When hiring an employee and an agency regarding SEO tasks, it is a challenging decision for businesses. Business owners should make their own decisions on what will be more beneficial. Hiring an SEO expert as an employee and an SEO agency has its pros and cons; however, one is more adequate for a specific business than the other, and it depends on the company’s needs.

SEO Employee

An SEO employee is hired to provide various aspects of online marketing and is asked to complete specific tasks. These tasks may include using search engine optimization techniques to increase a website’s traffic. The employee may also need to cover various marketing areas, such as content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Pros:

  • Employee salaries can be kept relatively lower than hiring a reputable agency.
  • An employee can be trained to be highly productive in specific areas.
  • Someone with SEO experience can be an asset to a smaller business, especially if his services are cost-effective.
  • An employee will be more familiar with the company culture that it works with rather than an external agency.
  • Employees will add more value to a company over time as they gain more experience and can do their work with more excellent quality.

Cons:

  • Spending time training SEO employees who may have little to no experience with SEO may not be the best investment.
  • Employees only know what is taught and may not be interested in staying current with the most recent marketing techniques.
  • Hiring an employee who does not work can be a setback to an SEO campaign; they can cost the company more money.

SEO Agency

An SEO agency is an external consultant or team of experts hired to manage a company’s specific SEO requirements, usually temporarily. Hiring an agency gives a company access to people with specialized skills. The agency members will likely complete the same tasks as an SEO employee, but the difference in skill sets is the main difference between the two.

Pros:

  • A team of experts usually has more experience in one or many aspects of SEO.
  • It is less expensive to hire an agency than to train employees individually to achieve the same results.
  • Eliminate the risk of hiring employees that may cost a company money.
  • Agencies have access to suffocated and expensive marketing software.
  • SEO agents constantly look for the newest trends and adapt to modern marketing.
  • Great for large companies that can afford to pay an agency to manage their SEO and don’t have to invest time and money in training a new department.
  • Agencies provide a different perspective that may prove helpful; they are more market-oriented and know how to connect a business’ expertise with consumers’ understanding.
  • Agencies usually have expertise in more than one type of marketing.

Con:
• Can be expensive for companies that do not have the proper budget for SEO

These pros and cons can be considered when hiring an SEO employee vs. an SEO agency. The main point that should be considered is the business’ needs and which fulfills them the most.