While label SEO is a service that digital marketing agencies can avail to provide search engine optimization services to their clients without having to do the work themselves. SEO tasks such as keyword research, technical SEO, content creation, link building, etc. are done by a third party, and the agency delivers those services under their own brand.
As the demand for SEO is at its peak currently, agencies are opting to outsource to expand their capabilities without having to put time or money into building an in-house SEO team. This is especially beneficial for small agencies because hiring SEO experts, managing multiple specialists, and keeping up with the constant search engine updates can be quite challenging. White label SEO outsourcing allows agencies to focus on their client relationships, sales, and overall business growth.
In this blog, we dive deep into white label SEO, including how it works, the services under it, pricing, and how to choose the right white label SEO agency. If you are an agency looking to add SEO as a service or are looking for a better way to manage your existing clients, read along to understand more so you can decide if it is the right strategy for your business.
What is White Label SEO?
White label SEO is a partnership between an agency and a third party, in which the agency outsources its client’s SEO tasks to the said third party. These white label SEO providers handle each step of the SEO process, while the agency presents the services to its clients as their own service offering.
Agencies don’t always need to get the whole package; they can often outsource specific SEO tasks such as keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO, content creation, local SEO, and link building. This allows agencies to provide SEO services without having to build and manage a complete in-house SEO team.
How Does White Label SEO Work?
There are 3 main parties in a white label SEO process:
- The agency
- The white label SEO provider
- The client
The agency is the center of this process; the client reaches out to the agency, and the agency contacts the white label SEO partner who works behind the scenes to complete the agreed-upon services.
Let’s take a better look into the process:
1. Partnering with a white label SEO provider: Agencies choose an SEO reseller agency based on its services, pricing, expertise, and ability to meet client requirements.
2. Selling SEO services to clients: The agency offers SEO services under its own brand name and handles the sales and client onboarding process.
3. Provider handles the SEO tasks: Once onboarded, the required SEO tasks for the client are handled by the white label SEO partner.
4. Reviewing and delivering the work: Once the SEO reseller company delivers the content, the agency reviews it and provides the results to the client under its own name.
5. Managing client relationships: The agency, being the only contact for the client, is responsible for communication, feedback, strategy discussions, and overall account management.
Why Do Agencies Use White Label SEO?
Agencies turn to SEO white label resellers mainly because it allows them to expand their search engine optimization services without investing in and managing an in-house team. Professional SEO requires experienced professionals like SEO specialists, content writers, technical experts, link builders, etc., which can cost a lot of time and money. So instead, agencies partner with experienced providers and outsource the execution of SEO campaigns.
Reduces the Cost of Hiring an In-House SEO Team
Getting an in-house team can be quite expensive. Agencies may need to hire multiple specialists, invest in SEO tools, provide ongoing training, and manage salaries and other employee costs. Outsourcing SEO tasks gives agencies access to SEO experts without the significant investment.
Expand Service Offerings
Some agencies use white label SEO reseller programs to expand their digital marketing services. If an agency is already providing digital marketing solutions like content and email marketing, web design, and more, adding SEO to the mix expands their range of services.
Take on More Clients
Agencies can be of different sizes, and a small agency might not be able to take on a lot of clients because of the work required. White label SEO companies allow agencies to outsource SEO campaigns, reducing their workload and therefore making room for more clients.
Access Specialized SEO Expertise
SEO is not a one-person job; each task requires different skills and experience. SEO reseller companies have dedicated specialists who understand content strategy, technical optimization, local search, keyword research, and link building. Outsourcing to such providers gives agencies access to expertise that can be difficult or expensive to build internally.
Scale Without Increasing Overhead
As an agency grows, hiring more employees for every new client can quickly increase operating costs. Having white label SEO partners is a more flexible way for agencies to increase service capacity without having to expand their team.
Focus on Sales and Client Relationships
Keeping a well-maintained relationship with clients is a crucial part. While white label SEO providers handle the SEO tasks, agencies can invest more time into acquiring new clients, strengthening existing relationships, and improving the overall client experience.
