White label SEO can help offer a new area of services and expertise to meet client demands without the heavy lifting of building out and staffing a new department.
Search engine optimization (SEO) can help you rank higher in Google searches and increase traffic to your website. It’s a well-known process of improving your website to help users find your content and can pay off handsomely over the long term.
However, it can be difficult for business owners and marketers to execute SEO effectively in-house. SEO includes a combination of on-page and off-page tactics that take expertise and experience (as well as time to keep up with constantly evolving best practices and tools). This makes SEO a service businesses often want to hire an agency to implement and manage on their behalf.
But what happens if an agency offers a full portfolio of services and doesn’t offer SEO packages? They may decide to use a white label SEO service provider to ensure their clients have expert-level support and seamless execution of an SEO strategy working for them.
What is white label SEO?
White label SEO is when an agency hires an outside provider to handle SEO services for clients that need it. This allows the agency to provide SEO services under its own branding while delegating the execution to another company, contractor or freelancer.
That way, the agency can offer the level of expertise needed without having to create an entirely new department to ensure clients’ needs are met.
“White label” means the agency offers the additional services under their brand and manages the process, making the system easy for the client to understand and benefit from.
Who benefits from white label SEO?
Once the initial structure is sorted out, everyone involved in a white label SEO partnership can benefit from this type of arrangement.
First, the agency acting as the main contact can meet client demands, even if SEO is a new request from them. They can expand their menu of services to potential clients and flex to accommodate low or high demand for the service, while saving the time and money it would take to create an SEO team or department within the agency.
The end client receives high-quality SEO services from a specialist who is well-versed in SEO best practices. Delays and inefficient processes are avoided.
And the white label SEO provider can focus on their specialty, delivering dependable results.
How does a white label SEO partnership work?
When deciding how to structure a partnership for white label SEO, the needs and goals of each party should be considered so they can build a framework and process that works for everyone.
In most cases, an agency will act as the main hub, connecting clients who need SEO services and providers who can meet these needs.
The agency will build a portfolio of clients who need various marketing services and craft strategies to help them reach their goals. They’ll work with these clients to clarify the scope of the SEO services they need and hire the SEO company to provide either one-off services or a package of services.
What is included in a white label SEO package?
The elements included in any white label SEO plan would be up to the provider offering the package. It likely would cover a combination of basic SEO services and enhanced services in which the agency has expertise.
These services might include:
- SEO auditing of your website
An audit can be a good first step to clarify the scope, and identify the starting point and opportunities to improve. - Keyword research
Performing research to ensure your content is optimized with keywords can help drive relevant traffic to the right pages on your website. - Content strategy
Creating an overall strategic plan for your content to ensure you cover all relevant topics and keywords will help you build out better-quality content over time. - Content creation
Relying on a service provider for content production can give you access to a streamlined and efficient workflow for briefing, creating and delivering content. - Internal linking strategy
Thoughtful linking practices to connect related material on client websites can help users navigate from one article or section to the next to help keep them moving through your customer’s site until they make a purchase or take another desired action. - Image, metadata and URL optimization
While high-quality content will always attract people to a website, someone needs to take care of the critical pieces of data that help search engines crawl, understand and characterize the content. - Optimizing for page speed
Large images, poor connectivity and bad coding can all make a site slow to load. Without insight into what’s causing delays and how to fix them, your customers could lose people who won’t wait for their site to load on their desktop or mobile. - Improving user experience
How a potential customer lands on a site, navigates it, and either is able to complete their goal or not will largely depend on the user experience (UX). Understanding how to make website visits enjoyable and productive for users can encourage them to return. - Implementing responsive design
Responsive design ensures your site displays and functions properly on desktops and mobile devices. - Exploring backlinking opportunities
Backlinking helps build your website’s authority with links from other valuable websites that are carefully sought out through collaboration and outreach. - Performance metrics and recommendations
Monitoring performance and how it changes based on your SEO activities can be useful to ensure your future tactics repeat what’s worked well and adjust practices that didn’t. - SEO reporting
Regular reporting can help you ensure the SEO provider has implemented everything requested and keep clear communication channels between you, the provider and your customer.
How to choose a white label SEO provider
You’ll want to vet potential service providers carefully, as this company or individual will be an extension of your agency. They may help with planning, execution and reporting on SEO strategy, and they will contribute to the success of your customers.
When evaluating potential partners for white label SEO, review the services they offer to look for alignment with what your customers need. Ensuring you cover customers’ immediate needs is the first step.
Next, review all other services offered by the provider you’re vetting. Are there other valuable services or expertise they can lend? How else could they help drive client results and support your agency?
Look for testimonials and positive reviews on the company website and third-party sites, such as Google or Facebook reviews. Reading through these should help give you a solid understanding of what the company does, the type of projects it takes on and how it works with customers to ensure successful outcomes or quick resolutions to questions and concerns. Ask others in your industry for recommendations.
Then book a time to chat with potential providers to discuss how they help agencies like yours, what their onboarding process is like and how they ensure smooth transitions for your customers. You can walk through their typical process and share your ideas or goals for how the partnership would work best for you.
White label SEO can be an excellent way to ensure your clients are getting the maximum results from your marketing efforts and open a new channel of business for your agency.
Could white label SEO help your agency fill a critical gap for your clients? Reach out and book a consultation with a Postmedia expert to learn more.
