The fundamentals of SEO appear simple on the surface, but the increasing complexity in the space typically requires more technical aspects and specialized expertise.
Whether your hire an SEO, work with an SEO agency, or bring your SEO services in-house is a business question you will have to answer.
But make no doubt about it: even Fortune 100 companies with large, best-in-class in-house SEO team can still benefit from an outside SEO agency (or SEO company) as an SEO partner:
- SEO agencies offer the ability to help you scale faster with an entire team and an experienced team of SEO specialists
- An experienced SEO agency typically has publisher and other websites relationships that even the largest organizations lack—helpful for link building and improving search engine rankings
- A strong SEO agency can act as a helpful feedback loop and sounding board for digital marketing decisions and broader digital marketing efforts
Agencies, on the other hand, can be expensive and/or difficult to work with—so how do you know if one is the right agency for your situation and your target audience?
Table of Contents
The Problem with Do-It-Yourself SEO
The notion of keeping your own SEO in-house is appealing; theoretically, you can get results while still keeping full control over your work and save money by not paying an SEO agency or SEO company.
However, there’s a significant problem with the idea of DIY SEO: available expertise.
You can hire an SEO expert who is well-versed in what’s necessary to gain momentum in an SEO campaign, but that doesn’t always translate to working efficiency or even ground-level experience—especially when search engines and search engine algorithms are constantly evolving.
Search engine optimization involves many working parts, including, but not limited to:
- design and structuring of your site
- creation of original, helpful content and quality content
- management of social media marketing
- posting of offsite links and earning links from other websites
- website monitoring, regular audits, and improvements to a website’s performance (website’s performance)
- keyword research and mapping relevant keywords to pages
- technical fixes and technical improvements related to technical SEO
- much more
Finding an individual who is an expert in all of those roles is extremely difficult, and hiring a full in house team with split roles is ridiculously expensive for many small business owners and local businesses.
By working with an SEO agency, you can gain access to a full team of experts who truly are experts—SEO specialists and an SEO professional—who truly are experts in their respective fields, often supported by advanced tools.
That expertise translates to more effective, meaningful work, with a wider reach, better online visibility, stronger search visibility, and fewer holdups—especially when the goal is more organic traffic, more website traffic, and better search results on search engine results pages.
Narrowing your scope of work to the talents of one expert (or worse, one person who only knows the fundamentals of basic SEO) could end up costing you far more money in lost time, inefficiency, and costly mistakes—including missed opportunities to increase organic traffic and drive targeted traffic.
The Fear of Hiring an SEO Agency
There are two main fears keeping people from pursuing an SEO agency: money and control.
The money factor is simple: SEO agencies are expensive.
But if you’re already planning on paying the salary for one person, why not take that capital and invest it in a full team—an SEO company providing professional SEO services and broader marketing services—that can execute multiple SEO strategies at once?
Most agencies also offer several tiers of plan options, so you can almost always find something that aligns with your SEO budget and your business goals—from focused link building to comprehensive SEO services.
The control factor is a bit more complicated. Some entrepreneurs prefer to keep their SEO development in-house simply to have more transparency into the process. Once the work is handed off, it becomes a mystery, and the SEO agency starts directing the process. Though you’ll always have to abandon some level of control, most SEO agencies provide detailed reports and regular reports and explain the rationale behind their work—especially when they’re acting as your right SEO partner and are committed to long-term performance, not outdated tactics.
Surefire Signs You Need an SEO Agency’s Help
If you’re weighing the options, as you should, you may find yourself struggling to objectively determine your need for an SEO agency. Fortunately, there are a handful of surefire signs that you’ll need an SEO agency (or professional SEO company) if you want to gain momentum and improve search engine rankings and search results.
You have an immediate problem that needs addressed
Most website owners are reactive rather than proactive.
When things are humming along, website traffic is steady or growing and leads are flowing, the SEO agency is not top-of-mind.
But when things go wrong, the SEO agency is then on speed dial—especially when organic traffic drops and your pages fall in search results across multiple search engines.
An SEO emergency is a very common time to engage with an SEO agency.
You don’t have—or understand—the right tools
- What tool do you use to audit your content or audit your backlink profile?
