Honest comparison · UK stores

Agency, freelancer, or in-house?Shopify SEO options compared

What each route costs, what you get, and who each option genuinely suits. No "agency is always best" filler.

At a glance

Quick comparison

Honest framing

Three routes. Different jobs.

In-house, freelancer, and agency each suit different catalogue sizes and internal capacity. Pick the model that matches the work, not the sales pitch.

In-houseFreelancerAgency
Typical UK costSalary + tools£400–£1,500/mo£1,500–£4,000+/mo
Response timeSame day if dedicated1–3 days typicalSame day with named team
Shopify template devNeeds internal devRarely includedUsually included
Best suited forSmall catalogue, founder timeDefined projects, tight budgetGrowing stores, limited internal time

See GBP ranges in our Shopify SEO pricing guide. Download the free checklist first if you are still researching.

When each route fits

Pick the model that matches the work

In-house

  • Very small catalogues under a few hundred SKUs, where the founder or a marketing generalist can own titles, collections, and basic content.
  • You already employ someone with SEO bandwidth and a developer who can ship theme changes within a week.
  • Your niche is uncompetitive and technical debt is low: no migration mess, minimal app bloat, clean indexation.

Freelancer

  • Mid-size stores needing audits, content briefs, or a focused migration redirect review without a full retainer.
  • Tighter budgets where you can implement recommendations yourself or with an existing dev on hourly support.
  • Short projects: pre-launch checklist, post-migration audit, or a single category hub rebuild.

Agency

  • Growing catalogues where speed, schema, filters, and content must run in parallel.
  • Limited internal time: you need orders reported monthly, not a slide deck of keyword positions.
  • Stores that need multiple specialisms: technical SEO, CRO, content, and dev on the same account.
  • LoudCrowd fits here: six in-house people on typical ecommerce accounts, Doncaster delivery, UK case studies.
Due diligence

Questions to ask before you decide

  • Who actually does the work day to day, and can you name them?
  • Does reporting tie to orders and revenue URLs, or keyword ranks only?
  • Is Shopify template and app work included, or billed separately?
  • What happens in the first 90 days: audit deck or shipped fixes?
  • Can they show UK ecommerce case studies with verifiable metrics?
  • How do they prioritise when everything in the crawl export is red?

Specialty catalogue proof: specialty & secondhand ecommerce SEO.

Fit check

See which route fits your store

Run the free store check, then book 15 minutes if you want a straight recommendation.

Store speed checkLive
Reviews

What clients say about agency delivery

Google rating and Trustpilot SEO outcomes when you are weighing agency vs freelancer vs in-house.

Google

4.8

20 Google reviews

Read Google reviews

Trustpilot

4.2

11 Trustpilot reviews

Read Trustpilot reviews

Leave a Google review

  • Trustpilot★★★★★

    SEO work from this company has been outstanding, they look after small business, we have gained double the customer enquiries due to this company putting us on page one.

  • Trustpilot★★★★★

    SEO what is that, never understood the term or what it means. After watching a video audit on my website we knew what to do as a business. David and his team pushed us to the top of Google and now our business has tripled. Highly recommended.

FAQ

Can I switch from a freelancer to an agency mid-project?

Yes. Bring your Search Console data, redirect maps, and any audit exports. A good agency will re-prioritise against revenue URLs rather than restart from scratch.

Is in-house SEO cheaper than an agency?

Cash cost can be lower if you already employ a marketer with SEO time. Fully loaded cost of a mid-level SEO plus dev support often exceeds a specialist agency retainer once you account for salary, tools, and opportunity cost.

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