In-House SEO vs. Outsourced SEO Services: Which Is Right for Your Business?

At some point, every growing B2B company faces the same question: Should we build an in-house team or outsource SEO services to an agency?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The decision impacts your budget, speed to results, control, and how well SEO ties into the rest of your marketing strategy. In-house teams offer brand familiarity and hands-on control. Agencies bring specialized expertise, broader SEO knowledge, and a ready-to-go system.

If you’re a B2B or SaaS company serious about organic growth, this choice isn’t theoretical but operational. It affects how soon you rank, how much pipeline it drives, and how fast you learn what works.

This guide compares both paths side by side so you can decide what fits your business, goals, and growth timeline best.

TL;DR

In-house SEO works best when you have internal marketing expertise, long-term bandwidth, and want direct control. Outsourced SEO is better suited for speed, technical depth, and faster execution across content, link building, and technical aspects.

In-house SEO can cost $65K to $90K/year in the US (plus tools and benefits), while outsourced SEO ranges from $1.5K to $20K/month depending on region, scope, and growth stage.

For most growing B2B companies aiming for results within 6 months, outsourcing offers better ROI, faster ramp-up, and access to a wider skill set, without the overhead of building an internal team from scratch.

Quick Comparison of In-House SEO vs. Outsourced SEO Services

Before you commit time, money, and headcount, here’s a snapshot of how in-house SEO teams compare to outsourced SEO services across the metrics that actually matter. Use this as your baseline filter before diving deeper.

As you can see, both models come with trade-offs. Some are obvious, some hidden under the surface. To make the right call, you need to understand what each option actually includes, beyond the buzzwords. Let’s start with outsourced SEO.

What Is Outsourced SEO (And What Does It Include)?

Outsourced SEO is when you bring in external experts, usually an agency or a group of specialists, to handle the heavy lifting. For B2B companies, this often means plugging into a team that already knows how to drive results across multiple industries and platforms.

Outsourcing gives you strategy, execution, and reporting under one roof without needing to build a team from scratch. These partners typically handle all core pillars of SEO:

• SEO and content strategy
• On-page optimization
• Technical SEO fixes (site speed, indexing, schema)
• Off-page SEO (link building, digital PR)
• Analytics, reporting, and SEO performance tracking

Most B2B SEO agencies also adapt to your sales funnel and ICPs, ensuring alignment between SEO goals and actual pipeline outcomes.

Services Typically Included

A mature outsourced SEO team usually includes a combination of:

• SEO audit to assess technical health and content gaps
• Keyword research tailored to buyer intent and business impact
• On-page optimization for rankings and relevance
• Content creation aligned with funnel stages
• Link building to boost domain authority and visibility
• Performance reporting tied to business KPIs

You get access to a multi-skilled team: content strategist, SEO analyst, technical SEO specialist, outreach lead, and account manager all working in sync.

What We Experienced

A mid-stage Fintech company came to GrowthOS after six months of flat rankings on product-related keywords. They had an internal SEO strategist but lacked deep technical expertise and link-building experience. After conducting a gap audit, we identified crawl issues and missing authority signals. Within 4 months of fixing these, they saw a 45% increase in high-intent organic traffic.

Types of Outsourcing Models

Outsourced SEO can take different forms:

Freelancers: Cost-effective but limited in scope. Best for individual tasks like content writing or link building.

Specialized SEO agencies: Focus solely on SEO. Ideal for growth-stage B2B brands needing results within 3 to 6 months.

Full-service marketing firms: Offer SEO as part of a broader digital strategy. Useful for companies needing paid + organic + content under one roof.

The right model depends on how fast you need results, what internal support you already have, and how critical SEO is to your overall marketing goals.

What Is In-House SEO?

In-house SEO means your SEO strategy is planned and executed internally by employees, often under the marketing or growth function. This setup gives you tighter control over priorities, quicker alignment with leadership, and easier access to cross-functional teams like product or dev.

It’s best suited for companies that view SEO as a long-term growth lever and want to build institutional knowledge over time.

Structure of an Internal SEO Team

An in-house SEO setup can range from a solo hire to a small embedded team. Common roles include:

• SEO Manager or Lead: Owns the strategy, audits, and roadmap
• Content Writer or Editor: Creates and optimizes pages around key topics
• Technical SEO Specialist: Ensures crawlability, site performance, and compliance
• Developer (shared): Implements fixes, schema, and site updates
• SEO/Data Analyst: Tracks impact, sets up dashboards, analyzes trends

These roles often overlap or sit within a broader marketing team, making collaboration with paid, content, and product teams much smoother.

