Customers expect nothing but the best. To meet their expectations, you need to have a strong sales, marketing, HR, legal, and finance team by your side. This can help you deliver a seamless product and service delivery process. With such high expectations, it is hard to escape the pressure to be in control of all tasks all the time through hiring an in-house team. While this talent acquisition strategy will make you a jack of all trades, it might be tough to master every task in-house.
For instance, essential parts of your marketing strategy, like SEO, demand a lot of attention — attention you might not be able to afford while juggling multiple core business processes. At the same time, ignoring SEO is not an option. Outsourcing is often the better option, especially if you want to do it right. Besides, once you learn how to choose an amazing SEO company, you can save the costs and time you could have wasted trying to do it all in-house. The benefits of outsourcing are so clear, more and more businesses are taking this approach; in the global IT sector alone, the outsourcing market is projected to grow by $98 billion by 2024.
However, there are several outsourcing options, such as hiring nearshore and offshore SEO companies. While one strategy might work for a specific business, it might not work necessarily for you. Luckily, this guide will help you understand how to choose between the two options.
The Difference Between Nearshore and Offshore SEO Companies
Both approaches to outsourcing share the same principle; you are working with third party SEO companies to fulfill your needs. They can all help you with your SEO needs, from link building to building domain authority. The main difference is in the location of the companies and the different benefits and drawbacks of each. As long as you know how to choose an SEO company, both can work out just fine for your business, in theory.
Nearshoring
By nearshoring your SEO, you will opt to work with an SEO company from nearby countries, most likely in the same continent as you. It makes traveling for face-to-face meetings possible at pocket-friendly costs. This allows you more control over improving your SEO. Since you will most likely have some form of cultural compatibility with the SEO company, coordinating with them and reducing misunderstandings becomes easier.
Offshoring
Offshoring has been known to be the most budget-friendly outsourcing approach for SEO. You get to work with companies that could be miles away from your headquarters, even on completely different continents. Most of these countries have a wide talent pool and affordable labor. Due to the time differences, working with offshore SEO companies could be ideal whenever you wish to keep the business running around the clock.
Pros and Cons of Nearshoring for SEO
The Pros
If you know how to choose an SEO company effectively, you could easily make nearshoring work for you. Ultimately, the question of whether it is the right option for your business depends on your unique needs and preferences. The fact that nearshore SEO companies will most likely be within the same time zone as you are makes collaboration quite achievable. You will not have to worry about changing your schedule to accommodate that of the SEO company.
It also becomes easier to hold video calls in real-time. In case an emergency arises, it can be easier to solve it quickly and with less friction. This can be especially helpful during situations where you are having technical SEO problems at peak business seasons.
Compared to hiring companies from within the country, nearshoring can also be a cheaper option. Salaries vary widely in different countries; a developer in Mexico, for instance, receives an average annual salary of around $15,700, whereas an American developer will expect an average salary closer to $85,000. Nearshoring can save companies thousands of dollars annually.
The Cons
The downside of this approach is that you don’t have as many options when it comes to the talent pool you can choose from, especially when compared to offshoring. You may find you have fewer choices. There can also still be a few cultural barriers if you choose a company in a different country, such as different holidays. In addition to knowing how to choose an SEO company, you will still need to understand the culture of the company you choose to avoid any inconveniences that come with cultural barriers.
Pros and Cons of Offshoring for SEO
The Pros
Among the biggest benefits of using an offshore SEO company is the level of available talent — you can choose offshore SEO companies from virtually anywhere in the world. These companies will come with different experience and skill levels, all at different price points. For instance, it is easy to find a foreign company that promises to offer the same quality of SEO services at a more affordable rate than you are used to. The financial benefits of offshoring are compelling, and its popularity has grown over the past two decades. Spending on outsourced services in the global market has nearly doubled, from $45.6 billion in 2000 to $86.6 billion in 2018.
One thing you will discover as you learn how to choose an SEO company is that time differences can be a double-edged sword. On the positive side, it means you can keep your business moving 24/7. If SEO disasters occur overnight, your offshore SEO company could easily deal with it, which reduces site downtimes or even helps you avoid getting penalized by Google. This 24/7 support can be especially useful during peak business seasons when all aspects of your SEO need to be on point.
The Cons
The downside of working in different time zones is that scheduling meetings can be tough regardless of whether you know how to choose an SEO company or not. Since you are working at different times, one of you will have to make concessions for real-time meetings. This also makes it tough to work in collaboration to quickly solve emergencies. Travel costs also make it tough to have face-to-face meetings.
You will be limited to phone calls, video calls, and emails, which aren’t as effective as in-person meetings. Cultural and language differences also take center stage in this outsourcing approach and could easily breed misunderstanding and poor work results.
Learning how to choose an offshore SEO company is only a piece of the puzzle in this case. You also need to ensure that you can communicate well with the company you choose, which could otherwise make their skills unusable. Both of you might need to make cultural concessions from time to time to accommodate a strong working relationship and avoid stepping on each other’s toes.
Risk Mitigation is Essential for Success
There is no silver bullet with regard to choosing the ideal outsourcing approach. The perfect approach will trickle down to the kind of risks your business can accept and how well you know how to choose an SEO company. If you want a high level of control and real-time collaboration, nearshoring will be ideal. If you want to cut costs and enjoy 24/7 availability, working with offshore SEO companies will suffice — especially if you don’t mind the cultural differences.
However, success will depend on how you handle each outsourcing option’s inherent risk. For instance, you can overcome cultural differences by learning more about the culture of your partners. Conducting enough risk assessment will help you pick the ideal option.
Choose Your SEO Company With Confidence
Having great SEO skills is only but the threshold requirements of a reliable SEO company. As you figure out how to choose an SEO company, you need to also focus on how the company communicates and collaborates and their success rate in previous projects. With our helpful tips, you are well on your way to selecting the right SEO company for your business — offshore or nearshore.