The True Cost of Not Having an SEO Expert on Your Team
Gordon Ibarra
The True Cost of Not Having an SEO Expert on Your Team
Why SEO Expertise Matters
Major Reasons Lack of SEO Hurts Your Business
1. Higher Ad Spend
2. Missed Organic Traffic
3. Weak Brand Authority
4. Slower Growth
5. Technical Issues
Signs You Should Hire an SEO Expert
Ways to Get SEO Expertise Without Breaking the Bank
FAQs about the True Cost of Not Having an SEO Expert on Your Team
Is hiring a freelance SEO expert risky?
Do I need a full-time SEO specialist or can I hire project-based help?
Can a small website succeed without SEO?
Putting It All Together
The True Cost of Not Having an SEO Expert on Your Team
Last month, I audited a client’s website who had been relying on paid ads for years without realizing their blog hadn’t been indexed by Google since 2022. Not because of some massive error—just a missing sitemap and a few redirect loops. No one on the team knew. They’d unintentionally made themselves invisible.
I’ve seen this happen over and over again. A small team pumping out content, investing in design, running campaigns—and still, traffic flatlines. Sometimes, the issue isn’t effort. It’s direction. Without SEO expertise, it's like shouting into the void.
SEO isn’t just one thing you do. It’s a system of things that work together—technical setup, keyword strategy, content structure, internal linking, and more. When even one part is missing, everything else slows down.
And the longer it goes unchecked, the more expensive it becomes to fix.
Why SEO Expertise Matters
Search engines rely on structured signals to understand and rank content. SEO experts know how to shape those signals—things like crawlability, metadata, and keyword intent—to improve visibility.
Without that structure, even great content can go undiscovered. Pages might not appear in search results, or they rank so low that no one clicks.
Over time, this creates a momentum gap. Sites that invest in SEO build compounding growth. Sites that don’t fall further behind and often end up relying more on paid traffic to stay visible.
SEO also affects how trustworthy a website appears. Users are more likely to trust and click on results that rank higher organically.
When those rankings don’t exist, competitors fill the space, even if their content is less helpful. Brands that exclude SEO lose not just traffic—but credibility.
“If no one can find you, it doesn’t matter how good your offer is.” 🕳️📉
In many cases, the cost isn’t just lost traffic. It’s lost time, wasted marketing spend, and missed opportunities that don’t come back.
Major Reasons Lack of SEO Hurts Your Business
1. Higher Ad Spend
When SEO is missing, businesses often lean too heavily on paid advertising to stay visible. Paid channels like Google Ads can cost $1–$2 per click in low-competition niches, and much more in saturated industries.
“It’s like renting attention instead of owning it.” 💸
Unlike organic traffic, which accumulates over time, paid campaigns stop delivering the moment budgets are paused. This creates a cycle of dependency and rising customer acquisition costs. In contrast, companies who shift even 30% of ad spend to SEO reduce CAC by as much as 58% over 18 months.
2. Missed Organic Traffic
Search engines drive the majority of online discovery. Without SEO, a business risks being virtually invisible to search users. Pages that don’t rank on the first page of Google are rarely seen—75% of users never scroll past it.
This missing visibility can add up: one analysis showed mid-sized firms lost an average of $216,000 in revenue over three years due to lack of SEO investment. Businesses that regularly publish unoptimized content often see high bounce rates and low engagement, even with consistent publishing schedules.
3. Weak Brand Authority
Search engine rankings are often perceived as a signal of credibility. When competitors rank higher, they’re more likely to be trusted—even if their product or service isn’t better.
“If Google doesn’t trust your site, why would your customers?” 😬
Lower rankings also shrink a brand’s digital footprint. Fewer backlinks, fewer impressions, and fewer mentions slowly erode visibility over time. For B2B companies, this can lead to direct losses in lead volume and RFQ submissions.
4. Slower Growth
Without a strategic SEO foundation, content struggles to compound. Optimized pages build authority and traffic over time, but unoptimized content often stays stagnant.
This delays long-term growth. A site without ongoing SEO can publish hundreds of pages and still not gain traction. In contrast, businesses with active SEO strategies see consistent gains in traffic and lead generation year over year.
