Is It Appropriate To Outsource SEO?
To further this discussion – is your opinion on outsourcing SEO any different if it involves overseas contractors? I for one have had success and failure hiring people overseas to write content (not for this website). Sometimes with enough direction you can get some really good stuff. In other instances I have received total junk that I wouldn’t dare publishing on one of my websites.
So what parts of SEO would you consider outsourcing? Would you consider overseas contractors to save an additional buck?
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Nick LeRoy
Nick LeRoy is a Minneapolis SEO consultant offering custom SEO audits & monthly SEO services to clients in all niches. He also regularly blogs about SEO at NickLeRoy.com
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Great topic for discussion Nick!
I think outsourcing definitely has its place in the industry. Not every company can afford to do it all in-house – to the point of being experts in all aspects of what we’re quite often called upon to do. Quality is the key though – can you produce the same kind of quality in-house as outsource, while keeping profitability in mind? Or can you get the right kind of quality from the outsourced solution while saving costs? That’s what it’s really all about to me.
Personally, I haven’t ever seen outsourced solutions of a good enough quality come from the typical “overseas” vendor, except maybe in graphic design work. And even then, that’s only good for one-off needs. Highly refined design tailored to a very narrow vision is tough enough as it is even when the outsource vendor is in the same country. Whether it’s coding, content, link building, SEO itself, or social, overseas sourcing has always been inferior when I’ve seen it. Even when it’s tightly managed.
The biggest problem I see from companies claiming they can outsource overseas is their belief about what “quality” means inevitably has always turned out to be a much lower standard than I maintain.
“Quality is the key though” ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY! I couldn’t agree with you anymore Alan. A lot of times cheap is only associated with overseas or outsourcing in general. It’s extremely important that you get the QUALITY that is necessary for a successful project. I would never outsource anything and use it if I wasn’t willing to associate my name with the end result.
I think that’s the key to successfully outsourcing. My experience with outsourcing is minimal and more content based then anything else. As originally stated, I have had some good luck and bad. At one point I avoided using the content all together as it was pure crap. I would be embarrassed to associate my name with the product.
I don’t understand the issue with outsourcing portions of an overall SEO plan. There are some things I do really well and there are some things I feel like others can do better. It would be nice to have everything I needed in-house, but that is not practical. Are you supposed to tell the client “I don’t do very good audits, but I know a company/person that does”. What if they want you to handle it for them? There are too many moving parts to be a solo practitioner or small shop and scale your business doing everything in-house. As for saving money by sending business overseas, that only begs a couple of considerations: quality and liability/accountability. I am less concerned with costs as I am with quality and assuring my clients’ interests are appropriately accommodated. Is there a risk involved? Of course, but so is hiring a hosting provider or any vendor. Can I get a kid in Kiev to dev widgets for me at $12/ hr? Yes! Can I find a similar priced dev here? Not likely. If you provide a service of value to the client, what’s the problem? I try my best to stimulate local economy by my immediate network here in my own city (Raleigh is home to some of SEO’s sharpest minds IMHO), but sometimes it’s just not feasible or they are not interested in the work.
The reality these days is that someone should be afraid to hire a consultant that pretends to be an ‘expert’ in all things SEO or internet marketing. With local, ppc, and organic SEO being so huge its nearly impossible to be proficient in all areas. I’m the first one to ask help when it comes to PPC. Can I set you up an above novice campaign? Sure! But anything outside of that would be outside of my expertise. I would rather partner with someone who knows PPC like I know organic SEO.
See my comments above in response to Alan’s comments about Quality. I think the three of us think exactly a like.
I agree with Alan on overseas outsourcing – it’s a good idea in theory, but it’s really tough to get quality results in practice. I know some people have gotten decent work out of the Phillipines and India, but much like in the United States, much of the so-called ‘Professional Services’ marketed as SEO will simply damage your website, reputation, and pocketbook.
