Clients wishing to avail of search engine optimization services will have an important choice to make. They can choose between hiring SEO specialists or SEO generalists to provide the services they need. SEO specialists are technicians who concentrate on specific aspects of search engine optimization while generalists will take on all aspects of it. This article looks into the pros and cons of employing these service providers.
The advantage of taking on a generalist lies in him being able to see the big picture and probably take on just about all the tasks involved in search engine optimization. This will spare the client from the often difficult task of having to handle and coordinate several individuals working at separate jobs. Hiring a generalist can also often prove to be a more cost-effective solution. Although there are some generalists who are in high demand and who charge high fees, for the most part hiring one generalist will cost considerably less than hiring a group of individual specialists.
The main disadvantage of hiring an SEO generalist, however, is that he is more likely to know a little of everything rather than to be exceptionally good in all the myriad technical aspects of search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is a broad topic and it is a field that is constantly evolving, so a single SEO generalist may not have all the special skills necessary to put together as detailed and effective a website SEO strategy as a group of specialists could.
SEO specialists, on the other hand, are exactly that, specialists in specific aspects of the search engine optimization process, such as copywriting, coding, programming, etc. It is possible that a specialist will be an expert at more than one aspect of SEO but it is unlikely that they will be as familiar with the entire process as a generalist would be.
Specialists see the details of the process, and this can be a considerable boon to anyone availing of their services. The process of SEO is highly technical so specialized knowledge and expertise afford quite an advantage.
The disadvantages to working with specialists are of course the opposite of those working with generalists. If a client chooses to work with specialists it is likely that he or she will need to hire a group of individuals, and this will necessitate a great deal of organization and planning. A second drawback would be the cost involved --- hiring a number of people is likely to cost a client much more than hiring a generalist. A third drawback will be the lack of a coordinating or "big-picture" point of view. Specialists tend to concentrate their work on their own little areas of expertise, and the overall SEO process may suffer if there is no one to take a supervisory role, bringing everything together towards a common goal.
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