In-House vs. Outsourced SEO: What’s Right for Your Business in 2025?

When it comes to SEO, marketing leaders face a crucial decision: build an in-house team or outsource to a specialist agency. This choice impacts budget, scalability, and long-term performance.

Let’s break down the real cost of both options, explore their strengths and weaknesses, and give examples to help you decide which model suits your business goals.

SEO is rarely cheap, and it’s often one of the largest line items in a marketing budget. Beyond salaries or agency fees, there are hidden costs such as software, training, recruitment, and management overhead.

The right setup can save tens of thousands each year and significantly improve performance, so knowing which way to go is critical.

What Does an In-House SEO Team Really Cost?

Hiring in-house gives you full control over your strategy and integration with other departments. But building a capable team requires time and money. Typical annual costs include:

• 2 SEO specialists: £70,000–£90,000

• 1 content writer: £25,000–£35,000

• National Insurance & pensions: £15,000–£18,000

• SEO tools: £8,000

• Training & development: £5,000–£10,000

Estimated total: £120,000–£140,000+ per year

You also need to account for recruitment time, staff churn, and keeping up with constant industry changes. In exchange, you build in-house expertise around your brand.

The Cost of Hiring an SEO Agency

SEO Agencies offer instant access to a team of experts, along with tools, content support, and the ability to scale up or down. There’s no recruitment overhead and no need to build processes from scratch. Typical annual costs:

• Retainer: £3,000–£10,000 per month

• VAT: 20% on top

• Tools and content: Often included

Estimated total: £36,000-£120,000 per year

Agencies offer value through experience and speed, but results depend on choosing the right partner and maintaining clear communication. If you want to know much about the cost of SEO read our comprehensive guide on the topic.

Pros and Cons

Option 1: Building an in-house SEO team

Pros:

• Full control over execution

• Aligned closely with brand and wider teams

• Builds internal capability and knowledge

Cons:

• High upfront and ongoing costs

• Recruitment and retention challenges

• Harder to stay ahead of SEO trends

Option 2: Outsourcing to an SEO agency

Pros:

• Access to broad industry experience

• Lower setup time and operational cost

• Flexible and scalable

Cons:

• Less direct control

• Potential for misalignment if poorly managed

• Risk of generic service from some providers

Which Approach Suits Your Business?

For many B2B companies, outsourcing is often the smarter option. Take industrial and engineering firms as an example, they rarely have the in-house expertise needed to manage technical SEO. Our SEO for manufacturers service gives these businesses access to specialist knowledge without the overhead of building an internal team.

Key Questions to Guide Your Decision

• Do you need immediate results or long-term internal capability?

• Can your business afford the full cost of building a team?

• Is scalability or control more important to you?

• Do you already have content or technical SEO skills internally?

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. In-house gives control, agencies give speed and scalability. Hybrid often provides the best of both, especially as businesses grow.

If you’re wondering what your next step should be, consider booking a discovery call with an SEO Agency (like us) and find out how they can help. You can use the information gathered from the discovery call to draft a comparison on what the best route is for your business.