In-House SEO Capabilities

What in-house teams do well:

• Full control over priorities: SEO tasks can be planned in sync with product launches, campaigns, or site changes
• Deeper brand familiarity: Messaging stays consistent across channels
• Faster feedback loops: Direct access to leadership, sales, and product teams shortens decision cycles
• Custom workflows: Teams can integrate SEO into sprint cycles, internal tooling, or data pipelines

But this model depends heavily on the strength of your internal talent and resources. Without ongoing training and tooling, in-house SEO efforts can stagnate, especially when Google’s algorithms or SERP features shift.

Deep-Dive Comparison: Outsourced SEO vs. In-House SEO

High-level comparisons are useful, but decisions are made in the details. Let’s break down how each approach performs across five key decision parameters.

Cost Breakdown: Which One Is Truly Cheaper?

Let’s talk numbers, because gut feel isn’t enough when budgets are on the line. Whether you’re in New York, London, Germany, or Bangalore, the cost of SEO can look wildly different depending on how you build it.

Here’s how in-house vs. outsourced SEO stacks up across three major markets:

Here’s a realistic breakdown of full-service SEO agency pricing by business stage across key regions, so you can benchmark your investment against where your company is today.

And if you are planning to build an in-house SEO team, your team will need access to tools for keyword research, organic performance analysis, link building and content optimization.

In total, you’re looking at an additional $4,500 per year just for these tools, on top of salaries, hiring costs, and benefits. While agencies often bundle these tools into their retainers, in-house teams need to budget for them separately.

Verdict:

Outsourced SEO is the more cost-effective option for most B2B companies. It offers a full team and necessary tools at a lower overall cost than hiring in-house and paying separately for salaries, benefits, and software.

Expertise and SEO Knowledge

In-house teams understand the product, customer pain points, and brand positioning. Agencies bring experience across different industries and are often better equipped to adapt to changes in Google’s algorithms and ranking systems.

Agencies work across industries and markets, spotting early patterns and adapting strategies before updates hit. They bring proven playbooks for technical SEO, link building, and international rollouts.

In-house teams may stay close to brand messaging, but they risk falling behind on new SEO practices unless they regularly invest in learning and testing across different environments.

Verdict:

If your business relies on staying ahead of SEO changes and you need specialized skills like international SEO or advanced technical fixes, an outsourced team will be more capable of meeting those needs.

Speed, Flexibility, and Scalability

If you need to publish a large volume of content or implement SEO changes quickly, agencies can allocate more resources immediately. In-house teams typically have fixed capacity and may struggle to meet fast-moving deadlines.

Internal SEO teams often face delays due to shared priorities across departments or limited access to development resources. Agencies operate with dedicated teams and predefined timelines, making them better suited for faster execution.

Verdict:

Outsourcing wins on speed and scale, ideal for businesses trying to hit aggressive SEO targets in 3 to 6 months.

Reporting and Accountability

In-house SEO teams typically have direct access to first-party data sources like GA4, Google Search Console, and internal BI tools. This makes it easier to build custom dashboards, monitor key metrics in real-time, and tie SEO performance to broader business goals.

Since these teams operate within the company, they’re directly accountable to leadership. Performance reviews, priority shifts, and stakeholder feedback are part of their day-to-day workflow.

Agencies, while not embedded in the organization, are still accountable through service-level agreements, contractual KPIs, and scheduled reporting. Most agencies standardize their performance tracking using tools like Looker Studio, SEO dashboards, and monthly update calls.

However, visibility into deeper business impact (like MQLs, pipeline, or CRM data) often depends on the level of integration granted by the client.

Verdict:

In-house SEO teams have a clear advantage when it comes to reporting and accountability, due to direct access to data from analytics and CRM. They can directly connect SEO efforts to business outcomes such as leads, conversions, and revenue.

Control and Collaboration

An in-house SEO team works directly with marketing, product, and leadership, making it easier to prioritize tasks, align messaging, and respond to internal feedback.

Working with an agency requires clear processes for communication and approvals. Once established, these systems allow for consistent collaboration, even if it’s not as immediate as internal coordination.

Verdict:

If SEO needs to be tightly integrated with day-to-day planning and cross-functional teams, an internal team provides easier access and real-time collaboration.

When Should You Choose In-House SEO?

For some businesses, building SEO capability internally is feasible and a practical choice. This approach works best when your internal team already understands your product, your audience, and how content contributes to long-term growth.

Below are the types of situations where having an in-house SEO team is more effective than outsourcing.

You’re an early-stage startup with a limited budget

Full-service SEO agencies can cost upwards of $3,000 per month. If you can’t justify that expense, starting with an internal hire or redistributing SEO tasks across your marketing team can help you make steady progress without overspending.

