In-house SEO
In-house SEO refers to search engine optimisation carried out by employees within your own company – as opposed to commissioning an SEO agency whose team of experts handles search engine optimisation on your behalf, usually in regular consultation with the client. In both cases, the tasks range from technical optimisation and content creation to link building. Companies that want to build SEO internally either hire an experienced SEO manager or train existing staff.
The role of the in-house SEO specialist in online marketing
In the early years, search engine optimisers didn't have a good reputation because many worked mainly with tricks and manipulation (black hat SEO). Today, SEO is a recognised discipline and one of the most important revenue channels for many online shops. Many companies therefore opt for an in-house SEO who takes long-term responsibility for the topic and works closely with marketing, editorial, product management and IT.
An in-house SEO develops the SEO strategy for the company's website and implements it over the long term. This includes keyword research and content planning, coordination with editorial and product data management, collaboration with IT on technical topics and ongoing performance monitoring. Building backlinks and digital PR also requires know-how that goes far beyond buying and exchanging links. A big advantage of internal SEOs: they know products, processes and target groups intimately and can bring SEO into decisions early on – for example in a relaunch or when creating new categories.
Versatile skills are required
SEO is much more varied today than it used to be. An in-house SEO should therefore master on-page, off-page and technical optimisation, understand HTML, CSS and the basics of JavaScript and be familiar with the shop system or CMS. Add to that web analytics (such as Google Analytics 4 and Search Console), data skills, a good feel for content and, increasingly, knowledge of AI search and generative engine optimisation. Communication skills and assertiveness are at least as important, because an in-house SEO depends on working with many departments.
In-house SEO in the company – hire specialists or retrain employees?
It's important that an in-house SEO keeps learning and follows developments in the industry. Google changes its algorithms several times a year with core updates, and AI answers are changing how users search. Anyone who doesn't keep up quickly loses visibility. Content plays a major role here, so in-house SEO also needs resources for content – its own editors or external support. It makes sense to anchor SEO as a dedicated role rather than having it done “on the side”. An experienced SEO specialist usually delivers results faster than an employee who first has to learn the subject alongside their actual job.
Commission an agency or combine both?
Not every company has the resources for its own SEO team. And even a good in-house SEO can hardly cover on their own all the specialist areas that are spread across several experts in an agency – technical SEO, content, link building, web analytics and development. In practice, a combination therefore often works well: the in-house SEO is responsible for strategy and coordination within the company, while the agency contributes specialist knowledge, capacity and an outside perspective. A full-service e-commerce agency can also cover related disciplines such as search engine advertising (SEA), tracking or shop development, so that measures are implemented from a single source.