Growth also depends on technical health, keyword targeting, and link-building—areas often overlooked without expert guidance.
5. Technical Issues
Sites without SEO oversight are more likely to have lingering technical problems. These include broken links, crawl errors, missing metadata, duplicate content, or pages blocked from indexing.
Even small issues can have outsized effects. A 2% increase in 404 errors can reduce organic traffic by 9%. Slow page load times—anything over 3 seconds—can increase bounce rates by up to 38%, directly impacting conversions.
“One bad redirect can hide your entire site from Google.” 🕳️
Some businesses also unknowingly violate search engine guidelines, which can lead to penalties or deindexing. Recovery from these issues often requires costly audits or full rebuilds.
Signs You Should Hire an SEO Expert
If your website traffic hasn’t increased in the last six months despite regular publishing, that may be a sign of ineffective or missing SEO strategy. Static or declining performance in Google Search Console impressions usually reflects poor keyword targeting or crawlability issues.
Bounce rates above 60%—especially on landing pages or blog posts—often indicate misaligned search intent or slow load times. These are typically not content problems but structural or technical ones.
If your paid ad budget keeps increasing without a matching lift in conversions, SEO gaps may be forcing you to compensate with paid channels. This is common in accounts where organic traffic contributes less than 25% of total sessions.
When internal teams spend growing amounts of time troubleshooting indexing, duplicate content, or plugin conflicts, the absence of technical SEO knowledge becomes more visible. These issues can linger for months without clear ownership.
“If your dev team is constantly Googling how to fix robots.txt, it’s probably time.” 💻🔍
Another signal is when new content consistently fails to rank in the top 50 results—even after months. This points to weak on-page optimization, keyword misalignment, or lack of domain authority.
Websites that rely on third-party platforms (like Squarespace or Wix) often discover SEO limitations only after traffic stagnates. These platforms may restrict access to core SEO features like schema markup, custom meta fields, or canonical tags.
If your site was hit by a Google update (like the March 2024 Core Update) and hasn’t recovered, this suggests underlying quality or structural issues that go beyond surface-level fixes. Recovery timelines tend to be longer without expert input.
“A site can look great and still be invisible to Google. That’s not design—it’s a visibility issue.” 🕶️
Lastly, if your team can’t clearly answer what your top-performing keywords are, or how many pages are indexed, that’s usually a gap in SEO ownership—not effort.
Ways to Get SEO Expertise Without Breaking the Bank
Most small teams don’t have the budget for a full-time SEO hire. As of April 10, 2025, the average in-house SEO specialist salary in the U.S. is around $66,000–$85,000 per year, not including tools or overhead. For many businesses, that’s not a practical starting point.
An alternative is working with part-time consultants or project-based freelancers. This allows businesses to target specific areas—like fixing technical issues, improving on-page SEO, or recovering from a core update—without committing to long-term contracts or full-time payroll.
Freelancers on Contra offer commission-free collaboration with flexible pricing, so businesses can engage SEO professionals without paying platform fees or markups. This means more of the budget goes directly to the expert doing the work, not to intermediaries.
“Paying $3,000/month to an agency where $1,200 goes to overhead isn’t the same as paying $3,000 directly to a freelancer.” 🧮
Retainers are another option. Many SEO professionals offer monthly plans with a set number of hours or deliverables. These retainers can range from $500 to $2,500/month depending on scope. For companies with consistent but modest SEO needs, this is often more efficient than ad hoc hourly billing.
Some businesses use hybrid models—delegating technical SEO to a freelancer while handling content internally. Others bring in SEO help only during growth phases, redesigns, or after algorithm hits. This keeps spend tied to specific goals.
SEO audits, which cost between $400 and $1,500, are a common entry point. These one-time engagements help identify hidden issues without committing to ongoing work. Many freelancers on platforms like Contra structure their offerings around this model.
“Think of it like hiring a mechanic before you take a long road trip. You might not need them every day, but you don’t want to skip the checkup.” 🔧
Choosing freelancers over agencies also reduces costs related to onboarding, layered communication, and scope creep. For smaller websites or niche businesses, this leaner structure is often easier to manage.
