Take a look at a few of the major pros and cons of DIY SEO. PRO: You’re in control One of the most appealing aspects of doing SEO yourself is the fact that you’re in complete control. When you work with an SEO agency, you’ll have to collaborate on setting SEO goals and developing a plan to meet them. Also, you need to do some thorough research into who you’re partnering with. If you choose the wrong agency, they may take complete control of your strategy and may not allow for your input. When you do SEO yourself, you’re the master of your fate. You have complete control over your campaigns and can jump right into developing a plan to achieve your SEO goals. CON: Limited expertise and experience On the downside, doing SEO yourself means exactly that — you need to educate yourself on SEO best practices, ranking factors, algorithm updates, the works. Even if you planned for months, your level of experience and expertise in SEO won’t match that of a professional SEO strategist. Seasoned SEO specialists are skilled at all aspects of the practice: Link building, content creation, on- and off-page optimization, technical audits, other digital marketing services — the SEO checklist goes on. They also have specialized knowledge in many industries, from SEO for recreation and entertainment, dermatologists, to B2B and B2C companies. While it’s entirely possible to teach yourself all of this, you’ll still be limited in what SEO tactics you can successfully carry out. This can put your business at a critical disadvantage, especially when you’re in a highly competitive industry. PRO: You’re not spending money on an outside agency… Another pro of DIY SEO is the prospect of saving money on hiring an outside agency. SEO agencies can cost anywhere from $2500 to $10,000+ per month. This all depends on who you choose to work with, the services you require, and other factors. But still, choosing to do SEO yourself means avoiding the cost of hiring an agency. But while this is a pro many businesses find hard to look past, there is one caveat to not working with an SEO agency. CON: Significant time and labor costs While you may not hire an agency, there still are costs associated with doing SEO yourself, namely time and labor related. Doing SEO yourself means you’re responsible for any additional costs that come with it, like investing in analytics technology and additional work hours dedicated to SEO tasks. In many unfortunate cases, business owners with little SEO experience can end up paying more for in-house SEO instead of outsourcing to an agency because they must hire people specifically to complete SEO tasks and reverse any damage to their online reputation due to poor SEO tactics. If you want to count on SEO working for you and benefitting your business’s bottom line, you’ll have to weigh the pros and cons of how you are making this investment of time and money.