If you’re a business owner spending £1,000 a day on an SEO agency, you might be surprised to learn how your money is actually being spent.
Our analysis suggests that up to 60% of the time you’ve paid for could be dedicated to things that don’t directly impact your website’s performance – activities like:
- account management
- internal organisation
- communications
A significant chunk of this, around 47%, might be spent in internal meetings alone, with staff debating who does what, planning the next steps, or simply updating each other on what’s been happening.
The real work on your SEO campaign is likely being done by a Junior SEO, with a more senior SEO Manager simply checking their work. This multi-layered SEO agency structure, often means a substantial portion of your investment is swallowed up by overheads and layers of bureaucracy.
This is in stark contrast to the experience you might have with a specialist SEO freelancer.
When you hire a freelancer, your investment goes pretty much directly into the actual work that will move the needle for your business.
On average, a skilled freelancer would spend a remarkable 87% of their time actively working on your SEO. Not only are you getting more bang for your buck, but freelancers generally bring a wealth of industry experience to the table – often far more than a junior staff member at a large agency. You’re hiring one expert instead of paying for a three-person operation, making your money go a lot further.
Breaking Down The Data
An average reputable SEO agency in the South East costs around £1,000 per day + VAT, whereas a freelancer typically costs around £600 per day + VAT (or even less if they aren’t VAT registered).
If a client pays for 10 days of time – a total of 70 hours – then on average, the agency will spend around three times more hours setting up than the freelancer, as every meeting costs three times the amount as you are paying for three people’s time, not just one.
Typical onboarding time, which includes things like sales pitches, internal meetings, setting up projects, creating tasks and outlining the SEO strategy for an agency is around 15 hours. A freelancer can onboard a client in around 3 hours.
Internal meetings take up a large chunk of your paid-for time, with agencies averaging about 20 hours of internal meetings over a 10 day period, and even though those meetings may only total 6.5 hours, you’re paying for 3 people to talk about your business. Ok, they might be discussing your strategy, or need help from a more senior member of the SEO team, but it’s all using up your time that they could be spent actually doing the work. A freelancer doesn’t need any internal meetings (to talk to themselves!), so there’s around a 20 hour saving right there.
Both the agency and the freelancer are likely to want to talk to you for an hour during that 10 day project to discuss how it’s going. That costs you three more hours of the agency’s time if the Account Manager, Junior SEO and SEO Manager attend, but only one hour of the freelancer’s time.
Your work needs to be checked before it’s sent over, by both the SEO Manager and the Account Manager. That could take up to another 7 hours. Of course, it’s also important for the freelancer to check too, so I’ve allowed 5 hours for that.
The most crucial aspect of all of this, is how much SEO Specialist time you actually get with an agency. SEO Specialists are their prized, most experienced SEO’s who are typically working on several projects every day, dipping in and out where they are needed most. Due to this, they rarely get to work from start to finish on one client’s project, meaning that you are likely to only get around 40% specialist time for your project, with the rest being done by a Junior SEO.
Compare this with a freelancer, who is already an SEO Specialist, so you’re getting 100% specialist time. This means that they can typically solve problems more quickly, have more experience to be able to spot current issues or problems before they arise, and develop a much more comprehensive strategy for your SEO.
Taking all of this into account, the actual time spent doing the work is only around 28 hours out of 70 for an SEO agency, and around 61 hours out of 70 for a freelancer.
This equates to an approximate effective cost per hour of £428 for an agency, and only £118 an hour for a freelancer.
Why Businesses Are Hesitant To Switch
Of course, some businesses are hesitant to make the switch. One of the possible downsides they see is the lack of a large team around the freelancer, a safety net that an agency provides.
However, most experienced freelancers have a strong network of contacts they can tap into for specialist advice or collaboration if needed.
Another common concern is reputation; agencies typically have a more visible online presence and a long list of client testimonials. While this is true, there are countless amazing freelancers out there who can deliver a job that’s not only on par with an agency’s but often even better, despite not having dozens of reviews plastered across the internet.
So, before you sign that next big contract with an SEO agency, take a moment to consider where your money is really going.
Spend smart and consider hiring a freelancer.
Written by Kelly Sheppard
Kelly Sheppard is a search engine optimisation professional, author of the book The Structured Data Guide for Beginners and the founder of The Structured Data Company.
