Should your partner also do your SEO? An honest answer
Which parts of search visibility belong with the team that builds the site, which belong with a specialist, and how to avoid paying twice for the same thing.
The short answer
Search visibility has three parts, and they belong in different places. The technical foundation, fast pages, clean structure and markup, correct indexing, structured data, working redirects, accessibility, is part of building and running a site properly, and it belongs with the partner who builds and maintains it; it should never be a separate line or a separate supplier. Content that answers what customers search for before they buy is ongoing work that can sit with the partner, an agency or in-house, depending on who can write well about your market. Off-site work such as earning links and running large campaigns is a specialism. The split that fails is a partner who builds a slow, unstructured site and an agency who sends monthly reports trying to rank it. Neither can succeed, and the business pays both. The test of any arrangement: whoever recommends changes to the site must be the party, or work directly with the party, who implements them.
The three parts and where they belong
| Part | What it involves | Belongs with |
|---|---|---|
| Technical foundation | Speed on mobile, semantic structure, indexing, canonicals and redirects, structured data, sitemaps, accessibility, internal linking | The partner who builds and maintains the site; not a separate service |
| Content | Understanding what customers search, planning topics, writing pages and articles that answer them, keeping them current | The partner if they write well about your market; an agency; in-house; often a combination |
| Off-site and campaigns | Earning links and mentions, digital PR, large paid and organic campaigns | A specialist, coordinated by the partner, when the scale justifies it |
| Measurement | Search Console, rankings, traffic by query and page, conversions from search | The partner, reported monthly, with the content owner |
Deciding who does what
- Confirm the partner owns the technical foundation as part of building and maintaining the site, measured in the monthly report.
- Decide who writes content: whoever understands your market and writes well, with a plan tied to what customers search.
- Add a specialist only when off-site work at scale is justified, coordinated by the partner.
- Give every party access to the same measurement: Search Console, analytics, in your accounts.
- Make one rule: recommendations for site changes go to the partner, who implements them through the normal process.
An honest position
We do the technical foundation for every site we build and maintain, because it is part of doing the job. We write content for clients whose markets we understand, and we say so when we do not. We do not do large-scale link building and we recommend specialists when a business needs it, and we coordinate with them. What we ask of any arrangement is that the roles are clear and that whoever recommends changes to the site can see them implemented.
What this means for you
Expect the technical foundation from the partner who builds and runs the site, as part of the job. Put content with whoever writes well about your market, with a plan tied to what customers search. Add a specialist for off-site work only at a scale that justifies it, coordinated by the partner. And insist that recommendations reach someone who implements them, because search visibility is built, not reported.
Frequently asked questions
Is SEO a separate service or part of building a website?
Both, in different parts. The technical foundation, fast pages, clean structure, correct indexing, structured data, working redirects, accessible markup, is part of building a site properly and should not be a separate line. Content that answers what customers search for is ongoing work that can sit in several places. Off-site work such as earning links is a specialism. A site built without the foundation cannot be rescued by the specialism.
Our SEO agency sends us monthly reports but rankings do not move. Why?
Often because the site itself is the limit: slow on mobile, poorly structured, with indexing problems no report mentions, and an agency that recommends changes nobody implements. Ask the agency what they have changed on the site in the last quarter and who implemented it. If the answer is a list of recommendations sent to nobody, the roles are broken.
Can one partner do everything?
The technical foundation and the content, yes, if they have the writing capacity and understand your market; we do both for many clients. Large link-building and campaign work is a different discipline and a specialist may be worth adding, coordinated by the partner. What matters is that whoever recommends changes to the site is the same party, or works with the party, who implements them.