Understanding concepts can change how you see the world.

White labeling is one of my favorite concepts.

In my youth, I worked at a pet insurance firm. White labeling was something I learned at that company. We sold various pet insurance products, and each was branded with the names I knew from other companies. A few were even branded with products from other insurance companies. One even had the name of a national grocery store.

That job taught me the importance of white labeling. I discovered that companies that knew nothing about pet insurance could associate their brand with cute and cuddly pets while expanding their services into markets they couldn’t touch otherwise.

White labels are everywhere once you become familiar with them. You will see white labeling everywhere, from the over-the-counter drugs you buy branded with the brand name of your favorite chain pharmacy to the software your accountant uses and even the software you use.

This guide will cover white labeling SEO. This guide will teach you much about white labeling and search engine optimization.

You might be able to change your perception of the world.

What’s white-label SEO?

White label SEO is a specific SEO product that’s designed for agencies. Sometimes, white-label SEO is called SEO reseller. There’s a subtle distinction between them, but we’ll get to that later.

White label SEO can be understood by understanding the terms white label products and SEO.

What’s a white-label product?

You’ve probably already guessed what white labeling is. Let’s explain it in more detail:

White-label products are services or goods sold by one party but supplied by another. The seller’s brand is displayed on the goods and services, not that of the third-party provider.

What is the purpose of calling it a white-label product?

The product provider sells its services to multiple resellers. They provide the product and a white label on which branding can be displayed.

It’s the same product, but different resellers offer it with different brand names. White labeling is providing generic products to which a brand could be attached.

Why should businesses white-label?

Businesses white label for many reasons, but the most common is to be able to offer a product/service that they cannot provide on their own.

They want the product to be associated with their brand to appeal to customers who might otherwise have difficulty moving the needle.

What’s SEO?

SEO (search engine optimization) is a marketing strategy that helps websites rank higher in search engines.

Google processes 5.8 million searches per day. It’s also estimated that 90.63% get no traffic from Google. 5.29% of content receives 10 or fewer visits per month from Google.

These numbers show why companies are eager to obtain SEO services. You can’t afford to be among the 90.63% in a world where both local and ecommerce businesses make a substantial portion of their revenue from Google searches.

Why should businesses use SEO?

SEO is a way for businesses to make more money.

Wolfgang Digital’s study found that 69% of all traffic and 67% of website revenue came via Google Searches. At 43%, organic searches, which SEO is focused on, are the primary source of Google-related visitors.

Businesses that don’t do well on Google waste a lot of money. This is a terrible situation, as online businesses shift more heavily than in 2016.

White Label SEO – A combination of two amazing things

A white label SEO is an SEO service that has been rebranded to be sold by another party. This is often used by agencies that want to offer SEO services to their clients but lack the necessary resources.

Without SEO services, a marketing agency often operates in the digital marketing sector on the back foot. Google and SEO are becoming more critical to business owners. White labeling SEO is a great way to improve your brand and provide your clients with a complete marketing strategy.

Why should agencies offer white-label SEO?

We now know what white-label SEO means. Let’s get to the good stuff about why marketing agencies should care about it.

We briefly touched on some of the reasons – agencies can help improve your brand and client satisfaction in one go. They can even do it for free or for a small profit. Let’s take a closer view:

White Label SEO allows you to expand your reach.

While I don’t want to over-hammer any deeply embedded nails here, I want everyone to understand that SEO is here to stay; it won’t be going away anytime soon.

Search engines are the foundation of SEO. As long as search engines provide business traffic and revenue, they will want SEO. Higher rank = More traffic = More sales. It’s as simple as that.

White-label SEO appears and behaves like it is coming from a marketing agency. Clients will be more inclined to view SEO as an internal service. The marketing agency brand is more recognized as a holistic provider, while third-party SEO providers are paid for their services.

It’s a win/win situation.

White Label SEO is free or profitable.

