In-house vs Agency SEO: A 2026 Update
Originally published 23 September 2023. Updated April 2026.
Hello, SEO professionals - and welcome if you're new to SEO! If you're trying to figure out whether to go in-house or agency, or you're already in one and wondering if you’re missing out on anything, this post is for you.
When I first wrote this back in 2023, I'd experienced two of the four main paths an SEO career can take: small in-house and agency. Since then, I've added the third (large corporation in-house) thanks to my role at GoDaddy. So I’m closer to the full picture - freelance SEO left to go!
Let me walk you through all four.
Path 1: In-house SEO at a Small Business
At a small company, you are the SEO department. There's no senior specialist to shadow, no dedicated tools budget, and often no formal processes. When I was at Watches2U, there were about twelve of us in total. One colleague and I handled SEO alongside small development tasks (coding new pages, building emails, the lot). You learn to be resourceful very quickly.
The downside is what gives you freedom in the first place: very little bureaucracy. No processes means no safety net. Budget is tight, so your toolkit is limited — we had SEMrush and not much else. And without anyone more experienced to sense-check your work, it's easy to develop blind spots without realising it.
Being Part of the Business
When you're an in-house SEO specialist, you're not just a cog in the machine - you're a vital part of the business ecosystem. During my time in London's e-commerce sector, I was more than just the "SEO person"; I was involved in strategic planning meetings, quarterly reviews, UX decisions and even had a say in product launches. This level of integration offers a 360-degree view of how a business operates and how SEO fits into the bigger picture.
Learning from Multiple Departments
For young professionals entering the SEO world, an in-house role can be a treasure trove of learning opportunities. Being in the middle of the action, you get to collaborate with various departments. You’re not confined to your SEO bubble, which is great, as SEO doesn’t exist in a vacuum and impacts and is impacted by the other departments and decisions. In-house you’ll find yourself coordinating with marketing for content strategies, discussing UX with the design team, understanding sales funnels from CEO meetings and even have a say in new product launches. Beyond SEO, you'll gain insights into project management, budgeting, and even communication skills. By liaising with different departments, you’ll learn to listen, negotiate, convince, and adapt. These skills are transferable and valuable, no matter where your career takes you. Moreover, being a part of a single organisation for an extended period allows you to understand how a business thrives and what decisions are taken when things aren’t going that great.
Specialising in a specific niche
The upside is real ownership. You touch everything: technical SEO, content, reporting, dev work. You see the direct impact of your decisions, sometimes within days. There's very little bureaucracy, which means you can move fast.
However, you can’t explore different types of sites; an e-commerce site will have different issues than a services site. This can be a double-edged sword, offering deep specialisation but risking a narrow field of experience. This is neither a good nor a bad thing - it’s a challenge that you need to know so you can accept it or change your industry often. By being specialised, you can become the SEO expert for your niche, carving out a reputation as the go-to person for specific problems. This can lead to career advancement within your organisation or even make you a sought-after consultant in your particular area of expertise.
Path 2: Agency SEO
Agency life is a crash course in everything. You're not working on one site that you learn inside out - you’re working on multiple, across completely different industries, all at once. One day it's a technical audit for an e-commerce client, the next it's a content strategy for a medical services provider. During my three years at Upswing, I worked with clients ranging from luxury fashion to water suppliers to dental clinics.
The challenge is depth. You rarely get to see the long-term results of your work before moving on to the next thing. And because you never truly understand all the inner workings of a client, you can never become a true specialist in any one area.
The dynamic nature of agencies
Starting as an SEO professional at an agency is like stepping into a high-speed, ever-changing landscape. The pace is not just fast; it's exhilarating. I've found that agencies are like a fast-track course for SEO professionals.
Agencies also tend to be close-knit in a way that's hard to replicate elsewhere. You're working alongside the same people every day, solving problems together, celebrating wins together. The social side of agency life is something I sometimes miss.
