Here's at least part of it: We originally managed our own PPC but then we organically came across a really great company with great ideas that has done wonders for our PCC program, far better conversions that we were able to get even with the fancy apps and close attention. (We have a lot of products and they change a bit, so I could see how a more static site wouldn't benefit as much as we did.)

On the other hand with SEO, we've been trying to outsource from the beginning but two companies employed despicable tactics, and our current one, the third, at least doesn't do any of the really bad stuff but is unresponsive and has us make changes to our site that decrease the utility to the visitor, which pains us a lot. So how do you find a good SEO firm? We thought we looked in the right places when we were looking for our third.

In addition, PPC is fairly well defined and measuring performance is easy. SEO has no well defined rules besides "content, content, content" (which already do ourselves) and perhaps "read Aaron Wall's SEO Book". And SEO is hard to measure, direct correlations are hard to define, and you can never really tell if it is helping much (assuming you've already got good content etc). The only absolutely effective techniques are the ones that in theory can get you banned. As you mentioned PPC is a bit like investing... requires occasional attention from a broker, but that broker is able to mostly follow straightforward rules. And we don't want to deal with that ourselves, so we hire the broker. SEO is a handwavy art. (Perhaps you as an SEO professional would disagree, in which case I'd say tell me your magic rules, except you'd say those are your "trade secrets" to quote a related current event. :)) It is easier to pay someone to do something you at least sort of understand than it is to pay someone to do something mystical. So for all those reasons, it is uncomfortable and hard to rationalize giving someone lots of money to do it.

(Are there any equivalents to infamous companies like Tr*ff*c P*w*r in the PPC world? I don't think so. (Name obfuscated to protect this site, heh.))

Sorry for the rambling, but I hope that helps explain the imbalance in outsourcing, at least from one company's perspective.

Ben, SEO is definately not a cut and dry mechanism as is PPC, but it is just as easy to measure. There are web analytic programs out there that can accurately measure your Organic traffic versus your PPC down to the ROI per keyword. And the increases in rankings alone are extremely easy to measure.

Yes, it is harder to hold an SEO company responsible for the work when you don't understand what SEO consists of. It's no different than taking your car to a mechanic if you aren't one. You just want to be sure that your SEO company maintains SOME sort of accountability...

But SEO is actually not as "mystical" as people think if they just take a little time to research the fundamentals.

Recently I was looking for my first PDA, which I knew nothing of. I became an expert in SMS, GMS, Bluetooth, Quadband,Wireless OS's, etc. in a matter of two days.

We don't expect our clients to become experts, but we do educate them on the basics first. Once you know more about SEO, the choice on WHO to hire becomes an easy task.

Best of luck

Thank you, Terrence Gordon. You've written one of the best articles I've personally read on SEO/SEM. And I write articles myself, some of them top rated at SEO Chat so I know when I see an insightful, original article when I see one.

From my experience, what Gordon says is right. Many company Webmasters think they know SEO because they've changed a few Title's and created a site map, etc. The marketing manager hears about that, sees that they have actaully achieved some position for some minimal set of search queries (including the company name, which they love), and they say "Yeah, we're already #2 on Google for ______"). That is even a good scenario...

I somethimes think about it like gardening – I can do my garden by I'm nowhere as professional and updated as a professional gardener. Now if I want to have a winning garden, I could perhaps do it alone – maybe – but the price, time and risk involved are higher. I think for many large companies, it is best to have at least 1SEO in-house but to utilize at least one outsourced firm becuase each is slightly better at something else (e.g. usability, content, standards, ROI tracking, keyword research methodolgy, creativity in keyword strategy, conversion improvement consultation, coding, data base issues, link campaign management, responding to problems, reporting, communication with clients, etc.).

Thanks, Terrence and keep 'em up!
:-)