What Services Are Included in White Label SEO?
White label SEO providers have a range of services that agencies can resell to their clients. However, not all white label SEO resellers provide the whole roster; most offer a combination of local SEO, on-page optimization, technical SEO, link building, content marketing, and e-commerce SEO.
White Label Local SEO
Local SEO is an aspect of SEO that improves a business’ visibility in location-based search results. This particular aspect of SEO is ideal for businesses that serve customers in specific cities or regions.
Common white label local SEO services include:
- Google Business Profile optimization: Optimizing a business's Google Business Profile to improve its visibility in local search and Google Maps.
- Local citations: Creating and managing business listings across relevant online directories and platforms.
- Local keyword targeting: Identifying and targeting keywords that potential customers use when searching for local products or services.
- Local content: Creating location-focused content that helps businesses reach customers in specific geographic areas.
- Review management: Helping businesses monitor and manage their online reviews to support their local reputation.
White Label On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the structure and content of a website to make each page of the website more visible in the search engine results page (SERP) and AI search results.
Common white label on-page SEO services include:
- Keyword research: Identifying relevant search terms and topics to target on a website.
- Meta titles and descriptions: Creating optimized metadata that accurately describes a page and encourages users to click from search results.
- Content optimization: Improving existing website content for relevance, readability, search intent, and target keywords.
- Internal linking: Connecting relevant pages within a website to help users navigate the site and help search engines understand its structure.
- Heading optimization: Organizing headings and subheadings to improve content structure and make pages easier to understand.
White Label Technical SEO
Technical SEO is the process of optimizing the technical infrastructure of each page so search engines and AI systems can easily crawl, index, and cite its content.
Common white label technical SEO services include:
- Site audits: Identifying technical, on-page, and structural SEO issues that may affect website performance.
- Crawlability: Finding and resolving issues that prevent search engine crawlers from accessing important pages.
- Indexing issues: Identifying pages that are not properly indexed or addressing technical problems that affect indexing.
- Site speed: Identifying factors that may slow down a website and recommending improvements to its loading performance.
- Schema markup: Implementing structured data to help search engines better understand the information on a webpage.
- Mobile optimization: Ensuring websites provide a functional and user-friendly experience across mobile devices.
White Label Link Building
Link building is the process of getting other relevant websites to link back to a business’s site. This not only increases the site’s visibility but also its authority.
Common white label link building services include:
- Guest posting: Publishing relevant content on third-party websites to earn backlinks.
- Link insertions: Adding links to existing relevant content on established websites.
- Niche edits: Securing backlinks through contextual placements within existing articles or pages.
- Digital PR: Using newsworthy content and outreach campaigns to earn media coverage and authoritative backlinks.
- Authority link building: Acquiring backlinks from reputable and relevant websites to strengthen a client's backlink profile.
White Label Content Marketing
Content is a crucial part of many SEO strategies. Content marketing is essentially the creation of useful content that can attract viewers and potential customers.
Common white label content marketing services include:
- Blog writing: Creating informative, search-focused blog content around relevant topics and keywords.
- SEO landing pages: Developing optimized landing pages designed to target specific search queries and support conversions.
- Location pages: Creating pages targeting specific cities, regions, or service areas.
- Service pages: Writing and optimizing pages that explain a business's individual products or services.
- Content optimization: Updating existing content to improve its relevance, structure, readability, and search performance.
How Much Does White Label SEO Cost?
White label SEO does not have one fixed price; it heavily depends on what services the agency wants to avail, the complexity of the client’s website, the competitiveness of the industry, and the reseller’s expertise. Some providers also offer SEO packages for a fixed monthly fee, so agencies can either choose the packages or purchase individual services.
Factors That Influence White Label SEO Pricing
Let’s take a closer look at the factors that influence the price of white label SEO for agencies:
- Types of services: If an SEO campaign requires content, technical SEO, and link building, the cost for it will be higher than one that just requires one service.
- Number of clients and websites: Managing multiple clients’ SEO campaigns can increase overall cost.