An SEO provider will attach pricing to their product. An SEO provider can then offer the product to their client at no cost. This effectively means that the SEO does not cost anything (other than the time it takes to show results).

The agency does not have to sell the service at cost. They could instead mark it up and make a nice profit. White labeling services have one significant advantage: it lowers upfront costs for businesses that want to offer certain services but don’t have the resources or desire to do so in-house.

White labeling SEO allows agencies and individuals to allocate resources where they are most needed.

It is expensive to start an in-house SEO company. This is a big investment in time, energy, and money. SEO is a game in which experience matters a lot. SEO is a game in which your data matters – the more data you have, the easier it will be to track trends and predict the algorithm’s ranking of sites.

This kind of experience doesn’t happen overnight. Marketing agencies can white label their SEO to improve their brand and offer without spending resources on SEO. This allows them to focus on their strengths, such as client acquisition and nonsEO advertising.

Client satisfaction can be improved.

Many clients of marketing agencies want a complete suite of services. They don’t want multiple agencies working for them to achieve their goals. If an agency doesn’t offer SEO and the service the company is looking for, it will likely move to another agency.

SEO can increase client retention, acquisition, and satisfaction. White label SEO allows a marketing agency to reap all the benefits of SEO without having to incur the high costs of developing it in-house.

What is the difference between white-label SEO and other SEO outsourcing

Let’s look at white labeling in comparison to other types of SEO outsourcing.

White label vs. private label

An SEO company may offer white-label SEO to multiple agencies at once. A private label is a contract between your company and the SEO agency.

Because an exclusive contract restricts an SEO agency’s growth, private label SEO tends to be more costly than the white label. Marketing agencies are required to pay more for exclusive rights.

Private label services are rare among SEOs. Some private labels are almost only found in the world of physical goods. Private label software is virtually non-existent.

White label vs. co-branding

Co-branding is a strategy you won’t often see in the software industry. It is precisely what it sounds like. When you co-brand your SEO agency, your brand and the agency’s brand will appear on reports tools and other products that clients use.

Although I haven’t seen any co-branded SEOs, it’s an exciting idea. Marketing agencies could pay less for white-label services in return for more exposure. This extra exposure is not usually worthwhile for most SEOs. Marketing agencies are also less likely to accept co-branding because of the confusion it can cause.

White label vs. outsourcing

White labeling is more expensive than outsourcing SEO. Outsourcing SEO can lead to confusion for clients. Agencies must explain to clients why reporting software is branded with another company’s name. They will then need to explain why the reporting software is branded with another company’s name.

This is where you can see it going…

Clients will start to ask questions. Clients will start to ask questions about why they are getting SEO from a third party and how it affects their bottom line. They might wonder if it’s cheaper to buy SEO from a third party or hire a full-service marketing agency.

This is the risk/reward aspect of outsourcing. While some marketing agencies might believe that being open about third-party SEO services is worth the savings, others may not feel the same.

What white-label are SEO services available?

SEO is a well-known topic, so that you can skip this section. However, I feel that a quick refresher can be helpful for those who don’t know SEO.

White label SEO provides the same services as outsourced SEO, but with one key difference… Branded reports.

Branded reporting

The 3rd-party SEO performs all the work and then sends the report (and talking points!) to the marketing agency. The marketing agency can then show the client the reports – which look like it was done in-house.

This report will include analytics such as ranking changes for specific keywords and conversion rates. The marketing agency can use this information to provide clients with a better overview of digital marketing.

SEOs will need to have access to clients’ websites. They will also meet with marketing agencies to discuss strategies. We’ll be looking at four main categories of SEOs that can improve search engine rankings.

Let’s start with category #0.

Keyword Research

SEO is useless without keyword research. Keyword research has a simple premise: identity which keywords should be targeted by SEO agencies to increase client acquisition and sales.

