Top Five Advantages to In-House Link Building
Posted: April 18th, 2008
There are many benefits for having an in-house (internal) search engine optimization team, and link building is one method of capitalizing on them. You will notice that some of the following factors spill over to other SEO endeavours as well. A caveat I should mention is that the following advantages alone will not enable an in-house SEO to outperform an outsourced SEO, unless the in-house SEO has a solid foundation and understanding of search.
Now without further ado, I give to you the top five advantages to in-house link building.
1. Understanding of the Business
An internal employee is more likely to have a deeper understanding of your business and the industry. This knowledge and insight definitely comes in handy in choosing the right keywords to optimize for. An in-house SEO is already familiar with the language, brands and product lines involved.
As a result, the keyword research phase could be cut in half, and your staff might even discover keyphrases that an outsourced SEO firm might not have.
2. Link Longevity
Apart from having an absolute say in choosing anchor text and which sites to link from, internal link building also provides greater control in managing these backlinks. Updating anchor text and linked pages can be done much quicker with less telephone calls and emails. Internally developed link building initiatives are also more susceptible to what I’m coining as "link longevity." That’s right. You heard it here first on SearchEnginePanel.com on April 18th, 2008. 
Link longevity is simply the amount of time a backlink exists.
3. Streamlined Concurrent Workflow
As with almost everything in-house, link building also has an affinity for a streamlined, concurrent workflow. Whether the SEO team is officially a part of the marketing department or not, marketing goals can be quickly communicated and understood.
If the IT / web development team also happens to be in-house, then modifying on-page and off-page optimization can be accomplished concurrently.
4. Networking and Accessibility
One way of getting highly relevant backlinks is through related businesses, from your suppliers, manufacturers, sellers, and everyone in between. The rolodex is a fantastic place to start link building, and your existing connections and business relationships lend themselves to acquiring links inexpensively.
In fact, an external SEO company might even have trouble getting past the gatekeepers and contacting the right decision-makers.
5. Broadening the Scope of a Partnership
In addition to acquiring links from business contacts in general, an internal SEO team can also acquire links from publishers in particular. Quickly study the people you’re already buying traditional advertising from, and kindly ask to have your link on one (or more) of their webpages too.
If the backlinks already exist, then give a pat on the back to the offline marketing team!
In conclusion
There are many advantages for in-house search engine optimization and link building in particular, with the five dominant ones being listed above. But as mentioned in the preface, a true understanding of SEO is required to reap its rewards.
If a company can swing it, more power to them. However, I have learned that many companies just to have the understanding or the experienced staff to handle this work. That is where someone like me comes in — the contract SEO professional.
Absolutely.
Unfortunately, often times a smaller company may not have the resources to contract out SEO needs or even employ a full-time SEO.
SEO professional may still the answer for a small company in short terms.. but this will open our mind to know the benefits of in-house link building..