Managed SEO vs Buying Individual SEO Services: Which Is Right for You?

SEO can be complicated. It’s constantly changing and is not a one-and-done job. That’s something a lot of business owners can underestimate. SEO involves content optimisation and strategy, technical improvements, link buildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs., reporting, digital PR, AI search optimisation, and much more.

Doing SEO well means learning it all yourself, hiring in-house specialists, buying individual SEO services, or outsourcing the whole thing to a trusted managed SEO provider. Managed SEO is a done-for-you service where all aspects of your SEO campaigns from planning and audits through to implementation, continual optimisation, and reporting are handled on your behalf.

There’s a bit of debate over managed SEO vs SEO services you pay for separately when you need them. Which is best? The answer to this will depend on your expertise, resources, goals, budget, and how many areas of your SEO performance need attention. This guide will tell you everything you need to know to answer the burning “should I use managed SEO?” question. Let’s get on with it.

What Are Managed SEO Services?

Managed SEO is a service that’s fully handled for you. The key word is managed. A specialist SEO agency team will plan and implement your entire digital marketing campaign, usually for a monthly fee, so you can get results without doing all of the hard work yourself. Sounds great, right?

Unlike buying a single SEO service, like a batch of linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages., a blog post, or a technical audit that you have to coordinate yourself, with managed SEO, someone else develops your strategy. They decide which areas need attention each month, before executing the managed SEO campaign and providing you with a monthly report showing your search authority progress. All you need to do is check the results and steer the general direction.

Managed SEO packages are well-suited to businesses that need an ongoing strategy with lots of moving parts like technical SEO, AI visibility, and organic search visibility.

What’s Included In Managed SEO Services?

Ultimately, a managed SEO service covers all aspects of your online visibility and strengthens trust and authority signals. Think audit, strategy, technical SEO, content, link building, digital PR, reporting. AI is changing search as well, so AI search optimisation is another increasingly important element an outsourced SEO service should cover.

The following is an idea of what could be included in managed SEO services, but what it actually involves will depend on your business’ unique website and goals:

• Strategy including competitor research
• Technical SEO audits and fixes
• Keyword researchKeyword research helps websites unearth the best keywords to drive traffic and visibility. This research is supported by a number of powerful web-based tools, the best of which we’ve listed here.
• On-page SEO
• Content optimisation and writing
• AI visibility improvements
• Link building services and backlink analysis
• Digital PR campaigns
• Performance monitoring and reporting

Regardless of what’s included, a solid managed SEO service should follow Google’s SEO fundamentals.

Managed SEO vs Individual SEO Services

So, what do managed SEO vs SEO services you buy individually look like in real life?

Managed SEO mixes a range of SEO disciplines within one coordinated strategy, while individual SEO services deal with a specific requirement like content, technical SEO, or link building.

If you have lots of areas to be addressed, don’t have the expertise to develop and execute a winning strategy, or the resources to dedicate to your SEO and AI SEO efforts, then managed SEO will probably be the right fit for you. If you already have a strategy in place, but just need some extra support with certain areas, buying SEO services as and when you need them might just work better for you.

Ultimately, the full service SEO vs individual services decision is up to you and what your business needs right now.

When To Use A Managed SEO Agency?

Managed SEO is perfect for businesses that want to see results, but they don’t have the time, in-house experts, or resources to carry out SEO themselves.

Outsourcing SEO strategy to a specialist agency is also the right choice if:

• You don’t want the cost of growing your own in-house team.
• You have used individual SEO services before but have struggled to coordinate them.
• Your rankings or AI visibility have stalled, and you don’t know why.
• Your website has lots of issues instead of just one obvious one.
• You want to scale up your SEO efforts.
• You are a digital marketing agency that wants to offer white label managed SEO to your clients under your brand.

There is no single type of business that can benefit from having an integrated SEO strategy managed for them. Whether you are a small local company or a large enterprise-level business, you can benefit from managed SEO.

Fellow agency? Read our SEO Agency Toolkit blog to learn how you can stay ahead of the game.

What To Look For In A Managed SEO Provider

Not every managed SEO provider delivers the same level of service. When you are comparing your options, it’s important to weigh up the following:

• Transparency: Does the agency offer transparent pricing? Do you know what work is being completed, and how performance will be measured?
• SEO and AI SEO Expertise: Do they have strong SEO and AI SEO experience? Your chosen provider should be well-versed in handling all aspects of SEO and follow Google’s guidance for AI search.
• Tailored Approach: You want to be sure that your strategy is fully tailored to your business, wider industry, competitors, audience, and goals. To do this, you need evidence that the agency you choose will take a bespoke approach that takes everything into account.
• Regular, Clear Reporting: You need regular, clear reporting that goes into depth about all relevant metrics for SEO and AI search performance.
• Ongoing Optimisation: SEO is constantly on the move, so you need to be sure that the agency you pick can adapt to changes.
• Case Studies: Do they have success stories for businesses in similar industries as yours?
• Reviews & Testimonials: It’s always a good idea to check out reviews and testimonials before making your decision, as this can give you a realistic impression of what it’s like to work with a particular agency.

What Can Managed SEO Deliver?

The benefits of managed SEO compound over time. The foundations that get laid in the early months turn into solid returns later on. Fixing a page’s technical issues can then make it easier to crawl, and improving the content on those pages can make you more visible in search results. It has a knock-on effect. All of the individual aspects of managed SEO work together to strengthen each other.

Over time, good managed SEO can lead to:

• Increased authority
• Improved organic and AI search visibility
• Better keywordKeywords are the words and phrases that potential customers might search for to find your business. rankings
• More relevant website traffic
• Better conversionA conversion is a desirable result on a website that leads to an action such as completing an order, filling out a form, or simply clicking on a link. opportunities
• Long-term growth

Managed SEO vs SEO Services: How To Get Started

Deciding between fully managed SEO and buying SEO services individually all comes down to how much of your strategy you want to look after yourself. If you already have the experience and a clear strategy, and just need to fill a specific gap with a certain service like Digital PR or link building, for example, then buying individually might work for you. However, if you need more support when it comes to strategy, optimisation, and execution across multiple areas, investing in fully managed SEO packages might be the better option.

At Click Intelligence, we offer services individually as well as a fully managed option. Contact our team today to learn more about how our tailored services can help you reach your goals.