- What features of Google Search Console do you use on a regular basis?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, or if you don’t have a readily available list of advanced tools to support keyword research, technical audits, and page optimization—it could be a sign you may need help from an SEO agency or SEO specialists.
You’re overwhelmed with the number of tasks involved
Managing an SEO campaign seems simple up front: post lots of content and build good links.
But there’s a seemingly infinite number of tasks that goes along with those core onsite and offsite SEO strategies—from keyword research and on-page work to technical fixes that improve a website’s performance. The work can quickly pile up, especially if your SEO manager has other responsibilities within the marketing team.
It might be too expensive to hire an SEO professional internally, or there might be too much work to delegate across an in house team, but at some point, you may need to enlist the help of an SEO agency to reduce the workload, especially if you’re engaging in the process of building quality links as part of your SEO services.
You aren’t involved in multiple mediums
Do-it-yourself SEO professionals sometimes get tunnel vision.
They get stuck in using a set range of mediums—like a blog and a Twitter account—and they keep rehashing the same old SEO strategies.
They’ll still get results, but nowhere near what a diverse approach tied to digital marketing, digital marketing efforts, and broader channel coverage can bring—especially when you’re trying to reach potential customers, generate quality leads, and support business growth.
Take a look at how many channels you use to operate, and ask yourself how many you’re missing.
You aren’t seeing the results you want
This is the simplest, but perhaps most important sign that you need to enlist the help of an SEO agency or professional SEO team.
If you’ve been going strong for a few months, adjusting your approach and trying your best, but you still aren’t seeing the results you wanted—higher search engine rankings, more organic traffic, more website traffic, and better search visibility— an SEO agency might be able to take you to the next level.
At the very least, they can analyze your campaign and figure out what’s going wrong in the search engine results pages.
The Importance of Choosing the Right SEO Agency
Going with an SEO agency isn’t enough. There are hundreds, if not thousands of SEO agencies out there, and each one of them is unique in terms of plan offerings, team composition, specialization, and even working relationships. Not all SEO agencies are built the same, so there are several key factors to consider when you start making your selection.
Specialization
Your needs are unique, and you need to find an SEO agency or SEO company that suits them perfectly with the right mix of specialized expertise.
For example, if you have nobody in-house that can handle SEO tasks, you’ll need the help of a full-service agency that can help you from start to finish with professional SEO services and a comprehensive SEO strategy. However, if you have an in-house writer that takes care of your content strategy, you might consider enlisting the help of an agency that has more specialty in off page optimization, which includes link building—or even local SEO if you serve local businesses and want to reach nearby potential customers.
Pricing & Cost
SEO price is always an important factor for business owners. If you have a strict SEO budget, it’s important to choose a plan that fits within those limitations. However, you also don’t want to go too cheap with SEO; some firms may offer an irrationally low price because they practice shoddy work that could leave you with a penalty. Find a middle ground that will net you a white hat expert without breaking the bank. The goal is a cost effective investment with real ROI—not short-term hacks.
The Human Element
Too often, decision makers neglect one of the most important qualities of their SEO firm: the human relationship that characterizes it.
When you work with an SEO firm, you should have an account manager or SEO professional contact who truly cares about your business, and is available to answer your questions, give you valuable insights, and make you an integral part of the process. When vetting candidates for your SEO firm, take your impression of their people into consideration. A good personal relationship at the core of your professional relationship can make all the gears move more smoothly. The best relationships feel like working with your right SEO partner, not outsourcing to a vendor.
Look for proof points like client testimonials, clear expectations, and whether they provide detailed reports that connect work to performance, search engine rankings, and growth outcomes like drive traffic, generating leads, and converting visitors.
Choosing to go with an SEO agency is not a decision to take lightly, but it is financial viable and highly efficient for most small- to mid-sized businesses—especially when you want more consistent search results and long-term improvements in online visibility.
If you’re wondering what options are out there, or if you feel lost with your own internal SEO efforts, why not contact us?
We’ve been there, and we can help you make the right decision for your business with comprehensive SEO services and an effective SEO strategy.
- Best Digital Marketing Strategies for Lawyers in 2026 & Beyond - January 22, 2026
- Using Rich Snippets to Improve SEO, Link Building & Click-throughs - January 19, 2026
- How to Use Podcasts for SEO and Link Building in 2026 - January 12, 2026