- Industry competition: Competitive industries like SaaS, healthcare, legal, etc., call for extensive SEO work and resources to achieve notable results.
- Content requirements: If the client requires multiple, high-quality long-form blogs, the cost will reflect the resources invested.
- Link building: Depending on the quality, relevance, and authority of the websites where the backlinks are placed, the cost may vary.
- Website size and complexity: Large websites, or those with complex technical issues, may require more resources; therefore, they may cost more.
- Number of locations: If a client wants to target multiple cities, the charge will be higher than one that just wants to target one location.
- Provider expertise: Established providers with specialized SEO teams and processes will likely charge higher for their services.
White Label SEO Packages and Pricing Models
White label SEO providers charge according to the services they offer and the scope of the work. Many resellers even offer packages that combine various services; these packages often vary in services, so agencies can choose whichever best suits their needs.
Here are some of the common white label SEO pricing models:
- Monthly retainers for ongoing SEO campaigns
- Per-project pricing for one-time SEO work
- Per-service pricing for individual deliverables
- Per-link pricing for link-building services
- Package-based pricing for bundled SEO services
- Custom pricing for larger or more complex campaigns
Basic white label SEO packages cover basic tasks, while more comprehensive plans may include a wider range of services and a bigger volume of deliverables. Agencies need to look into various white label SEO packages and pricing and choose one based on their requirements rather than just choosing the cheapest one.
How Agencies Should Calculate Their Markup
When setting the price for the SEO services to clients, agencies need to consider the amount to be sent to the SEO reseller company and its own expenses. The average markup that agencies usually choose is between 50 and 100%. So, if the provider is charging $200 for the services, then the agency can resell the services for anywhere between $300 and $400. The final profit
also needs to account for expenses related to client communication, account management, reporting, and strategy.
Setting the right markup allows agencies to remain competitive while maintaining a healthy profit margin. The goal is to charge enough to cover the cost of the outsourced work and the agency's involvement while still providing value to the client.
How to Choose the Right White Label SEO Partner
Choosing a white label SEO partner requires proper research because the reseller’s quality of work directly affects the services the agency delivers to its clients. Here is how an agency can choose the right service provider:
Evaluate their SEO Expertise
Look for a white label SEO reseller with experience across multiple areas of SEO. Providers with a team of specialists can handle different client requirements more effectively.
Check their Track Record
Go to the provider’s website or reach out and ask for their past work results, case studies, and client feedback. This can help agencies evaluate if the providers have successfully handled similar SEO campaigns.
Review the Offered Services and Quality
Check and verify if the provider offers the services required by the clients. To check the quality of the services, agencies can ask for content samples, and if link building is included, ask about their process for selecting and securing placements.
Ask about the Reporting and Communication
Transparent reporting is essential for maintaining client relationships. Ask which reports they include, frequency of reporting, and whether they can be customized with the agency's branding. Good communication helps agencies stay informed and manage client expectations.
Compare Pricing and Value
Look at multiple providers, compare their services, quality, and pricing, and don’t just choose the cheapest option. Agencies should understand exactly what is included in each package or service and whether there are additional fees for revisions, reporting, or other requirements.
Check White Labeling and Scalability
Confirm whether the provider agrees to deliver services and reports under the agency’s brand without exposing the partnership to clients. Agencies should also confirm whether the provider has the capacity to scale with the company as more clients and additional work come in.
Review the Terms Before Partnering
Before finalizing the partnership, review the pricing, turnaround times, revision policies, cancellation terms, guarantees, and other conditions. Complete transparency from the beginning can help prevent misunderstandings later.
White Label SEO Reporting and Client Management
White label SEO services allow agencies to present the reports under their own brand name. The report may include the agency's logo, colors, contact information, and other branding elements, helping maintain a consistent client experience. While agencies can outsource the SEO tasks, the responsibility of maintaining client relationships falls on the agency.
What Should White Label SEO Reports Include?
