In today’s hyper-competitive digital landscape, simply having a website isn’t enough. Businesses must compete actively for visibility not just on traditional search engines like Google, but also in AI-generated results that are rapidly transforming how users find information.
This is why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn’t enough. You need to incorporate Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to enhance visibility to both systems – search engines and AI.
While many businesses attempt to manage both optimization processes in-house, outsourcing is a smarter strategy. Outsourcing improves efficiency, productivity, and provides a scalable solution that fits budget constraints.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explain why outsourcing is regarded as a viable option for growth-focused companies and how the process can help you dominate both search rankings and AI-generated summaries.
What Are SEO And GEO?
SEO and GEO share the same function – optimization.
To get a better understanding of what SEO and GEO are, let’s first define optimization.
In the context of SEO and GEO, optimization means intentionally enhancing the online presence of your content and website or digital assets, so that search engines and AI systems can find, understand, index, trust, and recommend it.
SEO’s function is to optimize your digital assets for search engines.
GEO’s function is to optimize your digital assets for AI systems.
1. SEO: Search Rankings as the Foundation of Online Visibility
SEO utilizes strategies designed to give your website a boost in the SERP.
These strategies include:
- Keyword research
- Technical improvements
- Content creation
- Backlinking (External and Internal)
- Improving User Experience (UX)
The goal of SEO is to drive organic traffic to your website, where it can generate leads and convert visitors into customers.
2. GEO: The Future of Search
GEO utilizes strategies designed to increase brand visibility to AI systems, such as ChatGPT, AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and Perplexity.
Instead of getting your content on page one, GEO focuses on structuring it for Machine Learning (ML) and establishing it as an authoritative source.
GEO strategies include:
- Creating high-quality and comprehensive content
- Immediately responding to search queries
- Linking to authority and trustworthy websites
- Content structure or organization
- Maintaining the flow of natural conversational language
The goal of GEO is to enhance brand visibility. Having your brand mentioned in the AI-generated summary increases engagement and influences buying decisions.
3. SEO + GEO: Enhancing Visibility to Search Engines and AI
SEO and GEO share common practices:
- Keyword Usage: Keywords remain an integral component of a comprehensive SEO and GEO strategy, but their use shouldn’t be forced into the content. Instead, keywords must fit naturally and not disrupt the natural flow of human, conversational language.
- High-Quality Content: Both optimization practices follow Google’s E-E-A-T guideline of creating content that highlights Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
- Quality Backlinks: Similar to content, an effective SEO and GEO strategy prioritizes quality over quantity of backlinks.
- Search Intent: Google and AI prioritize content that immediately responds to search intent.
- Content Structure: Proper content structure, or organizing content as H1, H2, and H3 headers, helps search engines and AI systems understand your web page.
Why Do You Need Both SEO and GEO?The emergence of AI has led to declines in website traffic and click-throughs. A 2025 study by Bain & Company showed that AI has reduced website traffic by 60%. Another study, this time by Ahrefs, estimated that AI has decreased the click-through rate by 34.5%. The reason is convenience. For example, AI Overviews (AIO) consolidates all the necessary information for the user to address their query into a single section that appears at the top of the page, preceding the traditional search results. The summary includes citations and brand mentions that the user could explore further to get more information. If you have everything you need summarized in one location, is there a reason why you have to scroll to the traditional search results? Yes. Actually, there are two reasons.
????Key Takeaway: SEO and GEO are opposite heads of the same coin. SEO might target search engines and GEO AI systems, but they share the same goal: To enhance your online presence. You need both. |
What Are The Challenges Of Managing In-House SEO And GEO Services?
Companies believe that managing SEO and GEO in-house is cost-effective and ensures positive outcomes.
While these expectations can be met with in-house SEO and GEO, this approach faces real and significant challenges:
1. High Cost of Hiring FTEs
In-house optimization means hiring Full-Time Employees (FTEs).
The cost of hiring an FTE can be broken down as follows:
- Base Salary
- Benefits (Health insurance, paid leave, and retirement contributions)
- Taxes
- Overhead (Office space, equipment, and utilities)
- Training and Management
It’s estimated that the actual cost for an FTE with a base annual salary of $60,000 can range from $85,000 to $110,000.
2. Inflexible Strategies
Effective SEO and GEO require expertise in a variety of skills:
- Digital marketing
- Website design
- Web development
- Technical SEO
- Data analytics
- Content creation
- AI content structuring
- Link building
- Keyword and Topic research
- Business acumen
- Project management
It’s difficult to find talent that possesses all of these skills. Also, these skills have to constantly evolve as algorithms, and AI systems frequently undergo changes.
You’ll have to assemble a large – and expensive – optimization department and invest in regular upskilling programs.
