What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
How AI assistants choose which sources to cite, and what you can change.
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Short answer
SEO outsourcing means paying an outside team to do some or all of your search optimization work. Many companies do not outsource everything. They hand over the work that needs rare skills or many hours, and keep the work that needs knowledge of the business. This guide is for companies deciding what to hand over. If you are an agency looking for a partner to work under your brand, read what white label SEO is instead.
What to hand over and what to keep
| Work | Usually outsourced | Usually kept in-house |
|---|---|---|
| Technical audit and fixes plan | yes: needs crawling tools and experience with many sites | |
| Research of search demand and competitors | yes: needs paid data tools | |
| Site structure and page plan | together: the agency proposes, you check it against what you sell | |
| Page texts | often: the agency writes, your expert checks the facts | facts, prices, cases, photos |
| Publishing changes on the site | depends on who controls the site | often your developer |
| Mentions and links from other sites | yes: outreach takes many hours | partnerships you already have |
| Reviews and answers to customers | yes: only you know the customer | |
| Decisions about offers and prices | yes |
A simple test: if the task depends on facts only your company has, keep it or at least check it. If it depends on tools and repetition, it is a good candidate to hand over.
Three ways to organise it
- Full outsourcing
The agency plans, writes, builds links and reports. You approve and supply facts.
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Works when you have no marketing team.
- Split work
Your marketer owns the plan and the texts, the agency does technical work, research and outreach.
Read more
Works when you have one person who knows marketing but not SEO tools.
- Consulting only
The agency audits and advises once a month, your team does everything. Works when you have a team and need a second opinion.
How to brief an agency
Give them in the first week:
- the products or services that bring you money, in order of priority;
- the countries and languages you sell in;
- who your buyers are and what they ask before they buy;
- three competitors you lose deals to;
- view access to Google Search Console and analytics;
- who on your side answers questions, and how fast.
A brief like this saves the first month. Without it, the agency spends that month guessing.
A simple test: if the task depends on facts only your company has, keep it or at least check it.
How to check the work
Ask for a monthly report that shows three things: what was done on which page, what changed in Search Console for those pages, and the plan for next month. Rankings alone are not enough. Look at clicks and enquiries from organic search in your own analytics.
Give it time. New pages usually take months, not weeks, to show results, and no one can guarantee positions in Google. Judge the first months by the quality of the work and the plan, and the later months by traffic and enquiries.
Warning signs
- Guaranteed first place in Google. No agency controls the ranking.
- Links bought in packs. Google’s spam policies treat links made to manipulate rankings as a violation, and the risk stays with your site.
- No access to your own data. Search Console and analytics should be in your accounts, with the agency as a user.
- Reports with charts but no list of work. You cannot check what you paid for.
Outsourcing or hiring
| Outsourcing | Hiring an SEO specialist | |
|---|---|---|
| Start | within weeks, once the brief is ready | after recruiting and onboarding |
| Skills | a team: technical, content, outreach | one person’s skills |
| Tools | included in the agency’s work | you pay for them separately |
| Knowledge of your business | grows slowly, depends on your brief | grows fast, stays in the company |
| Fixed cost | the monthly fee | salary and tools |
Some companies start with an agency, learn what the work involves, and hire later when the volume justifies a full-time person. The agency can then stay for technical work and outreach.
Ask for a monthly report that shows three things: what was done on which page, what changed in Search Console for those pages, and the plan for next month.
Frequently asked questions
Can I outsource SEO to another country?
Yes, if the team writes well in your buyers’ language and knows how search works in your market. Ask for samples in your language and agree on call hours. Time zones matter less than how fast the team replies.
Who should own the website and the accounts?
You should. The domain, hosting, Search Console, analytics and any paid tools for your site should be in your company’s accounts. The agency gets user access and loses it when the work ends.
What about AI search?
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews increasingly answer buyer questions before a click. Ask the agency whether it measures how these assistants describe your company. See our guide to generative engine optimization.
Need a second opinion?
This guide was written by the AOE Marketing team in Almaty, Kazakhstan, working in search marketing since 2017. If you want to know what is worth handing over on your own site, start with an AI visibility audit. Selling in several countries? See international SEO.
