Outsourcing SEO Services: Benefits, Challenges, and Best Practices for Businesses
I talk to business owners every week, and most of them tell me the same thing. They publish blog posts, they pay writers, and they wait. Nothing moves. Their pages sit on page three, and their sales team asks why the website brings no leads.
As per data available from BrightEdge’s 2019 channel report, organic search drives 53.3% of trackable website traffic, and B2B companies earn twice as much revenue from organic search as from any other channel. So when your content does not rank, you lose your biggest source of visitors. That is the problem.
Why the Content Writer’s Job Is Changing
As per my research, the old content writer job is fading. Companies used to hire a writer, hand over a topic, and publish whatever came back. That model no longer works. A writer today must know search intent, keyword research, internal links, and page structure. One person rarely covers all of that.
In my experience, the writers who last are the ones who learn SEO. Businesses also want writing and SEO in one package. That shift pushes many companies toward outsource SEO services instead of building a full team at home.
The Pain Gets Worse When You Do It Alone
Let me make this more concrete. I once helped a small software firm that hired two in-house writers. Each writer produced eight articles a month. Nobody audited the site, nobody fixed slow pages, and nobody built links. After six months, traffic was flat, and the owner blamed the writers.
The writers were not the problem. The firm had no SEO process. Hiring a full in-house team costs salaries, benefits, tools, and training time. As per data available, 58% of businesses name cost savings as their top reason to outsource SEO. That number matches what I see when owners tell me about their budgets.
The risk grows each month you wait. Competitors publish, earn links, and take your keywords. Rankings are hard to win back once someone else holds them.
The Solution: Outsource SEO Services the Right Way
Here is what I recommend. Hire an SEO outsourcing company that covers strategy, content, and technical work together. An outsource SEO company brings tools, trained staff, and a repeatable process on day one. You skip the hiring delay.
As I found over research, many businesses already work this way. One survey reported that 26% of businesses outsource SEO to an agency and 22% outsource it to a freelancer. That means nearly half of the businesses in that survey use outside help.
Cost matters too. One guide puts the average agency price around $1,500 per month, with smaller businesses sometimes paying under $1,000. Compare that with one full-time hire plus software. For most small and mid-size firms, outsourcing SEO services costs less.
A Case Study I Trust
I like case studies with real numbers, so here is one. As per Search Engine Journal, a digital marketing agency outsourced link building to Page One Power for a client. Together with the agency’s own content and technical work, those links lifted monthly organic visitors from 190,000 to 253,900, a 34% increase.
Notice what happened there. The agency did not hand everything away. It kept content and technical work and outsourced one task. That is a smart way to start, and I suggest it to most clients.
Another example comes from 5Tales. As per its published case study, a client named Charter Partners grew organic traffic 264% in 12 months and gained over 450 new keyword rankings. Treat vendor case studies with care, because agencies pick their best wins. Still, the pattern is clear: focused SEO work produces measurable growth.
Challenges You Should Expect
I will be honest about the downsides. Outsourcing SEO services has real risks, and I have seen businesses get hurt.
First, communication breaks down. If your partner does not understand your product, the content sounds generic. I always ask a vendor to interview my sales team before writing a single page.
Second, quality varies. Some providers buy cheap links or publish thin articles. Google can penalize that work, and you carry the damage. Ask to see sample pages and the link sources before you sign.
Third, you lose some control. Your agency runs the daily work, but you still own the results. I check reports every month, and I never accept a report that only shows rankings. I want traffic, leads, and revenue.
Best Practices I Follow Myself
Start with a clear goal. Write down the number you want, such as 30% more organic leads in six months. Then pick an SEO outsourcing company that agrees to report against that number.
Next, start small. Outsource one task first, such as link building or technical audits, and judge the output. If it works, add content writing. This is the same path the agency in the case study above followed.
Then set a reporting schedule. One source claims that businesses getting weekly or bi-weekly reports are 72% more likely to be satisfied with the outsourcing relationship. I could not trace the original survey, so I treat that figure as a guide only. Still, it matches my experience: regular updates prevent surprises.
Finally, keep one person inside your company as the owner. That person approves topics, shares customer questions, and reviews drafts. In my experience, outsourced SEO works best when someone inside your team stays involved.
What Comes Next for Content Writers and Businesses
Here is my view of the future. Content writers will work closer to SEO teams, and many will join an SEO outsourcing company instead of a single employer. Businesses will buy results, not word counts. Writers who learn search data, structure, and editing will earn more, and those who only produce text will compete on price.
If you run a business, the move is simple. Audit what you do in-house today. Find the task that eats the most time and returns the least. Hand that task to a partner who reports numbers, and review the results after 90 days.
I have watched this approach work for small firms and large ones. The businesses that act early keep their rankings, and the ones that wait pay more to catch up. Choose one outsource SEO company, set one goal, and start this month.
- Art
- Causes
- Crafts
- Dance
- Drinks
- Film
- Fitness
- Food
- Games
- Gardening
- Health
- Home
- Literature
- Music
- Networking
- Other
- Party
- Religion
- Shopping
- Sports
- Theater
- Wellness