Search Engine Optimization (SEO): In - house or Outsource?

Be Objective

The entire SEO process involves many steps and skills. While outsourcing all SEO tasks saves time and allows you to focus on other key issues that impact your hotel's fiscal performance, it may not always be a practical option. Here's where some objectivity comes in handy. First and foremost, be honest, and carefully analyze the in-house strengths, skills and time constraints of your organization. If you pride yourself on being the content guru, perhaps you could keep that task inside and outsource other areas, such as keyword research and link building, which you may find too challenging or time consuming. If your property is not confident in any particular area of SEO, maybe outsourcing the entire operation is best.

What Content is all About

Property owners frequently keep the area of Website content development in-house, simply because they know their property and audience so well. However, if writing content is not your forte, or requires too much of your time, definitely outsource it. Often, it is especially important to outsource content creation when new services or local demand generators arise, so that you capitalize on new optimization opportunities. Always thoroughly check the experience level, reporting capabilities and references of the companies that you consider for this critical SEO task.

Choose Your Keywords Carefully

When it comes to keywords, it's tempting to cut costs and opt for one of the free research tools available. However, there is much to be said for outsourcing keyword analytics, research and selection. Outsourcing this task helps give you better insight and clears your head of pre-conceived notions about existing keywords. An outside team can also open new doors to audiences previously unexplored. Because this process is so vital to your Website's results and profits, keyword research is probably the top candidate to outsource to an experienced SEO team. Keep in mind that competent SEO consultants have the resources and expertise to identify the most powerful keywords to drive traffic to your site.

Page by Page

Of course, there are other elements necessary to ensure that your site's pages are ranked by the major search engines, including title and meta tags, links, keywords and optimized content, etc. These on-page optimization elements are usually more costly to outsource, but absolutely critical for a comprehensive SEO effort. You may decide to keep this task in-house, so that you can dedicate more of your budget to other SEO areas. In any case, if you are unsure about your knowledge when it comes to on-page optimization, it's better to be safe than sorry. It's likely most properties will need to outsource this investment, especially to gain a peace of mind that it's taken care of properly.

More to Consider

A wide range of SEO related tasks can be accomplished in-house or effectively outsourced, and we've only touched on the major pieces -- content, keywords and on-page optimization. Many other elements such as Web design, hosting, analytics and social media functions are all SEO related and could be outsourced as well. Every Website project or task should be done considering the SEO campaign in the forefront. Your property's assessment of its priorities, talents and goals will help determine what specific efforts are best outsourced. Once your property determines which elements to out keep in-house and which to outsource, the path to a revenue producing SEO program gets much easier.

A Few Specific In-house Suggestions

Lastly, let's review a couple of ideas to supplement SEO and engage guests that can be easily managed in-house. If your property supports a blog, it's a good idea to have someone at the property tasked with managing it. Posting weekly entries about local happenings, activities, property news, etc. can build a loyal following. Facebook profiles are also best managed at the property level. The site allows you to connect with friends, while sharing your hotel staff's personality, specials and guest comments. Link building and advertising on your local Convention and Visitors Bureau, local media stations and directories such as superpages.com and wedding guides will help you better reach niche markets.