Should you outsource SEO content writing?

Outsourcing SEO content can dramatically boost your organic traffic without the overhead of hiring in-house teams. While it comes with significant advantages, there are also important considerations to manage effectively. Here’s everything marketing leaders need to know about the pros, cons, outsourcing options, and tips for successfully outsourcing SEO content writing.

Cost efficiency

Outsourcing content creation bypasses costly investments associated with maintaining an internal writing team, including salaries, benefits, and infrastructure expenses. These costs can exceed $82,526 per annum per writer. Freelancers and agencies typically charge per project or per piece of content, offering budget-friendly scalability. For example, a small e-commerce business might pay $200 for a well-researched, SEO-optimized blog post from a freelancer, compared to the ongoing costs of an in-house writer.

Time savings

Finding and fully training a competent SEO content team can often take upwards of six months. This includes a 42-day average hiring process and several months of onboarding and training. Hiring freelancers or agencies accelerates production, reducing this timeframe drastically. Some companies achieve a time savings of up to 50% per content piece. This allows marketing teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than getting bogged down in content creation.

Scalability and flexibility

Outsourced SEO providers, such as specialized content agencies, enable businesses to rapidly scale production without additional administrative burden. For example, when seasonal demand starts to rise, outsourcing provides flexibility in output without the need for payroll adjustments. A retail company might double its content output during the holiday season by leveraging an agency’s resources, then scale back during slower periods.

Industry expertise and diversity

Content produced by seasoned external writers brings industry-specific insights and diverse perspectives lacking in in-house teams. This reduces internal bias and ensures content relevance and SEO precision across multiple niches and content types. For instance, a tech company might benefit from writers with expertise in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, providing depth and authority to their content that a generalist in-house team might struggle to match.

SEO performance boost

Professionally outsourced content production can significantly raise your rankings in SERPs, delivering measurable organic growth. Agencies are adept at strategic keyword integration, content structuring, and SEO-focused optimization. For example, Pepper Content helped 1mg, an online pharmacy, secure top search positions through optimized SEO strategies, demonstrating the potential impact of expert outsourcing.

Downsides and challenges to consider

Loss of quality control

When SEO writing is outsourced without clear guidelines, the consistency and alignment with your brand tone may suffer. Miscommunication can lead to overly technical or mis-targeted content, risking audience disconnect. For example, a B2C company might receive content that’s too jargon-heavy if the outsourced writer isn’t properly briefed on the target audience.

Variable costs

Unlike fixed in-house salaries, outsourcing costs per project can fluctuate significantly based on content depth, complexity, and chosen service provider. Unpredictable fees can complicate budgeting over the long term. A company might pay $50 for a simple product description but $500 for an in-depth whitepaper, making it challenging to forecast content expenses accurately.

Limited oversight

Delegating content creation can sometimes leave your team with limited control over timelines, quality assurance, and selection of writing resources, potentially affecting project delivery and quality consistency. This can be particularly challenging when working across different time zones or with freelancers juggling multiple clients.

Agency dependency

Dependence on third-party content creators means any issues within their workflow or strategy shifts can impact your content pipeline with little recourse available. If an agency suddenly changes its pricing structure or loses key personnel, it could disrupt your content strategy.

Freelance platforms: Platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr offer budget flexibility for short-term or low-volume projects. These are ideal for businesses just starting with content marketing or those with sporadic content needs.
Specialized SEO content agencies: Partnering with industry experts like BKA Content or Pepper Content yields high-quality, highly strategic content production on a scalable level. These agencies often have established processes for SEO writing and can handle large volumes of content consistently.
Hybrid/strategic mix model: Keeping strategy and quality assurance in-house, outsourcing the bulk content production for efficiency, scalability, and brand coherence. This approach allows companies to maintain control over their content strategy while benefiting from the scalability of outsourcing.

1. Start with clear, structured guidelines

Provide freelancers or agency partners with comprehensive website content briefs, documents outlining your distinct brand voice, SEO keyword targets, detailed audience personas, and content-specific instructions. This ensures that outsourced content aligns closely with your brand and SEO goals.

2. Vet your agencies carefully

Avoid “content mills.” Instead, focus your outsourcing efforts on established, specialized firms with verifiable case studies, testimonials, and proven SEO success stories. Look for agencies that have experience in your industry and can demonstrate tangible results from their SEO content strategies.

3. Set clear KPIs and track performance

Regularly track performance metrics such as organic traffic growth, keyword ranking improvements, user engagement rates, and conversion increases. Utilize smart tools like the SEO ROI calculator to track effectiveness and manage budget expectations. This data-driven approach allows you to continually refine your outsourcing strategy for optimal results.

4. Consider a hybrid approach

A hybrid structure can balance outsourcing efficiency with stringent internal control measures. For example, a B2B SaaS brand might outsource top-of-funnel SaaS content creation, keeping detail-intensive, technical documentation in-house for accuracy. This approach leverages the strengths of both in-house and outsourced content creation.

To address these challenges and amplify the advantages of outsourcing, ContentGecko presents marketing leaders with a flexible, AI-powered method tailored to your business and audience specifically:

AI-driven SEO strategy: ContentGecko blends your industry insights with SEO data and advanced machine learning algorithms, streamlining the strategy development process. This approach combines human expertise with AI efficiency for optimal results.
Rapid organic traffic growth: Achieve 10X organic traffic growth with custom-built SEO content, no extensive budgets or paid backlinks required. This significant growth is achieved through data-driven content strategies and AI-optimized content creation.
Long-term flexibility: Choose your own pace and production frequency, streamlining your content sprints according to demand. This adaptability allows businesses to scale their content efforts up or down as needed, without long-term commitments.
Tailored, data-backed reporting: Monthly customized strategy overviews engage your team at every stage, offering clarity around ROI and strategy effectiveness. These reports provide actionable insights to continually refine your content strategy.

Integrating ContentGecko into your content workflow means you get expert-level, optimized, and brand-aligned content efficiently, without the heavy lifting or excessive spending associated with traditional outsourcing or in-house hiring.

TL;DR

Outsourcing SEO content writing reduces costs, saves time, fosters efficiency, brings in diverse expertise, and accelerates scalable content production. However, success depends heavily on clear guidelines, careful agency selection, KPI tracking, and balancing outsourcing flexibility with internal quality control measures. With tools like ContentGecko’s AI-powered assistant, businesses have a unique opportunity to achieve rapid, measurable SEO growth while benefiting from unmatched cost-efficiency and flexibility. By leveraging the right outsourcing strategies and tools, companies can significantly boost their organic traffic and content marketing effectiveness.