SEO outsourcing 'may become necessary during recession'

Businesses may need to outsource their search engine optimisation (SEO) functions as a result of the recession, according to one expert.

Mark Jackson of Vizion Interactive said in a column for Search Engine Watch that the downturn is likely to result in SEO becoming more difficult as it is getting harder to break into the top ten results pages at various search engines.

Add to this the fact that SEO is becoming more "laborious" as it requires extra IT resources, PR firms and copywriters, among other things, and it is likely businesses will see the financial sense in outsourcing their SEO strategies to outside agencies rather than dealing with them in-house, Mr Jackson stated.

"The agency is responsible for benefits, costs for office space, costs for computers/communications and the rates that the agency may charge could be less than the employee handling this in-house," he remarked.

Niuniu Ji and Ryan Turner of World Avenue recently wrote a column for Adotas suggesting that SEO can be relatively time-intensive as it may require months to achieve sound results - although it can be more cost-effective that paid search as there are no incremental advertising costs.