Who Uses White Label SEO Services?
If white label SEO is so common, who is actually buying it? The answer says a lot about whether the agency in front of you really does the work. Here is who uses white label services, why they do and what it means when the agency you hire is really a reseller.
White label SEO is used mainly by agencies that sell SEO but do not deliver it in house: web design studios, marketing and advertising agencies, PR and content firms and full-service or smaller agencies that want to offer SEO without hiring a team. Some specialist SEO firms also white label spare capacity. For clients, the key point is that the agency you hire may not be the one doing the work.
The buyers
in numbers
A handful of business types account for most white label use. These three frame it.
Common buyers
Web designers, marketing agencies, PR firms and full-service shops.
Main reason
Offering SEO without building a specialist team to deliver it.
Visibility
The provider stays unseen, whoever the reseller in front of you is.
The agencies behind the brand
White label SEO is more widespread than most clients realise. A surprising share of agencies that sell SEO buy it in rather than do it themselves. Knowing the typical buyers helps you read the agency in front of you and ask the right question before you sign.
Who buys it and why
The common thread is simple: these are businesses that want to sell SEO without building a team to deliver it. Hiring and managing skilled SEO staff is expensive and slow, so buying the service wholesale lets an agency offer it almost overnight. The motive is usually sound. The quality you get depends entirely on how well they choose and manage the provider.
Web design agencies
Web designers are perhaps the most common resellers. A client who has just had a new site built will naturally ask who can get it ranking. Rather than turn the work away, the designer offers SEO too, delivered by a white label provider. It keeps the client in house and adds a useful revenue stream alongside the build.
Marketing and advertising agencies
Full-service marketing and advertising agencies often white label SEO to round out their offering. They may be strong on branding, paid ads or social, yet lack deep SEO expertise. Rather than leave a gap a client could fill elsewhere, they buy SEO in and present it as part of a single joined-up service.
PR, content and other firms
PR firms, content agencies and even some IT or web hosting companies use white label SEO for the same reason. SEO sits close enough to what they already do that clients expect them to offer it. White label lets them say yes without straying outside their core skills, keeping the relationship and the revenue with them.
Smaller and full-service agencies
Smaller agencies use white label to punch above their weight, offering services a lean team could not deliver alone. Even some SEO specialists white label work when they are at capacity, passing overflow to a trusted provider. In every case the client sees one brand while a second business does some or all of the work.
What it means for you
For you, the takeaway is not to fear white label, only to understand it. The agency you hire may not be the one doing the work, which is fine when they add real value and choose a good provider. The fair move is simply to ask. The panel below lists the typical resellers so you can recognise the pattern.
Who tends to
resell SEO
Add SEO to builds
Designers who add SEO to a new site rather than refer the client elsewhere. The most common reseller of all.
Round out the offer
Marketing, advertising and PR agencies that are strong elsewhere and buy SEO in to complete a joined-up service.
Offer without a team
Smaller or full-service agencies, even busy SEO firms, that sell SEO without staffing it fully themselves.
Who uses white
label SEO
The businesses most likely to be reselling SEO under their own brand.
Four things to
take from this
Knowing who resells SEO is only useful if it changes what you ask. Keep these four in mind.
A value-adding reseller
vs a pure middleman
Two resellers can use the same provider. What separates them is what they add on top.
Worth the margin
- Adds strategy and direction
- Chooses a quality provider
- Owns the client relationship
- Stays accountable for results
- Open about how work is done
Just a markup
- Adds nothing but a margin
- Picks the cheapest provider
- Passes messages back and forth
- Cannot answer for the work
- Evasive about who delivers it
Hire us, get us.
We are not a reseller. When you hire Lillian Purge, our own team does the SEO, so the people you speak to are the people doing the work. Free quote today, from £350 per month.