Why More Digital Agencies Are Turning to Outsourced SEO Solutions

Are you looking to grow your agency without exhausting your team?

Operating your own digital agency is difficult enough. Clients demand results. Deadlines mount up. And hiring full-time SEO experts in every niche under the sun just isn’t realistic.

That’s why local search optimization agencies are starting to outsource SEO services in larger numbers than ever before.

Here’s what the data tells us.

• Why More Agencies Are Outsourcing SEO Work
• What You Really Get From Outsourced SEO
• Why Most Agencies Struggle With Local SEO
• When You Know It’s Time to Outsource
• How to Select the Best SEO Outsourcing Solution

Local Search Optimization Agencies Should Outsource SEO

Customer expectations of digital agencies are higher than ever.

Website visitors want to see rankings for local search queries. Google Business Profile optimisation. Density in the map pack. And clients want those results yesterday.

But most agencies simply don’t have enough in-house bandwidth or local expertise to execute on everything at scale.

Enter SEO outsourcing.

HubSpot recently published its 2024 Agency Benchmark Report which highlighted that 61% of agencies outsource at least one core SEO offering, with nearly ⅓ planning to outsource additional services in the near future. Agency outsourcing isn’t just growing. It’s becoming the standard operating procedure for agencies who want to succeed.

Local agencies benefit tremendously by finding an outsourced SEO company that specialises in white label local SEO services because they immediately get skilled experts that can assist their local clients… without adding additional team members.

Clever.

What You Really Get From Outsourced SEO Partners

A lot of agencies approach outsourcing completely wrong.

They expect to throw work over the wall and hope their vendors do something magical with it.

It doesn’t work like that.

When set up correctly, an outsourcing partnership should give agencies access to:

• Industry specific experts they can’t afford to hire in-house
• Scalable talent without the overhead of full-time staff
• Premium tools (Ahrefs, SEMRush) without the monthly subscription cost
• Quicker turn-around times — outsourced vendors can be 20–40% faster than in-house teams
• Better margins — cutting fulfilment costs by up to half is achievable through outsourcing

And better yet…

Once SEO campaign fulfilment is passed to an outsourced partner, the internal team is free to focus on strategy, closing new clients, and running the business. There are plenty of things a team should be spending time on. Tracking rankings shouldn’t be one of them.

Why Most Agencies Struggle With Local SEO

SEO is difficult.

Local SEO is even harder.

The tricky part most agencies don’t realise is that local SEO is not SEO.

Take a typical SEO strategy built for a nationwide brand. Now toss that out. It doesn’t work for local.

Here’s why.

Local SEO campaigns require a unique strategy that consists of:

• Optimising Google Business Profile
• Targeted local citations
• Geographically targeted keywords
• Localised reviews
• Optimising for “near me” searches
• Targeting the map pack

40% of SMBs outsource at least some local SEO tasks, with local SEO being one of the most commonly outsourced services. As more clients demand local SEO, agencies will be forced to outsource to someone who can deliver… or watch those clients go to a competitor who will.

When You Know It’s Time to Outsource SEO

An agency that operates almost exclusively in the local SEO space has likely already outsourced.

An outsourced SEO solution isn’t always necessary to run a successful agency. But there are tell-tale signs when a team’s capacity to handle inbound work has been outgrown.

Declining local SEO clients. If the demand is there but the team isn’t big enough to handle the workload, outsourcing is a simple solution.

The team is overloaded. When the team is overworked, clients notice. And not in a good way. Outsourcing overflow work eases that pressure.

Onboarding more than 3–5 clients each quarter. Growth is great… until quality can no longer be delivered at the level clients have come to expect. That’s when clients start leaving.

The agency isn’t SEO-focused. If design, social media, or general brand work is the core competency, SEO will always be an afterthought. Bringing in a specialist solves that.

Better profit margins are needed. In-house senior-level technical SEO experts cost $80,000–$100,000 per year in the United States — before taxes and benefits. Outsourced vendors won’t cost nearly that much.

How Do You Choose The Best SEO Outsourcing Solution?

So the need to outsource SEO services is clear.

But how do you know who to choose?

Here’s the thing.

Every SEO outsourcing agency promises the world.

Only the agency can distinguish between genuine local search optimisation vendors and fly-by-night operators.

Here are a few tips to help weed out the bad apples.

• Ask for local SEO case studies. Don’t accept vague claims as a valid case study. Clients will want to see measurable improvements in rankings and site traffic.
• Expect detailed reporting. Agencies shouldn’t have to dig through SEO reports to find client-presentable data. Prospective vendors should be able to show clean reports ready to share with clients.
• Ensure they can scale. Can the vendor handle 5 clients or 500? Double check they have the team capacity to grow with the agency.
• Communication is everything. If an outsourced SEO vendor takes weeks to respond to emails, clients will think the agency does too. Set communication standards and expectations from the get-go.
• White label everything. Talk to vendors about their white labelling capabilities. The best SEO vendors in the business can make their work look like it was completed by the agency’s own team.

Wrap Up: Agencies Should Outsource SEO

Outsource intelligently.

Done right, outsourcing can make or break an agency. The wrong vendor will lose clients. The right vendor will help win more.

At the end of the day, an outsourced SEO provider should be seen as an extension of the agency’s team — one that simply isn’t hired directly.

Outsourcing isn’t going anywhere.

As digital agencies evolve and look for new ways to cut costs and grow their businesses, those that ignore the benefits of outsourcing will be left behind.

Let’s recap:

• Local SEO is not conventional SEO
• SEO outsourcing is already the norm
• The right partner can scale to the agency’s needs
• Outsourcing allows agencies to increase margins
• Do the homework when evaluating partners