When is the Right Time for My Business to Hire an SEO Expert? Apr 5, 2021

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In the digital era, your website—and corresponding content—is likely the lifeblood of your business. In fact, according to one recent survey, as many as 97 percent of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else. Because of this, search engine optimization has become more important than ever before.



Search engine optimization (SEO) helps business owners improve virtually every component of their digital footprint. A comprehensive digital marketing or SEO campaign will help improve not only your website, but also your social media content, supporting digital content, and everything else your business does online.

Some business owners will try to manage their digital marketing needs entirely on their own. However, as digital marketing becomes increasingly specialized—and Google’s algorithms continue to become more complex—the need for hiring an outside expert becomes even more apparent. Digital marketing is a multi-billion-dollar industry that can provide incredible value to businesses of all kinds.

If you are the owner of a relatively new or small business, you might be finding yourself at a crossroads. Do you continue doing all search engine optimization tasks on your own? Or do you make a change and hire an expert?

Below, we will discuss the most important things to keep in mind when deciding if hiring an SEO expert makes sense for you.

What is Search Engine Optimization?
Search Engine Optimization is a term used to describe a range of practices used to improve an organization’s search engine page rankings (SERP). When somebody searches a term or phrase on Google, Google will (very quickly) use a complex set of algorithms to create a list of leading choices. The goal of a search engine optimization campaign is to effectively “rank” the organization or business for a wide variety of relevant terms (keywords).

Keywords and content marketing can help make a business’ website and other types of content more “appealing” to Google. For example, if a home maintenance company includes the term “refrigerator repair” throughout the site and also includes supporting content (such as a blog), the company will be much more likely to be found by individuals searching that term in a given area.

Finding ways to interlink the various pages on your website and also link the content to other, credible sources will also boost your digital visibility. Google cares about both the quality and quantity of the content your enterprise is creating. Additionally, managing the technical components of your digital campaign will also be very important—page speed, meta descriptions, formatting, and other technicals can all play a critical role.

How can an SEO Campaign Help My Business?
SEO is an ongoing process. Even once you have made your website and corresponding content “perfect”, you will still need to manage the technical components of the site over time, continue increasing the content you produce, and also adjust your existing content every time Google issues a new algorithm update.

An active search engine optimization campaign can help propel your business towards the front page of Google for relevant keywords and keep yourself there into the foreseeable future. The more often you can effectively rank on Google, the greater your digital visibility will be. Ultimately, this leads to more potential leads, more conversions, and a better bottom line.

The Benefits of Hiring an SEO Expert
Clearly, it is crucial for any modern business to develop a sustained SEO campaign. As a business owner, the next choice you will need to make is whether you will conduct this campaign in-house or choose to outsource and hire an SEO expert.

The most obvious reason to hire an outsourced SEO expert is that it can save business owners a lot of time. An effective digital campaign requires at least several hours every week to effectively maintain. The time that a small business owner spends on these campaigns is time that isn’t being spent on the specialized, revenue-generating portions of the business. By delegating to the experts, a business can maintain its digital standing and focus on what it does best.

Hiring an SEO expert will also dramatically improve the quality of your ongoing digital marketing efforts. Just because a person can blog, that does not necessarily mean they can manage every element of SEO. SEO experts can help your business address all content components, all technical components, all social media components, and all communications required for a campaign to succeed. They will also be able to improve your already existing content, helping your business improve its SERP even further.

The Drawbacks of Hiring an SEO Expert
Of course, every decision you make as a business owner will have both pros and cons that come with it. Just as there are clearly many benefits that come from hiring an SEO expert, there are a few reasons a business owner might be hesitant.

The most commonly cited reason for not hiring an SEO expert is cost. However, the cost of digital marketing is almost always significantly less than the revenues that can be generated from an effective campaign.

Business owners might also be hesitant to outsource because they do not want to lose control of this component of their business or they don’t want someone else writing as their “voice.” However, with the right onboarding strategy, consistent communication, and a detailed content guide, the best digital marketing firms can easily emulate the voice of virtually any business.

Decision Time: Is Now the Right Time to Begin an SEO Campaign?
Ultimately, the decision that is objectively best for your business will depend on several factors that are specific to you. Your current financial situation, your long-term goals, and your target audience can all affect the approach you might take to digital marketing. Still, even keeping these things in mind, it is obvious why many business owners choose to outsource SEO.

Outsourced SEO can increase your business’ visibility and improve your long-term performance. Though you will need to be patient and wait for your digital marketing campaign to be fully developed, investing in your digital infrastructure will pay dividends for many years to come.