Pros and Cons of Having an In-house SEO Department

If you’re a small business, hiring a SEO agency will not be a viable answer to your SEO needs. Having an in-house SEO department will be sufficient.

However, if you’re running a large corporation that needs SEO service, having an in-house SEO department will be somewhat limiting for the growth of your business as your SEO requirements may be greater than what your internal department can handle.

Things can go pretty nasty especially when the in-house SEO department do not have the “right” SEO tools and know-how to solve the pressing issues.

In this case you’ll have to seek the help from a third-party SEO provider/agency.

SEO agency may be costly for small business, but for large corporations, their services might be bliss in terms of costs, time, and productivity. They can get things done rather quickly and smoothly, saving you plenty of time and money, which an in-house SEO department may lack.

So, let’s discuss the pros and cons of having an In-house SEO department and know when to utilize each other’s services depending upon different situation you will face.

Pros and Cons of Having an In-House SEO Department

Pros of having an In-house SEO department:

1. A Fully “Dedicated” and “Focused” SEO Team for Your Business

SEO agencies have several projects at their plate on any given time. Even if they’re working for your SEO projects, they’ll still be working along with other clients. That means your projects may not always be their number 1 priority. As a result, your projects suffer due to lack of commitment.

On the other hand, having an in-house SEO means your SEO staffs will be spending their entire time focusing solely on your projects only. Your SEO requirements will be their priority.

As a result, you’ll likely get higher ROI and within deadlines too!

2. Foster Better Communication/ Higher Productivity between Departments

Having an in-house SEO department is an added bonus for your business. Instead of mixing marketing with SEO, keeping a separate small department in your business (depending upon your company size) will help foster group cohesion and communication among members of different group.

Throughout the day, your SEO staff may be working together with the marketing, or creative, and even web design experts. As a result, any bottlenecks in terms of communication will dissolve, issues will begin to subside, and productivity will increase.

Well, those are the two benefits of having an in-house SEO department at your company. Now let’s see some disadvantages you may face.

Cons of having an In-house SEO department:

1. Costly in Terms of Resources – Time, Money, and Tools

Having an in-house SEO department may mean additional cost for your business, especially if you’re in a budget.

A separate department means purchasing new furniture (desk and chairs), computers, find additional office space, and software and tools, all of could add up to serious money. You’ll also have to offer employee benefits such as allowance, offer vacations, insurance, and other perks that comes with hiring an employee.

On the other hand, you can have all you SEO needs fulfilled by simply hiring a professional SEO agency/consultant and pay for their services, without having to hire anyone!

2. In-House SEO May Not Be For You

If you’re looking to grow your business, SEO is crucial to quickly set yourself as an industry expert, build a strong brand, and increase web traffic to online sales. However, if you’re just starting out your business as a small business, you’ll want to be careful while setting up a different SEO department.

As discussed above, not it can be costly for your business, but SEO department may actually hinder your success too, especially when you do NOT have experienced and well-trained SEO staffs. You’re never sure until you get results.

In addition, hiring SEO staffs doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get higher ranking. You’ll also need an effective copy (content) that needs to be produced on a regular basis. Or there must be a solid link building strategies that needs to be care of.

Other times, you’ll also have to use pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to grow your business to the next level. All these marketing tasks cannot be handled by the SEO department only.

You’ll have to get a help from a professional SEO consultant who are qualified and result-oriented to offer SEO and Internet Marketing services too.