a team geared to your exact requirements. It tends to shorten the chain of approval, making campaigns nimbler. Finally, you’ll have more control over adherence to ethical practices and face less risk of getting banned by search engines.”
Lucy Allen, MD of SEO agency Netrank, argues that keeping it in-house allows you to integrate SEO with the rest of your marketing activity. She says, “The best SEO campaigns are conducted in alignment with paid-for search activity and other paid and non-paid media. According to research, a combination of top three placements in organic search combined with a top placed PPC listing delivers a 93 per cent chance of gaining click-through.”
Ecommerce & EPOS systems vendor, Actinic, has managed its SEO in-house for the last four years. Bruce Townsend, marketing manager, explains, “We used to use an agency but the results were disappointing, so we brought it in-house. From a standing start at the time, we are now on page one of Google for all our main target phrases, and in the top three for 80 per cent of them. If you invest necessary time and effort, in-house can give you the best results, because no-one knows your business and no-one cares about your SEO like you do.”
Why outsource?
The argument is of course not that straightforward.
Adam Stafford, MD of SEO company Fresh Egg, argues it is better to outsource. “Inhouse web development or IT staff rarely have the time or the knowledge to do SEO properly. They usually see it as out of their remit so neglect it, or if they make the effort, they struggle to make the impact a dedicated specialist would. SEO staff need to work amongst other SEO specialists where they can share experiences and build on their knowledge in a team environment.”
Andreas Pouros, MD of SEO at digital marketing agency Greenlight, adds, “Having an experienced, dedicated agency team provides companies with more specialist knowledge than they can get from a single individual. A recent MarketingSherpa report found that for SEO campaigns, agencies claimed optimisation increases of 110 per cent, compared with 38 per cent for in-house over the same six-month period.”
Finding the right balance
In most cases the best solution is to keep some aspects in-house and outsource others. The trick is knowing what to do where. Jon Buchan, head of search at interactive marketing agency Glass, offers the following advice: “Inhouse expertise tends to add value to articles and blogs, and it’s usually cheaper to do the basic web development in-house. However, I advise people to outsource all link-building activity. It’s too specialised and labour-intensive to be performed in-house.”
Ciarán Norris, SEO director at agency Altogether Digital, agrees. “In theory all aspects of SEO can be handled in-house. In practice though, the expertise, costs and resources needed mean that it’s often not feasible. You can achieve a good balance by using an agency to set up an SEO structure, provide guidance on house-keeping, and handle the most time-heavy tasks, such as link building.”
Specialists or full service?
Finding the right balance is only the first step. You then need to select the right agency. As Damon Lightley, director at SEO agency Site Visibility, says, “There’s no lack of companies offering a search engine marketing consultancy, though some will know little more than you can learn in a ‘Dummies Guide to SEO’.” As is always the case in a new market that offers technical advice, there is the potential to spend a lot of money for little return. It pays to tread carefully.
The first decision is whether to choose SEO specialists or rely on the SEO team in your existing marketing agency. Simon Wharton of online search marketing agency Push On is sceptical about the abilities of general marketing agencies in this area. “Too often they are only able to run a Google Ads word campaign and implement a few meta tags. This isn’t a satisfactory SEO service and increasingly they have to sub it to specialists anyway.”
On the other hand, Neil Morgan, vice president for marketing EMEA at web analytics agency Omniture, stresses the importance of the entire digital picture. “If you do choose to work with a specialist agency for SEO, make sure they integrate with the rest of your digital marketing. Agencies such as Neo@Ogilvy or BigMouthMedia offer integrated search and web analytics services that provide clients with a complete picture of the results of SEO campaigns. Ultimately, if you’re going to invest in search, you need to see how it fits back into your business.”
Picking the right agency
Having decided what to outsource, and whether to choose a specialist SEO agency or full service agency, you then need to select the right one. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has just created the first charter for search marketing best practice to help companies identify reliable suppliers. It will be some time though before it has become an industry standard.
In the meantime, Pouros at Greenlight offers advice on what to ask a prospective search partner. “Ask for examples of rankings for highly competitive terms that you have achieved. Take references from four clients. Find out their approach to link-building and ask why it’s better than anyone else’s. Ensure they guarantee results. Be sure they have strategies to ensure synergy between SEO and pay-per-click activity. Always meet the people who will be in your account team.”
Many companies have had their fingers burnt by agencies that have over-promised and under-delivered, and this has led many companies to bring SEO in-house. We can expect this to continue in 2008, but beyond that the market will probably mature with a handful of highly-regarded agencies dominating. There is a shortage of talent in the SEO industry and over time it is likely that agencies will be able to offer the best packages and most conducive atmosphere to those with the right skills and experience. This combination of a maturing agency and the flow of talent should ensure that in the longer term most SEO work is outsourced.
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