Exposure to Diverse SEO Challenges
The beauty of working in an agency is the sheer diversity of SEO challenges you'll encounter. One day you could be solving a complex technical issue for an e-commerce client, and another day you might be crafting a content strategy for a B2B service provider. This variety significantly accelerates your learning curve. You'll gain a wealth of experience in a short period, making you a versatile SEO professional.
Fully understanding your job
One of the most underrated skills you'll develop in an agency is learning to explain SEO to people who don't speak SEO. Clients are rarely technical, and you'll quickly learn to translate complex findings into clear, compelling recommendations. This skill is more valuable than most people realise, and it'll serve you for the rest of your career regardless of where you end up.
Path 3: In-house SEO at a Large Corporation
This one surprised me the most - in both good and unexpected ways.
Next-level tools and opportunities
The access to tools alone is a significant shift. At a small business you might have one subscription; at a corporation you have an entire arsenal - to name just a few, I use SEMrush, Ahrefs, Botify, Profound, Adthena, SpeedCurve, and others. And that’s not all! You also get access to more training for your department, internal courses, international perspectives, and colleagues who are genuine specialists in their area. The learning opportunities are significant if you're willing to seek them out.
The Approval Process Reality
What I didn't expect was how structured everything would be. At an agency, I managed my day mostly on my own - with input from the Customer Success colleague. At a corporation, nothing happens without approval. Everything goes through Jira. Changes need sign-off from Legal, Product, and other teams before anything goes live. If you're used to the relative freedom of agency or small in-house work, this can feel frustrating at first. You feel like being slowed down when you just want to get things done.
But I've come to appreciate it. Processes exist for good reasons at scale. When you're dealing with international markets and millions of pages, you can't afford to make undocumented changes on a whim. I wish someone had warned me about this before I started - not to put me off, but to mentally prepare me. If you're considering a move to a large company, go in knowing that your job is as much about navigating internal processes as it is about SEO itself.
Work-Life Balance and the Trade-offs
The other surprise was the work-life balance. Corporations, in my experience, are genuinely good at protecting it. Nobody is messaging you at 10pm. Your time outside work is yours.
The trade-off is that the social side is almost non-existent. You know your immediate team, you have the classic Monday "how was your weekend?" chat, but the close-knit feeling of agency life or small business life isn't really there. It's professional in a way that's pleasant but less personal. Whether that suits you depends entirely on what you're looking for at that stage of your life and career.
Path 4: Freelance SEO
The one path I haven't taken yet.
Freelancing is arguably the path that offers the most freedom and the most risk in equal measure. You're your own boss, you choose your clients, you set your rates, and you live and die by your own ability to deliver results and keep work coming in. No Jira approvals, no agency account managers, no corporate processes; just you and the work.
From what I've seen from freelancers I admire in the SEO community, the rewards can be significant - both financially and in terms of autonomy. But so can the challenges.
It's a path I find genuinely interesting, and I haven't ruled it out. But it's also one I'd want to approach with a solid foundation of experience behind me rather than jumping in early.
I'll update this section properly if and when I get there. Watch this space.
So Which Path Should You Take?
Honestly - whichever feels closest to you.
However, if you want to know what I’d do if I could turn back time - I’d do the same thing.
Start at a small business. It can feel chaotic, under-resourced, and you’ll do many things that don’t align with an SEO path, but you will have the freedom to try things. You can test and make (small) mistakes - just make sure you have a boss who’s willing to guide you.
Then go to an agency. By this point you'll have some real experience under your belt. You’ll only have experience in one niche, but the agency will quickly fill in the gaps. You’ll be exposed to a wide range of industries and challenges in a short amount of time and you’ll learn how to juggle it.
Then, when you're ready, make the move to a large corporation. By this stage you know your craft well enough to operate within a structured environment, and you're in a position to really take advantage of everything a corporation offers - enterprise tools, formal training programmes, international scale, and yes, a genuinely healthier relationship with your evenings and weekends.
Good luck and I hope you fall in love with SEO like I did!