As far as outsourcing SEO in general, I fall back to Peter Drucker’s adage about outsourcing:
If the person who does that job can never be CEO of the company, then it should be outsourced. Otherwise, the position should be kept in-house to build organizational capability.
(paraphrase)
For example, Expedia’s VP/GM North America came up from being a web analyst. Theoretically, an SEO could become VP/GM and eventually CEO of this organization as well. This is an organization where SEO/analytics/web marketing is important and should be kept in house.
By contrast, look at a large hospital – while I may work on that hospital’s search visibility, I’m not a doctor, nor an MPH, and I could never be CEO of the hospital. This is an organization that should outsource SEO, because it will always be a commodity and an afterthought.
(You can find the full Drucker quote here – http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2004/01/12/peter-drucker-in-fortune/)
Matt, I really like the thought put into your comment. You are absolutely right! If SEO can’t be your primary focus then its better to put it in the hands of someone who can. Your analogy of SEO for a hospital and a doctor hits that point right on the head.
I’ll have to look further into Peter Drucker as im not familiar with the name. With the paraphrased quote you included it sounds like a very smart man.
Hi All,
I had pretty bad experience outsourcing work (content creation, link building) to overseas. Always first two week I have received good quality works and then a total slide. I believe they assigned best resource to start with and then switch to normal employee once they think the contact is secured.
The best resources available for me overseas is rich media content (video and photography mainly). They have some awesome contents. I organise competition and allow them submit video and photography via popular social channel (facebook groups mainly). I reward only for those I want to keep and get them to transfer the copyright (a written document signed and scanned).
I am also using some overseas resources to setup large number of wordpress sites (hosting, basic design, plugins etc). They are doing great as I have provided them with step by step easy to follow guide.
Thanks Guys.
I have heard about people hiring overseas to do wordpress/design set ups for website with a lot of success. It sounds like the key is to give them step by step instructions (as you explained).
Overseas contractors are definitely hit and miss. At the rate most of them charge it shouldn’t be much of a surprise if the end result is less then stellar. However on occasion you can find a true gem. In my experience their prices increase as they realize you value their product.
Simply put- Outsourcing to qualified professionals when you cannot fulfill the task yourself is acceptable, but not if you are looking only to save a buck with cheap labor and get someone else to do the work for you. The outsource partner that you bring in should be an extension of you or your company, and share common goals and service levels. Otherwise the client loses.
Great point James. I can first hand attest to it not working out if your trying to cut corners. My failed attempts have come at trying to save a quick buck and get “good” content. In the end it was a cheap lessoned learned.
I am very lucky to have everything I need in-house and we don’t outsource at all. I have very mixed feelings about it because both Jay and I come from small towns that were negatively affected by businesses moving overseas to save money. I’m not saying I’ll never do it, but right now we don’t do it and I’m happy to make less of a profit in order to give people jobs in my area of the world. That’s a very lucky position to be in though and I’m not judging people who do outsource…it’s just not for me right now.
Oh Julie – so spoiled you are! haha j/k
. It’s awesome to hear you and Jay are able to remember your past situations when making business decisions. Too often business (and life) is run by the almighty dollar. Kudos to you both!
Hi Nick,
I have read all comments which is given by you and others and also satisfy with them,those are not ready to give outsource work but i am giving you trust ,please give me a one chance to prove myself ,i am looking work for long time and it will be quality work.Please gimme a chance.Take care (Poonam SeoExpert)
I would never recommend hiring an overseas contractor. If you are doing work in the U.S., you want someone that is U.S. based to do the work. This is especially true with content writing. It’s a risk to hire someone that does not speak English as their first language. Even the tiniest spelling or grammar error can have big business implications.
Good point Nick. The limited amount of content work I have outsourced overseas has required me going through and making small grammatical changes. It’s also important to keep the same ‘tone’ to the website as its when your visitors have come to expect.
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3. Great piece of advice for all intending to go into the outsourcing business. Cameron.