Keyword research is based on four factors:

• Relevance. Relevance. A website selling fishing equipment might find keywords like “burgers” unrelated, “sporting goods,” “fishing rods,” and “sporting goods” very relevant.
• Popularity. How often do people search for this keyword? “Fishing rods,” which has many monthly searches, is much more popular than “Shakespeare Ugly Stik GX2”, which has significantly fewer.
• Competition. How difficult is it for this keyword to rank high? The popularity of a keyword is generally associated with the competition. It is more challenging to rank it well if it is popular.
• Intent. What type of search results do users want when they search for the term? The commercial is the best intent for SEO. It is a sign that someone is looking to purchase something. This has a high conversion rate.

We now know what keyword research is. Let’s look at how SEOs can improve a website’s ranking for specific keywords.

On-page Search

Unsurprisingly, on-page SEO encompasses everything the SEO agency does on a client’s site’s front end. Some of you may be curious about the back end. This is called technical SEO, and we’ll discuss it soon.

On-page SEO is driven by content. The keywords that SEOs target will reflect the content they create. Let’s say we have a website about fishing equipment. An SEO might have discovered that the keyword “best fishing rods” and “shallow water fishing” is helpful.

They may even have found that they get clicks from the search “best fishing rods in shallow water”! This article seems to be a good one.

The SEO would produce a piece entitled “Top 10 fishing rods suitable for shallow water anglers”. The content would include links to other pages and relevant terms. This information is designed to attract people to the website and keep them there.

Offpage SEO

Search engine algorithms love it if a page has many links from well-respected sites.

Off-page SEO refers to a collection of strategies that increase the number and quality of links that a page receives from other pages.

Off-page SEO involves a lot of networking and pitching. It’s simple: an SEO will create quality content for a client’s site and then ask other websites to link to it. They might also create quality content for third-party websites and include a link to the client’s site. This is called guest posting.

Off-page SEO is a broad field. There are many creative strategies that SEOs can use. This is also why white labeling can be so attractive – SEOs already have a network of people who enjoy their content and will link to it.

Technical SEO

This is the back-end stuff – changes to a website’s structure, submitting XML Sitemaps to Google, and fixing bad redirects.

We won’t bore you with the technical details of SEO (though if you are a nerd, replace boring with very entertaining).

Trust is a critical element of any white-label relationship. Marketing agencies must trust the SEO to access the back-end sites of their clients. This trust can lead to substantial ranking improvements. It is essential to use technical SEO.

SEO-related Services

Many different strategies can be used to improve your SEO. Businesses must set up and optimize a Google My Business listing to improve their local SEO. Reputation management is essential to increase the number of positive reviews and minimize negative reviews.

These services may be offered by marketing agencies to clients or not. SEO-related services are often negotiated between marketing agencies and white-label partners.

What to look for in white label SEO

We can now look at the essential characteristics of a white-label partner once you have a better understanding of white-label SEO and how it works.

The relationship classics are still relevant: you want a partner that is honest and well-intentioned. Someone open to learning with you and not trying to take your resources. A person who can see the future and how they want it to unfold.

Let’s not make it sound like I am a relationship coach.

Transparency

This is the most important thing you should be looking for. That’s why we place it first. White-label partners can’t keep secrets from you. If asked, they must show you what they are doing and how it affects your client.

White label/marketing agency relationships must be honest. They need to work together to ensure that their strategies do not clash.

Imagine a world where a marketing agency is about to launch an aggressive strategy to sell fishing rods made in-house for their client. Their SEO also creates an ultimate guide for fishing rods, but it doesn’t include their in-house brand.

SEO and marketing agencies can collaborate to achieve momentum and consistency by being transparent about their strategies.

Vision

There are many things that marketing agencies and SEO agencies share in common. One of their most significant similarities is that they are both future-oriented businesses. You invest now in marketing to achieve results later.

Businesses that deal with future-oriented intangibles need to have a clear vision of the future. An SEO should be able to tell marketing agencies their expected returns for each client. They can also show them how they will get those returns. What are the best and worst-case scenarios?

