Should my hotel do SEO in-house or hire an agency?
Short answer
Whether to do hotel SEO in-house or hire an agency depends on your team's time and skills, how much technical work your site needs, and your budget. Many hotels do well with a mix: an external specialist for an audit, technical fixes, or a migration, and an in-house team for ongoing content, Google Business Profile updates, and review responses — tasks that benefit from first-hand knowledge of the property. Google's own advice on hiring an SEO is a useful checklist: ask for examples, understand what they'll change, and walk away from anyone who guarantees first place.
By Lodging Engine Editorial Team· Reviewed by Eric Zwanenburg· Last reviewed
What the work involves
| Task | Best suited to |
|---|---|
| Room, location, and policy content | In-house (you know the property) |
| Business Profile, photos, review replies | In-house |
| Technical audit, redirects, canonicals | Specialist, or a capable developer |
| Structured data implementation | Specialist or developer |
| Website migration | Specialist |
| Reporting and analysis | Either, with Search Console access |
When in-house works well
- Someone has a few hours a week and willingness to learn.
- The website is technically sound.
- Your focus is content, local presence, and reviews.
Google's SEO Starter Guide is a practical starting point.
When an agency or specialist helps
- Technical problems you can't diagnose: indexing issues, duplicates, migrations.
- A redesign or platform change.
- Multiple properties or languages.
- No one on the team has time.
A hybrid that works for many hotels
- External audit with a prioritized plan.
- Specialist implements technical fixes.
- In-house team maintains content, profile, and reviews.
- Periodic external review.
Questions to ask any provider
Adapted from Google's advice on hiring an SEO:
- Can you show examples of previous work and results?
- What exactly will you change, and will you explain why?
- How will you measure success, and in what timeframe?
- What experience do you have with hotels and with my markets?
- Who owns the accounts, content, and data?
If they guarantee first place in search results, Google's advice is to find someone else.
See choosing a hotel SEO agency.
Common mistakes
- Outsourcing content to people who've never seen the hotel.
- Giving a provider full control of accounts without shared access.
- Doing nothing in-house after an expensive audit.
Checklist
- Tasks split by who knows the property vs technical skill
- Hours available in-house estimated honestly
- Provider questions answered in writing
- Hotel retains ownership of accounts and content
Sources
- Do you need an SEO? Tips for hiring an SEO — Google Search Central
- SEO Starter Guide: the basics — Google Search Central