Search engine optimization is an essential component of any digital marketing strategy, but not all digital marketers are experts in SEO. Highly technical and ever-changing, SEO is difficult to master, so many marketing firms focus on other core services to deliver to business clients. However, because SEO is foundational to digital marketing success, eventually all growing digital marketing agencies need to find a way to integrate SEO services into their offerings. Fortunately, there is an easy way to acquire high-quality SEO services for clients: SEO reselling. SEO resellers are firms that have experience and skill in accomplishing SEO-related marketing goals but that have limited or no capacity for account management. An SEO reseller sell their services strictly through marketing agency partners. 

A relationship with an SEO reseller can be incredibly lucrative for both parties. Here are the many advantages (and handful of disadvantages) to working with SEO resellers. 

Pro: Cost-effective SEO Reseller

According to Glassdoor, the average annual pay for an SEO specialist is about $60,000. Of course, more experienced SEO experts will demand higher salaries, as much as $100,000, plus various benefits and perks. What’s more, SEO professionals tend to do their best work in teams, which means that digital marketing agencies might not be able to hire a single SEO worker and achieve the results they expect. 

Perhaps the most common and persuasive reason for working with SEO resellers is the lower cost of obtaining SEO services for clients. SEO resellers tend to be dedicated and experienced firms of SEO professionals with decades-worth of combined experience. Thus, working with an SEO reseller gives digital marketers and their clients access to incredible SEO knowledge and skill at a fraction of the price. 

Pro: Increased Clientele

In most relationships with SEO resellers, digital marketing agencies deliver clients and client-related services, like sales, customer service, account management and more. SEO resellers generally become resellers because they are disinterested in developing these aspects of their business and instead want to focus on utilizing their SEO expertise. Still, working with an SEO reseller can increase a digital marketing firm’s clientele because many business clients prefer to work with digital marketing agencies that can offer comprehensive digital marketing services. Digital marketing firms that can advertise SEO options to prospective clients are likely to see a greater number of conversions.

Pro: Improved Focus

The world of digital marketing is remarkably fast, and it is relatively easy for digital marketing agencies to become stretched thin, unable to develop any one skill or service to a high degree. Attempting to deliver too many digital marketing services to clients through in-house teams can result in lower-quality service overall, especially for agencies working in industries that require more specialized strategy.

By outsourcing SEO to an SEO reseller, digital marketing firms can maintain the focus of their efforts on the digital marketing services they know. They become able to achieve and surpass client goals with the help of high-quality SEO without neglecting the tasks and skills they enjoy and excel at.

Pro: Scalability of Services

Small digital marketing firms rarely stay small forever. In time, digital marketers should increase the size of their business, gaining a larger number of clients and delivering services to more industries and regions. Yet, with growth comes various costs — and if an agency is committed to maintaining all services in house, those costs will be exceedingly high. Opting to utilize an SEO reseller gives a digital marketing firm more flexibility to grow as they need to, as their SEO partner will happily take on more work as necessary. 

Con: Loss of Control

There is one potential downside of utilizing an SEO reseller instead of hiring a fully fledged in-house SEO team: control. An SEO reseller is its own company, operating outside the policies and procedures of their marketing firm partners. Some reseller relationships deliver more control to digital marketing agencies, but regardless, because SEO professionals are not employed by the firm, they cannot be hired, fired or otherwise controlled by anyone in the digital marketing agency. As a result, digital marketing agencies must trust that their SEO partner is working to achieve client goals. Fortunately, because SEO resellers are interested in maintaining good working relationships with their partners, they will almost always deliver results professionally and to expectations. 

At present, SEO is an essential component of digital marketing strategy, so all digital marketing agencies need to find ways to offer SEO services to their clients. With SEO resellers, marketers can keep costs low and quality high, leading to growth and success.