You already have experienced marketing team members

If your team includes people who understand content creation, analytics, or growth marketing, they can take on basic SEO tasks like keyword research, technical audits, or optimizing landing pages, before hiring a dedicated SEO manager.

You want SEO to become a long-term internal capability

Companies that rely heavily on organic traffic, such as SaaS platforms with self-serve onboarding or ecommerce brands with hundreds of products, often benefit from treating SEO as an ongoing function. Building it in-house allows more control over how it's integrated with product updates and content strategy.

You serve a highly specific or regulated niche

In industries like legal, tech, cybersecurity, or medical, few agencies will have direct experience in your space. An internal team, with access to subject-matter experts, can produce content and campaigns that reflect the depth and accuracy your buyers expect.

When Does Outsourcing SEO Make More Sense?

Outsourcing SEO is often the more efficient option for companies focused on speed, specialization, and measurable outcomes. If your internal team is already stretched thin or lacks technical SEO depth, a trusted agency can help you execute faster without compromising quality.

Here are common scenarios where outsourcing delivers the most value.

You’re scaling quickly and need to show results within 3 to 6 months

Building SEO capabilities in-house takes time, often several months of hiring, onboarding, and alignment. Agencies, on the other hand, have ready-to-go processes and trained staff. They can start producing content, fixing technical issues, and building backlinks within weeks, not months.

Your team lacks technical SEO or link building experience

Most in-house marketers are comfortable with content and keywords. But few have the expertise to run crawl diagnostics, fix structured data errors, or manage outreach campaigns at scale. Agencies specialize in these tasks and follow systems that are harder to replicate internally.

You need a plug-and-play team without the hiring delays

Recruiting even one experienced SEO professional can take 2 to 4 months, depending on your market and budget. Outsourcing gives you immediate access to a full-stack team: SEO strategists, analysts, content writers, and link builders, without the time and cost of headhunting.

You want SEO integrated into a broader digital marketing plan

Many agencies offer SEO as part of a multi-channel strategy that includes paid ads, CRO, and content distribution. If you're planning a campaign that spans several channels, outsourcing helps you align messaging, pacing, and analytics across your entire funnel.

Common Misconceptions About Outsourcing SEO

Outsourcing SEO can raise concerns, especially for teams used to managing everything in-house. But many of these concerns stem from outdated assumptions or past experiences with the wrong vendors. Let’s address the most common myths with practical context.

Myth 1: “We’ll lose control”

Truth: Transparency depends on the partner

Losing control isn’t a built-in outcome of outsourcing. It’s a result of poor communication or unclear expectations. Reputable SEO agencies work within shared project trackers, provide weekly or monthly updates, and operate on documented workflows.

You control the scope, timelines, and approvals. The agency handles execution. Tools like Notion, Asana, or Monday.com are often used to keep both sides aligned in real-time.

Myth 2: “Agencies don’t understand our product”

Truth: The right partner gets immersed in your niche

It’s a known myth that B2B companies assume an agency won't “get” their product. But good agencies start with onboarding sessions, internal documentation reviews, and competitor research. They ask the same questions your sales and product teams do and translate that insight into search-friendly content and site architecture.

For example, a B2B SaaS company selling AP automation software might assume no agency understands finance workflows. But experienced SEO teams will map keywords to personas like Controllers, VPs of Finance, and IT procurement leads, because that’s required while preparing an SEO strategy.

Myth 3: “SEO can be set and forgotten”

Truth: Continuous updates and optimizations are critical

SEO is not a one-time setup. Algorithms keep changing, competitors regularly publish and update their content, and new technologies like AI Overviews, AI mode, LLMs, etc. emerge. What ranks today might drop next quarter if it's not maintained.

Outsourced teams often handle this better than in-house ones, because they track algorithm updates, competitor movements, and performance across multiple clients. They know when to update outdated blog posts, fix crawl errors, or rebuild pages to meet changing SERP features.

Conclusion: Choosing the Right SEO Path for Long-Term Growth

Both in-house and outsourced SEO have their place and it depends on your team, budget, and growth targets.

Build in-house if SEO is a long-term core function, you have internal talent, and you operate in a highly specialized niche.

Outsource when you need faster execution, broader expertise, and clear ROI within 3 to 6 months.

Whichever path you choose, make sure your SEO strategy aligns with your overall business goals like pipeline and revenue, and not just rankings..

If you’re looking for a reliable partner to scale SEO without the overhead of building a team from scratch, GrowthOS offers full-service B2B SEO built for outcomes. Let’s talk.