3. Low ROI
Even with the best intentions, SEO and GEO are long-term strategies that take time to deliver the desired outcomes. They require consistent effort, patience, resilience, and confidence that the effort will eventually pay off dividends.
Given the high costs of managing in-house teams and the uncertainty of guaranteed results, this investment may yield poor returns
4. Expensive Tools and Recurring Expenses
Professional-grade SEO and GEO tools for keyword research, technical audits, analytics tracking, and AI optimization can be costly.
To benefit from these tools, you must subscribe to premium packages that entail a monthly subscription or licensing fee. These subscription costs will increase your monthly recurring expenses.
In view of these challenges, outsourcing SEO and GEO services is your best option.
Top 7 Reasons For Outsourcing SEO And GEO Services
Outsourcing is nothing new. You can trace its roots back to the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century.
Outsourcing emerged from companies’ need to cut costs while maintaining productivity. Transferring specific tasks to regions with lower labor costs enabled businesses to realign their operating budgets and stay afloat during rough economic periods.
As you’ll discover in this section, outsourcing has evolved to more than just a cost-saving strategy.
Here are the top seven reasons you should outsource SEO and GEO services.
Let’s finish what we started… the core benefit of outsourcing.
1. Efficiently Manage Your Operating Costs
Outsourcing involves delegating tasks or projects to qualified professionals or agencies. Qualified professionals are independent contractors, freelancers, or remote workers who manage their own careers and provide specialized skills to companies.
There are four ways to pay for outsourced services:
- Project fees: Paid via progress billing, accomplishment of milestones, or upon completion of the project.
- Performance basis: You only pay the agency or independent contractor if they deliver results or hit their quotas. Payments are in the form of percentage commissions.
- Monthly retainer: A fixed monthly payment that covers a specified number of tasks, which has been mutually agreed upon.
- Hourly rates: Hourly rates are calculated based on productive hours. Remote employees must clock in and out. You don’t pay for the time they spend on break.
Outsourcing payment options provides you with greater flexibility in managing your operating costs. Beyond labor cost management, you can also achieve cost savings from other areas.
- No office overhead.
- Minimal to no benefits for freelancers and independent contractors.
- No long-term commitment. If business doesn’t improve, terminate the outsourcing agreement without issue.
- Software subscription fees and licenses, as well as hardware upgrades, are at the outsourcing party’s expense.
- Upskilling and training costs are obligations of the outsourcing party.
????Key Takeaway: Outsourcing is a cost-effective solution because you only pay for the services you require. Additionally, you have several options for covering the costs of hiring talent.
This approach also helps reduce operating costs, including salaries, rent, utilities, benefits, office supplies, subscriptions, and maintenance expenses.
2. Focus On Your Core Business
Core business tasks are the tasks that bring in revenue.
- A realtor shows property to buyers.
- An online seller of frozen food products meets with potential consignees.
- A fitness coach trains their clients.
- A web development agency builds and manages websites for its clients.
- A healthcare professional attends to their patients.
SEO and GEO are highly specialized tasks that require ongoing attention. Imagine allocating four hours a day to writing a blog, optimizing it for AI and Google, checking for spelling errors, and publishing it on different platforms.
You won’t have much time managing your business.
Does SEO and GEO help bring in revenue?
Yes, but results take time.
In the meantime, your business has essential functions that require attention. If you neglect these tasks, the quality of work will decline, leading to customer dissatisfaction.
Even if you have knowledge and experience in SEO and GEO, your time is best dedicated to running the daily tasks of your business.
3. Access to a Full Team of Experts
Outsourcing SEO and GEO services to an agency gives you access to a full team of experts and specialists, including:
- SEO professionals
- AI optimization specialists
- Content writers
- Web developers
- Graphic designers
- Link-building professionals
Collaborating with an agency enhances your chances of success by leveraging the collective expertise and experience of skilled professionals.
There’s no guesswork. You’re not dealing with people who are still learning the game. Digital agencies use tested frameworks, offer data-driven insights, and design proven content strategies.
Also, as we explained earlier, hiring these professionals as FTEs would be expensive.
Lastly, with an agency, you don’t have to worry about delays due to absences.
For example, if an AI optimization specialist is sick, the agency can reassign another person to fill the position and handle the task.
????Pro Tip: Outsourcing SEO and GEO to an agency is a better option than using freelancers because you have access to more talent, more flexibility, and the risk of work stoppage due to unavailability is lower.
4. Ensure the Quality of Work
In addition to having the requisite skills for handling SEO and GEO tasks, outsourced talent has one thing you don’t have.
Time.
They can dedicate time to your project to ensure quality and improve the likelihood of success.
