Hire single SEO & SEM person or hire separate people?

[thenorrisgroup]

I've been moved to a busines development part of the business but I'm still in charge of all of our SEO and SEM. I was only an advanced beginner to begin with but our needs have grown. I'm not sure whether to contract with one or two people. Can someone be extremely well versed in all things SEO and SEM or is it better to get two people on board that might serve as a better sounding board?

While they certainly work together, both are a constant moving target and it requires us to stay on top of trends and white hat policies of all the major players. My worst nightmare is to get someone that tries to game the system and screws up our rankings long term.

[GeorgeDavis]

I think it all depends on your needs and capacity.  If you're asking the question "Are SEO and SEM different enough to merit two different positions?", then the answer is a resounding "Yes".  Unfortunately this isn't possible for a lot of businesses so they have to look for someone a little more well rounded.  If you can afford it and you have a decent sized business/funding, then yes, you should hire them as separate people.

In our case we are able to have both and so we do.  Both of them are knowledgeable in both areas but each prefers his own job respectively.  It's nice to have two people to bounce ideas and responsibilities off each other, if they are the right people they will work well together and do much more for your business than one alone.

[EGOL]

If I was going to hire an SEO I would have them explain in detail where my links would be coming from.  If I was going to hire an SEM I would ask them to explain in detail Google's quality score.  Answers to those questions would end lots of interviews quickly.

Now, getting to your question.  There are lots of people out there who are very very smart and know SEO and SEM inside and out.  There are plenty of people who could do either job better than most of the competitors out there.  If the scope of work needed on both the SEO and SEM side is limited I would try to get both of these jobs done by same provider - if I could find one who could impress me with both of the above questions.

However, if you have a big SEM campaign spending a lot of money you want to hire a person who really knows his stuff and who will watch over your wallet carefully. It is easy to blow an awful lot of money on SEM.  The same can be said for SEO.  Easy to blow a lot of money on someone who is unable to deliver.

A risk that you have with the above is that Mr SEM or Mr SEO could outsource your work or delegate it to someone of lower abilities.

That's my two cents.

...... Aaron, you seem to be a smart and ambitious person.  You are here at the right place asking good questions.  The more you learn the better position you will be in to hire and monitor the people who provide these services.... but maybe you would consider learning and doing one or both of these jobs yourself if you can get company support for training sessions, a daily hour ongoing for continued education and the rest of your time to keep these jobs in house instead of worrying about who is doing them and how?

[SparkplugDigital]

I would say that it is generally better to hire a separate person for SEO and SEM. There are so many different tasks that an SEO can be doing to move the organization forward on the SEO front that I think it is often a mistake for SEOs to be given additional tasks like PPC, or managing the company's social media, that will take their focus off doing SEO really well. Also, SEO is changing so fast that it can be a lot to ask to have your SEO stay current on the latest in SEO and also stay up to date on the PPC world as well.