Ultimately, the goal is not to find the cheapest option—but the most sustainable one that fits the business stage.
FAQs about the True Cost of Not Having an SEO Expert on Your Team
Is hiring a freelance SEO expert risky?
Freelance SEO experts vary in experience, approach, and reliability. Some have years of technical and content background, while others may rely on outdated tactics or templates. Risk usually comes from unclear expectations, lack of communication, or hiring without reviewing past work.
To reduce risk, most businesses ask for specific examples—such as sites ranked, audits completed, or traffic recovered. Reviews, case studies, and verified metrics (like Google Search Console screenshots) are also common vetting steps.
Some freelancers only specialize in one area, like local SEO or technical audits. Others offer broader services. Most issues happen when expectations and scope don’t match.
“Hiring someone who only builds backlinks and expecting a full audit is like ordering tacos and getting soup.” 🌮🥣
Freelancers on platforms like Contra often include portfolios and testimonials. These help show skill level before a project starts. Since Contra doesn’t charge commissions or middleman fees, the terms are usually clearer and direct.
Do I need a full-time SEO specialist or can I hire project-based help?
This depends on how complex the website is, how much content is being published, and how fast the business expects to grow. Small businesses with fewer than 100 pages and a local or niche audience often start with part-time or project-based help.
Full-time SEO roles are more common in companies with multiple product lines, national or international reach, or daily publishing schedules. These roles may also include coordination with content, design, and development teams.
Project-based help is often used to fix specific issues—like site speed, Core Web Vitals, indexing problems, or keyword strategy. These tasks are usually completed within 2–8 weeks and don’t always require ongoing engagement.
“Hiring full-time for a 20-hour problem is like booking a moving truck to deliver a pizza.” 🚚🍕
As of April 10, 2025, the average freelance SEO rate ranges from $50 to $150/hour, while part-time retainers cost between $500 and $2,500/month depending on scope and experience.
Can a small website succeed without SEO?
Most small websites can function without SEO, but they compete with less visibility. Without optimization, discovery relies on direct traffic, social media, or referrals. Search often makes up 40–60% of traffic for long-standing websites.
Sites without SEO may not show up for branded terms, service keywords, or location-based queries. This limits reach to existing audiences instead of helping new users find the site organically.
Technical issues—like slow load times, missing meta tags, or crawl errors—also go unnoticed without SEO oversight. These issues can affect even a 10-page site.
“Google doesn’t care how small the site is. If it can’t read it, it won’t rank it.” 🕳️📉
Some small websites see results with just a few SEO basics: one-time audits, keyword alignment, and fast page speeds. Others stay invisible even with daily updates because structure and search intent are misaligned.
Success without SEO is possible, but it's often accidental or limited to low-competition niches. In most industries, competitors who optimize will gradually outrank and overshadow those who don’t.
Putting It All Together
Over time, websites that ignore SEO accumulate visibility debt. This shows up as declining traffic, rising customer acquisition costs, and missed rankings for terms competitors now own. These effects are not immediate, but they compound quarter after quarter—especially when left unaddressed for more than 12 months.
By year three, the gap between businesses with SEO expertise and those without becomes measurable in revenue. Mid-sized businesses without SEO support lost an average of $216,000 in that period. That gap doesn’t come from one big mistake. It builds slowly, from invisible things like broken links, unindexed pages, and irrelevant blog posts.
Search engines don’t give second chances for missed momentum. A site that failed to optimize in 2022 is now three algorithm updates behind. Recovery isn’t just about catching up—it’s about outpacing competitors who never stopped optimizing.
“Fixing SEO later is like trying to repair a foundation after the house is built.”
Freelancers on Contra work on a project basis, which makes early intervention possible without overextending budgets. They can audit site health, repair critical issues, and realign strategy without requiring long-term contracts or full-time hires. This makes them especially useful for small teams or businesses in transition.
It’s not about having an SEO department. It’s about having someone who knows where visibility breaks down and how to fix it—before those gaps start costing more than they’re worth.
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Posted Apr 10, 2025
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