We hear a lot about SEO and how important it is to get it right. Given that, you might be tempted to think it’s something you want to have full control over and deal with in-house – but SEO is highly specialized, and you might be better off outsourcing it to the experts.
What is SEO and how does it work?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and it essentially does what it says on the tin. When content is optimized, this means that it ranks more highly in google searches – when it’s done well, it can help you to appear on page one or two of search engine results.
While SEO used to be relatively easy to manipulate and it calculated rating based on the number of given keywords within content, in recent years the algorithms have got much more advanced, and SEO has become a highly sought-after skill.
A good SEO professional must be proficient in organic SEO which means creating content where keywords occur organically and produce high-quality content that actually provides value to the user – the days of keyword stuffing are over, and you can actually be penalized by the algorithm for producing low-quality content.
How can it help your business?
SEO helps your business by increasing your content and website’s visibility and therefore making it more likely that your customers will find you when they search for related things online. Good SEO can translate more or less directly into increased conversions and engagement.
Can it be done in-house?
If you are a small company, then you may be able to hire a content marketer who can both create content and optimize it for search engines, but once the operation gets any bigger than that it is best to outsource this service to an SEO company that can offer a dedicated, informed and consistent approach with the firepower of their own market and keyword research abilities behind it.
Why is outsourcing it best?
One reason why outsourcing your SEO needs is a good idea is that when done in-house, SEO can be a drain on time. Despite sounding relatively simple, an awful lot of effort and planning goes into keyword and market research, developing an SEO strategy, and creating quality content that meets your SEO goals.
This is not to say you need to outsource your whole content marketing department or your writers; if you work with a quality SEO company, you will be able to come up with a workflow that has your in house team creating your content before referring it back to them to make it SEO friendly. It s preferable to have your in-house team actually creating the content because they know the company and they know the business, but SEO is a different skill, and existing content can be expertly tweaked to hit your SEO needs without being a drain on the company time.
SEO is a hugely important aspect of your marketing strategy – don’t leave it to your in-house team who you need to focus on other things. An SEO company will be able to give you the results you want without being a drain on your resources.
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