Top SEO resellers emphasize providing a clear picture of the work completed and the progress made during the reporting period. Depending on the campaign, the report may include:
- Keyword rankings and search visibility
- Organic traffic and engagement
- Leads or conversions
- Backlinks acquired
- Content published or optimized
- Technical SEO improvements
- Local SEO performance
Most white label SEO resellers provide monthly reports for ongoing campaigns, as it provides enough time for meaningful changes. However, the frequency can change depending on the campaign's scope, client expectations, and the agency's reporting process.
Agencies should also review the provided report before sending it to the clients so they can understand the work completed, add context, and explain the results in a way that clients can easily understand.
White Label SEO Client Management
The white label SEO provider has no direct communication with the clients. So all the responsibility of communicating with the client falls on the agency. Here are some of the things the agencies are responsible for:
- Communicating SEO progress: Agencies need to explain how much work has been completed, what changes have occurred, and what the next steps are. It can also add context to the report to explain how the work connects to the client's broader SEO and business goals.
- Managing client expectations: Agencies need to ensure that clients have realistic expectations right from the start. Agencies can also explain that factors like competition, algorithm changes, website conditions, etc., can affect the results.
- Maintaining client relationships: Being the point of contact for the clients, agencies need to maintain regular communication to help maintain trust, address concerns quickly, and build long-term client relationships.
Common White Label SEO Mistakes Agencies Make
While white label SEO can help agencies expand their services, the following mistakes can affect their campaign performance and client relationships:
- Choosing white label SEO providers based on price: While a cheap provider may seem like a good deal initially, their poor quality might cost much more to fix.
- Promising unrealistic SEO results: SEO performance can be affected by competition, algorithm changes, website conditions, etc., so it is best to set realistic standards early on.
- Not vetting backlink quality: Agencies must ensure that the provider’s link building process involves using only relevant and trustworthy sites for backlinks.
- Failing to review deliverables: No matter how experienced the provider is, to avoid errors and ensure quality, agencies must always review the content, reports, backlinks, and other deliverables before passing them to the clients.
- Overpromising turnaround times: Agencies should never set unrealistic standards that providers cannot keep up with. SEO is a time-consuming task; overpromising will only lead to delayed deliveries and frustrated clients.
Is White Label SEO Worth It for Agencies?
White label SEO is perfect for agencies that want to expand their services without investing the resources to bring in an in-house team. This allows agencies to avail external expertise, increase their clientele, and focus internal resources towards sales, strategy, and client relationships.
However, this might not be ideal for all agencies. Many already have established in-house teams and may choose to keep their work internal, while others may have fewer clients and won’t find outsourcing financially feasible.
Ultimately, the decision comes down to the agency's business stage, client volume, available resources, and profit margins. Agencies should also consider whether they can find a provider that consistently delivers the quality their clients expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is white label SEO?
White label SEO is a service model where a third-party SEO provider handles SEO work on behalf of an agency. The agency then offers and delivers the SEO services to its clients under its own brand.
- How does white label SEO work?
An agency finds and partners with a white label SEO provider, sends the client’s SEO work to the provider, and sells the services to its clients. Basically, the agency is the center of the process; the provider handles the SEO execution, while the agency manages all communication with the clients.
- How much does white label SEO cost?
The cost of white label SEO services depends on what services are required, the clients’ website size and complexity, industry competition, content requirements, link-building needs, locations, and more.
- What services do white label SEO companies offer?
Most white label SEO companies offer a wide range of services, which include on-page SEO, local SEO, technical SEO, content marketing, link building, etc. However, some companies may only offer some services.
- How do I choose a white label SEO provider?
Agencies should evaluate a provider's SEO expertise, track record, service quality, pricing, communication, reporting, link-building practices, white labeling options, scalability, and contract terms before partnering with them.
- Can white label SEO help agencies scale?
Yes. White label SEO can help agencies increase their service capacity and take on more clients without building a larger in-house SEO team. The ability to scale depends on the provider's capacity and the agency's ability to manage client relationships effectively.
- How much should agencies charge for white label SEO?
There is no fixed amount that agencies should charge. Pricing should reflect the provider’s cost and the agency’s operational costs while also remaining competitive within the market.
