How should businesses choose an SEO approach?

When choosing an SEO approach, businesses should first consider website size, budget, available staff, and short- and long-term goals, rather than deciding outright whether manual work or automation is better. Websites with many products that require extensive checks and configuration can consider automation; those with fewer pages that need in-depth judgment and individual adjustments can seek expert help. Where resources allow, tools can handle work at scale while experts handle strategy and data interpretation. When outsourcing, businesses should prioritize transparency over promises of quick rankings.

Consider page count—and the technical integration workload

In a 2022 article, awoo identified large websites and e-commerce sites with many products as situations better suited to automation, because handling everything manually, item by item, is difficult. The article’s example involved generating product category pages using combinations of product categories and keywords. This illustrates how a particular service works; it does not mean every tool offers the same functionality.

• Large websites or those with many products: Assess whether tools can cover checks and configuration across the entire site or its section pages.
• Websites with only a few pages: Consider having a small number of experts check for problems directly, reducing the burden of integrating systems with an automation service.
• Solutions requiring API integration: Assess the front-end and back-end engineering support needed, rather than looking only at how much operational time the tools save.

Assess budget and staffing together—tool outputs still need interpretation

The same awoo article suggested that businesses unable to hire a full team, or whose staff primarily provide offline services, could consider automation tools and optimize based on their reports. Those with more budget and staff could have experts carry out the work and interpret the data. These are recommendations from a service provider, not guarantees of results.

Tool limitations should also be part of the comparison. The article noted that individual tools typically excel at only some tasks, so multiple tools may be needed to support a more comprehensive strategy. Buying tools is therefore not the same as implementing an SEO strategy.

Goals also affect how work is divided. awoo suggested that longer-term goals are better suited to expert involvement, while automation can save time on short-term execution tasks. However, the metrics it listed, such as external link counts and keywords driving visits, should not be treated as direct measures of overall quality or business results. The value of combining the two approaches lies in the division of work, not in any guarantee of doubling rankings or traffic.

Once you decide to outsource, examine processes rather than relying on promises

Welly’s recommendations for choosing a provider included defining goals and budget first, reviewing industry case studies, and checking service processes and reporting arrangements. Competition, audiences, and keywords vary across industries, so relevant case studies are something to assess, not a guarantee that results can be replicated.

• Are the methods transparent? Can the provider clearly explain its approach, rather than refusing to disclose how it works?
• Can progress be tracked? Does the provider deliver regular reports and address questions at each stage?
• Does the provider promise quick rankings? Welly advised avoiding such providers because they may cause long-term harm to the website.