There was a time when the BPO industry was thriving in Pakistan but today, this industry has limited scope in Pakistan due to outperforming competitor countries. Currently, India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines are leading in BPO outsourcing projects.
On the contrary, outsourcing in other industries such as SEO, Content Writing, Data Entry, Web Development, and Graphic Designing has seen rapid growth in Pakistan. Most of this outsourcing is done through websites likes Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork. Remarkably, individual freelancers make up over 90% of this outsourcing industry and rest goes to agencies. According to the global payment platform Payoneer ’s Global Gig Economy Index, Pakistan has the 4th highest freelance earnings.
SEO and its Scope
Out of all outsourcing industries, I will talk about SEO and its future.
First, let me explain what is SEO and how to cash-in the opportunity in this industry.
SEO stands for search engine optimization which is a process of getting a website or page on the top pages of search engines like Google.
Better the efforts in SEO, better the results in Google and other search engines.
Why this is important?
Any business can acquire thousands of users daily if their website ranks on the 1st page of Google for the keyword people are looking for.
As you know users are the potential customers and customers are the heart of any business. Therefore, showing up on top of search results contribute to the success of any business.
With the rise in digital marketing, the scope of SEO is increasing worldwide as Google is dominating the market for online searching and advertising.
Google holds a 92% market share in the search engine industry.
As every day hundreds and thousands of websites are built daily, it is getting tougher to rank on Google which is making competition fierce for new businesses. Ultimately making SEO integral part of marketing strategy.
For this reason, most of the companies have begun to outsource their SEO services to countries like India, Pakistan, and China in an attempt to cut back on costs.
This is absolutely an appealing factor for most companies as they have to pay less than 50% for the same work.
Rise of SEO Outsourcing
As of today, most of the SEO outsourcing market is dominated by India and Pakistan. The reason being is both countries have resources with good written English talent which SEO skill set requires. Whereas the Philippines being a leader in the BPO industry is unable to compete in the SEO market as they lack this skill for now.
Having this edge, India and Pakistan are the 1st choices for SEO outsourcing.
Potential in the SEO Market
According to recent research, the SEO industry is expected to get $79 Billion in spending in 2020. This shows a huge opportunity for Pakistan which can be achieved by training more people in SEO.
Imagine if we can capture 1 to 5% of this $79 Billion industry — it can surely make a huge difference.
As of now, Pakistan doesn’t have any universities and training schools which offer courses in SEO and digital marketing. This is very unfortunate and at the same time very interesting that freelancers have managed to grab these skills by self-learning. The reason behind is basic SEO skills are easy to learn and it doesn’t require any technical expertise. With these skills in hand, one can jump into freelancing.
Taking the above facts into account, I see two huge opportunities for Pakistan in this industry.
First is we can train a large number of people in SEO in a short amount of time which can easily capture a greater share of the freelancer market.
By we, I mean marketing companies, training academies or experts can offer courses which can help them earn and train people to work as SEO Freelancer as well as get jobs locally.
Recently, I have seen a big trend in online courses internationally which I believe is the next big thing. I would highly recommend getting online courses if you are looking for a career in SEO. They are worth every penny.
The second opportunity is for Pakistani businesses which are currently running overseas. They can easily compete with the international market and become market leaders by investing in SEO. This investment can bring higher ROI as compared to their competition. As overseas companies may be losing some portion of money in outsourcing — the freelancers charging for their services. Whereas having your own team can save you more.
Case Study
In 2017, I worked in a New Zealand based web design and digital marketing agency. It was one of the leading web design company having its sales team in New Zealand and all other technical departments in Pakistan which includes UI/UX designer, web developers, project coordinators, and digital marketers.
What made them successful was their impressive SEO efforts. The company ranked on the top 5 positions for keywords that were related to their industry such as ‘web designer’, ‘best web design company’, and many more. It was an eye-opener for me and it made me dig deeper into the SEO world.
In the end, I encourage business owners in Pakistan to use the above-mentioned practice and invest in SEO to capture more leads online. With 6 months to 1 year, it can easily double your revenue. I strongly believe this is the best time to invest in digital marketing. For students, I would say SEO is an excellent career choice and it will grow in the coming years. If you are looking to learn SEO, I would advise you to get online courses in SEO or to learn it from YouTube or follow SEO influencers like Neil Patel.
To your success
Ashar Jamil