It is possible to find the perfect match by looking for white-label partners with a deep-rooted philosophy that compliments the agencies.

Proven track record of success

It’s a great way to lower your costs and lose money by partnering with agencies that haven’t had much success.

Any agency that wants to white label its services should have a detailed track record. An agency cannot make outrageous claims without evidence.

Vision is excellent, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t know the steps to achieve your vision.

Vision must be grounded in reality. To do this, agencies need data proving they can achieve their lofty goals.

A plan for action

We have discussed vision in the abstract and what it takes to make that vision a reality. Good white-label partners will have a plan of action based on past successes to help them move toward the vision.

Marketing agencies serve many clients. White-label partners can help with SEO for any of these clients. Having the same strategy for all of these clients is very concerning. Each client of the SEO agency should be treated with the same care as their clients.

Marketing agencies must have a plan of action and report for each client. Meetings are essential as clients’ circumstances change.

Dedicated Project Management

This requires lots of resources from the SEO agency. They should provide dedicated project management for all their clients. A well-established reporting structure is essential so the agency can identify who is responsible for each aspect of their client’s search engine optimization.

One person should handle all matters. Large marketing agencies might have several point people because clients may need to be split into multiple teams. These agencies usually have multiple project managers, so there is rarely any confusion or contention.

What to Avoid in a White Label SEO

Let’s now look at the red flags after we have looked at the green ones. We won’t repeat what we just said, but we will say it in the negative. (I hate when articles do this). This section is well worth reading.

If they are competing with you to get clients

Noncompetition agreements will be required for white label partners and marketing agencies. This is a problem that both SEO agencies and digital marketing agencies face. They can reach clients all over the globe.

Non-compete can be granted for specific industries or clients directly competing with the agency’s clients. There should be anti-pilfering/non-solicitation terms in the contract. These terms should be avoided by any agency that refuses to negotiate them.

If the service is not good from the beginning

An SEO that cannot provide excellent service immediately is not likely a good choice. Imagine if they cannot handle all the queries of one marketing agency. Now imagine what they will do for all their clients.

White-label relationships are already complex. Therefore, it is essential to communicate clearly and efficiently. SEOs should respond quickly to questions from marketing agencies. If a question takes a little longer, the SEO should explain why.

Overpromising can lead to underdelivering. If a marketing agency is branded over the SEO reports, it can spell doom for its reputation.

SEOs can’t promise to get clients to the top of search engines for specific keywords. This is not how it works.

Instead of promising a specific ROI or other KPIs, marketing agencies should focus on a promise of “how high a customer ranks for a keyword.” An SEO cannot promise a ranking, but it should be capable of promising positive movement for specific keywords.

Any SEO promises of instant results should be ignored. SEO is an ongoing process. If you abandon your SEO, it can lead to a loss of rankings and slow progress in ranking for high-competitive keywords. SEO is not a quick fix.

Black hats

Black hat SEOs, or the men in black overcoats selling “Adidas” shoes to teenagers on the streets, are the unsuspecting guys. These are the shady players in the SEO industry. They promise everything to a marketing agency, but they can cause websites to be removed from search engine results pages.

This is very, very bad. Black hat tactics are mostly gone. Search engines will be designed in 2021 to reward good behavior and punish those who use shady tactics.

SEO is all about hard work. It’s not as straightforward or glamorous as it used to be 25 years ago. SEO is essentially a lot of work. If an SEO agency’s strategy seems to take a lot of effort, that’s a sign they are trustworthy. Avoid agencies that use a lot of buzzwords or poorly explained tactics.

Don’t forget to get a white hat if you want a white label.

That’s all, folks!

Congratulations if you have read this far. You know more about white-label SEO reseller services than most people know about white labels.

We hope that you will gain a better understanding of white-label and white-label SEO. If you are a marketing agency client, you can also see how white label is being used to provide you with white label services.