It takes time to conduct keyword and topic research, write optimized content, find and backlink quality sources, upload the content to the website and other distribution channels, review analytics, perform a website audit, engage the audience, moderate and respond to comments, search online for brand mentions… to name a few key SEO and GEO tasks.
Inaccurate data, outdated information, spelling and grammar mistakes, inappropriate responses, and erroneous backlinks could be costly to your business brand.
If you rush the process due to time constraints, you won’t achieve the desired outcomes from SEO and GEO.
5. Stay Ahead of Changes in Technology
SEO and GEO are standard services of a digital ad agency. These agencies are updated with the latest trends and developments in the digital industry.
They will invest in resources and infrastructure to deliver high-quality services to clients, as technology is a crucial aspect of their business.
Investing in the latest technology can be quite expensive:
- Upgrade computers.
- Buy additional hardware.
- Expand internet bandwidth.
- Update subscriptions to current optimization apps to avail of additional features.
- Update website capabilities.
- Additional schema tools and plugins to enhance GEO.
When you outsource, you leverage the investments made by the agency. These investments are part of the cost of working with a company like Mountaintop Web Design.
6. Scalable Growth
You’ll have to scale SEO and GEO as your business grows.
How does business growth impact SEO and GEO?
- More content.
- Improve website performance.
- Explore new markets.
- Expand keyword targeting.
- Incorporate the latest apps.
- Upgrade subscriptions.
- Upgrade technology.
If you run SEO and GEO in-house, you’ll have to hire new people and spend on new technology.
Outsourcing is an efficient way to scale growth. The agency has the technology available and handles the hiring and training of new personnel. You don’t have to worry about anything… except to keep your business growing!
Scaling SEO and GEO services will naturally lead to increased outsourcing costs, but this increase will be gradual and organized in tiers. It’s economies of scale. The increase in outsourcing costs won’t disrupt your budget.
7. Available Exit Strategy
“How soon do I see results?”
That’s a common question asked by clients.
SEO and GEO are examples of organic digital marketing. Unlike paid marketing tactics like PPC, which generate website traffic when someone clicks on your ad, organic marketing yields results naturally.
For example, to generate sales, you must first build a solid follower base. Then, enhance engagement to spark interest in your products and services. Engaged followers will visit your website, where CTAs and optimized content aim to convert their interest into sales.
These stages require time to develop and yield results. If you are dissatisfied with the outcomes, you have the option to terminate the outsourcing agreement.
Terminating an outsourcing involves a process:
- Both parties enter a remedy period and try to resolve the situation for the purpose of saving the arrangement.
- If a resolution isn’t achieved, the client will be required to submit a written notice of termination to the service provider.
- The official termination date will take effect 30 to 60 days after receiving the written notice.
It might take a while to terminate an outsourcing agreement, but it’s not as complicated as shutting down a department and terminating FTEs.
Conclusion
Outsourcing SEO and GEO services is a strategic option for businesses to grow in today’s transformative digital environment.
Both optimization processes are essential for building a powerful online presence that drives website traffic, enhances brand visibility, and converts interest into sales.
SEO and GEO are fields that demand expertise, experience, and knowledge. By collaborating with a qualified outsourcing agency, you increase your chances of improving your search rankings, generating high-quality leads, and establishing a compelling, authoritative, and trustworthy online presence.
Ready to Grow Your Business Faster?To increase your visibility on Google and AI platforms, drive more traffic, and generate consistent leads, it’s time to partner with experts. Mountaintop Web Design specializes in results-driven SEO and GEO strategies customized to your business goals. Contact us today and start climbing to the top of search results – where your customers are already looking. |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What are the ideal qualities of an outsourcing partner?
Not all agencies are created equal. Look for an outsourcing partner that offers:
- Proven track record
- Transparent reporting
- Customized strategy design
- Comprehensive understanding of SEO and GEO practices
- Up-to-date knowledge of AI platforms
- Proof of high-quality content
- Clean online reputation
A good outsourcing agency is a strategic partner of your business, not just a service provider.
2. Is outsourcing SEO and GEO safe for my website?
Yes, outsourcing SEO and GEO is safe for your website, assuming you follow our tips below:
- Conduct due diligence to ensure the service provider doesn’t utilize black-hat marketing tactics.
- Create a shortlist of three to five outsourcing providers and carefully review their proposals.
- Avoid service providers that guarantee results.
- Avoid service providers that use cutthroat pricing strategies.
3. How often should I review the performance of the outsourcing agency?
The best approach is to have the agency review, analyze, and discuss the metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure the effectiveness of your SEO and GEO strategies on a monthly basis.
Regular analysis of these KPIs will provide you with a clearer understanding of how your SEO and GEO strategies are performing.
Request your outsourcing partner to provide monthly analytics reports, and evaluate the overall performance of the SEO and GEO quarterly.
