SEO Consultant Vs. SEO Agency Vs. Fractional SEO

After working as a consultant for a few years and also working in an agency setting, you’d be surprised how different each service is from each other.

I figured this article could work well as an opportunity to show you the differences between both (including fractional SEO services – because why not) and what you need to know before choosing an option.

Let’s jump in.

How is Each Model Different?

Okay, so each model is different, but how?

I’m going to attempt to explain the differences in the most unbiased way possible. 

Honestly, I’m going to attempt to make this entire article unbiased.

I want this to be helpful, not a generic sales article lol.

So there are a few things you should know about each model:

• SEO consulting is more collaborative – With consulting, there’s less of a focus on actual hands-on work. There’s more of a focus on strategy guidance. My role is to help reshift your company’s approach to SEO. Making your efforts more efficient and effective. Instead of a consultant doing the actual work, they will moreso guide you through the process. They’ll show you what to prioritize, what to avoid, and how to do things correctly. It’s almost all at the strategic level.
• SEO Agencies Will Handle the Full Workload – While consulting is more strategic, an SEO agency is more of an all-in-one type of package. They’ll have the ability to handle full operations when it comes to SEO. So, instead of handling the work yourself, you’ll basically be outsourcing that work to another team that will handle all of it. If you don’t have the resources for an in-house team member, it would probably be best to outsource since you’ll have access to a full team rather than just one person.
• Fractional SEO services is like an in-house role – Lastly, we have fractional SEO services. You’re probably asking yourself what the hell fractional SEO even is. I only recently started branding myself as a fractional SEO, but I think it’s been my most effective service so far. With a fractional SEO, you’re a mix between a consultant, freelancer, and agency. The best way to describe it is that you’re hiring me as an in-house team member without paying me a full-time salary. So I’ll basically position myself within these companies and quite literally act as an employee for them. A fractional SEO can help on the strategic level as a consultant, but they also handle day-to-day activities as an in-house team member.

When You’ll Want to Consider Either Model

So, choosing each model will really depend on your company’s structure and lifecycle stage. 

I’m going to also attempt to break down what each service works great for:

• SEO Agency: I see an SEO agency as the right choice if you’re either an early-stage startup or a company looking to scale your content operations. For an agency, you’ll be able to outsource your SEO efforts so you can focus on other areas within your company. If you’re strapped for time and resources, I’d highly recommend going with an agency.
• SEO Consultant: Consulting seems to work best for more mature companies. They have established departments (including a content team) and just need more guidance in terms of strategy. Maybe traffic is falling, or leads aren’t coming in; whatever it is, consulting will be a way to right your ship with your website. The biggest consideration here is that you’ll still be in charge of execution at the end of the day. So, if your team has flexibility and isn’t swamped with work, a consultant would be the right choice for you.
• Fractional SEO: Honestly, a fractional SEO is the perfect middle-ground solution for both services. You get a blend of strategy from a consultant and the actual hands-on work from an agency. I find that fractional SEO works at almost every stage of a company; the most important part is just having a content team or person who can create content alongside the fractional SEO. The reason I say “perfect blend” is because there are some limitations to both services that a fractional SEO makes up for. Fractional SEO still has limitations, however.

Limitations to Each Model

Okay, here’s the part you all came here for.

I’m going to completely roast each service. 

Not because of any animosity, I just want you to know all the limitations that can come with each service:

Limitations of an SEO agency: 

• Inexperienced team members – One of the most common complaints with an SEO agency is that your work will be passed to more junior team members once you sign on. This isn’t true for every agency, but it is fairly common to be oversold and have junior employees underdeliver for you. This can sometimes lead to a “more harm than good situation,” but in cases with junior employees managing your strategy, it will just lead to wasted potential and spend. Larger companies will put a heavier emphasis on profit margins, so they’ll usually sign you on and then pass you over to inexpensive team members. That’s not the case for every agency; however, you still want to vet them beforehand to prevent this from happening.
• High turnover – One thing agencies deal with is a high turnover rate. It’s fairly common in the agency world, speaking from personal experience, unfortunately. This will usually lead to some consistency issues in terms of overall strategy. I’d recommend checking out Indeed or Glassdoor for each company to see what their employees have to say about it.
• Harder to vet an agency – One thing agencies do well with is sales. They have the resources to hire salespeople whose main role is to close a deal. That’s all they’re focused on. So, if you don’t have a solid understanding of what you need beforehand, it will be very easy for a salesperson to sweet-talk you. Not that this is the main issue here; it just makes it much harder to vet an agency when the person you’re dealing with is more focused on sales and not SEO. 
• Agencies can be expensive – A good agency will be expensive. At a minimum, you should expect to pay $2,500-$5,000/month for a reputable agency. If your agency is recommending >$1,000 for services, it’s likely not worth your time at all. An expensive agency will come with quality (in most cases).

Limitations of an SEO Consultant:

• Less output – The most obvious one here is that an SEO consultant won’t have the output capability as an SEO agency. Even in general, their physical output is close to 0. They will be almost entirely focused on strategy, so if you need someone more hands-on, a consultant might not be the best choice for you.
• Less manpower – In a similar vein as the above, a consultant will almost always be 1 person. While this person will likely have a better understanding of SEO than most agencies, they’ll still only be 1 person. So, communication and work will all revolve around 1 person. If there are any bottlenecks, it might delay results for you.
• No content creation – The biggest downside to a consultant is, again, output, but in this case, content. Content is pretty much a necessity for any SEO strategy, so if you don’t have an existing content team in place, an SEO consultant will be pretty limited.

Limitations of a Fractional SEO

• More output than a consultant, but still less than an agency – when you have a fractional SEO in the mix, they can actually handle day-to-day tasks. For my fractional SEO projects, I basically position myself within my client’s company/operations. I act as an employee for them. While I’m doing more work as an employee, I’m still limited in terms of what I can do. I don’t have the operational capacity to create x articles per month or launch larger link-building campaigns. I can work with your internal team to set that up, but if I’m missing those resources, then I’ll be pretty limited in terms of what I can/can’t do.

Picking the Best Model For Your Company

So, hopefully you have a better understanding of what option to go for. 

At the end of the day, it really varies company to company. 

If I had to break down, I’d go like this: 

SEO agency:

• Works great for smaller teams and teams with less internal manpower
• Is helpful with scaling content efforts
• Will have more resources to handle the full aspect of an SEO campaign

SEO Consultant:

• Works great for a more mature company that needs their SEO strategy adjusted
• All the pieces are there; you should need someone to put the puzzle together

Fractional SEO:

• Works great for companies at all stages who want an in-house team member but don’t have the resources to bring one on fully
• Can handle all aspects of SEO outside of content creation

You can’t go wrong with either choice; it will mostly come down to the choice that works best for you.