Programmatic SEO: What Is It and How To Do It?

It’s frustrating to put in all that effort and not get the results you’re aiming for. Often, the issue is not the content itself—it’s the strategy behind it.

That’s where programmatic SEO comes in. This approach automates the creation of SEO-optimized content on a large scale, helping to boost your visibility, drive more organic traffic, and save you a lot of time and effort.

In this article, we’ll explain programmatic SEO, share some real-life success stories, and provide a step-by-step guide for making it work for you.

Ready to boost your traffic and see better results? Let’s get started!

What is Programmatic SEO?

Programmatic SEO is a strategy for creating large amounts of unique, SEO-optimized content at scale using existing data and pre-programmed rules. Each landing page starts from the same template but can be customized in multiple ways using this approach.

A programmatic site can be as small as 200 pages or as large as four million pages. The goal is to ensure each page targets a unique, low-competition keyword, serving a specific purpose in the search journey.

How does Programmatic SEO Work?

The best part about programmatic SEO is that it simplifies keyword research, content creation, and publishing. Here’s what you can achieve with it:

• Get a list of keywords
• Generate in-depth quality content
• Generate quick and faster results
• Check on a website's performance regularly and address problems quickly
• Analyze what works and make necessary adjustments.

Programmatic pages often use data from databases, such as product prices, weather, or location information.

Businesses are shifting from traditional SEO to programming SEO because the former is manual and requires extensive keyword research, content optimization, and performance monitoring.

On the contrary, programming SEO automates these tasks using data-driven insights to streamline optimization.

While traditional SEO focuses on one website with numerous pages, programming SEO can generate various SEO-optimized pages with various keyword variations.

For a successful programming SEO campaign, create a landing page for each targeted keyword and analyze the search intent behind each one.

3 Real-Life Programmatic SEO Examples and Case Studies

You might have visited websites that leverage programmatic SEO without even realizing it. Let’s explore some examples and see how this strategy boosted their traffic and rankings.

1. Nomadlist

Nomadlist is a popular website that provides comprehensive information about various places to visit or stay.

It uses thousands of programmatic pages to deliver details like the cost of living in different areas, the best places to live in the USA, internet speed, temperature, safety, and other relevant information.

Each programmatic page covers different states and includes a descriptive title, a clear call to action, images, and a detailed breakdown of living or visiting expenses.

This approach has helped Nomadlist amass around 25,000+ pages, generating an estimated monthly organic traffic of over 41,000.

2. Zapier

Zapier is a workflow automation tool that integrates various tools and applications. This platform is an excellent example of implementing a programmatic SEO strategy to scale and generate revenue.

For instance: if you search for the best CRM software on Google, Zapier often ranks in the top 5 positions. Clicking on Zapier redirects you to the CRM software app page it integrates with.

This process is replicated for every tool they support, resulting in thousands of programmatic pages.

Zapier has around 800,000+ pages, driving an estimated monthly organic traffic of over 300,000.

3. Wise

Wise offers international banking services, focusing on currency conversion. They created a landing page template for every currency they work with, helping clients between any number of currencies.

By just implementing programmatic SEO, Wise generates millions of monthly page views. They have unique pages for each currency pair, simplifying the process for users to find the right information without hassle.

Wise has around 14,000 + pages, with an estimated organic traffic is more than 4,000,000.

The major benefit that all these platforms reap from programmatic SEO is increased visibility, organic traffic, and conversions, ultimately boosting their revenue.

4 Common Programmatic SEO Challenges

There are a few challenges with programmatic SEO. Understanding these can help you implement this strategy more effectively. Here are some key considerations:

1. Duplicate content

Creating similar content on a core topic can lead to repetition. For example, generating content on the “100 best cafes in the USA” could result in 10,000 pages with similar information.

Search engines strive to display unique, valuable results to users. When they encounter duplicate content, they may struggle to decide which version to index or might even drop your rankings for plagiarism.

In such cases, you can use tools like Writesonic’s AI rewording tool to rewrite and spin sentences, ensuring your content remains unique.

2. Thin content

Thin content is pieces that lack depth and quality.

Therefore, whenever you generate content, ask yourself if it provides all the answers related to the topic or if the reader needs to look elsewhere for more information.

Rapidly scaling your website and targeting numerous keywords can lead to low-quality pages. Google may flag your website for having thin content.

Prevent this by creating content templates that allow for dynamic and customizable content, ensuring each page offers substantial value.

3. Indexing issues

With thousands of new pages, not all of them will be indexed automatically. Most programmatic SEO projects often generate around 1,000 pages, and Google may not crawl all of them.

Furthermore, if your website takes more than 2 to 3 seconds to respond to requests, Google will reduce its crawling frequency.

Use Google's Indexing API to notify Google when you publish a new page. They will schedule a time for a crawl.

4. Ongoing maintenance and updates

The more pages you have on your website, the more maintenance and updates they require. This applies to both website developers and content developers. Ensure your content stays current over time.

Regularly update each page whenever you edit the database to avoid constant manual updates.

How to do Programmatic SEO — A Step-by-Step Process!

A successful programmatic SEO begins with a clear understanding of your target audience and competitors. Once you identify them, you can select long-tail keywords that align with your business's goals and objectives.

Here's a simple no-code process to get you started with programmatic SEO.

This approach will help you identify impactful keywords, build prototype pages automatically, and effectively communicate with developers to bring your vision to life.

Step 1: Identify opportunities (keyword research and page types)

The easiest way to get started with programmatic SEO is to identify your keywords. Follow these steps to ensure you find relevant and profitable keywords:

• Search for head terms and modifiers:

These terms are top-level keyword categories.

Modifiers transform head terms into long-tail keywords. For example, for "things to do in India," you can add modifiers like "best places to visit in India" or "top places to explore in India."

• Focus on low-competition keywords:

Look for keywords with less search volume but lower competition. These are often more specific and less competitive than high-volume keywords.

• Identify customer pain points:

Understand your customers' challenges through research and feedback.

Research competitors to see what keywords they target.

Audit customer feedback to identify common queries and issues.

• Determine content type:

Look at the SERP for your target keywords. For example, blogs about the "cost of living" often cover expenses like property, food, and education, with comparisons between states.

Ensure your content includes similar data to meet searchers' intent and provide value.

• Include comprehensive data:

For programmatic content, ensure each page includes detailed, relevant data.

This approach helps drive more traffic and encourages repeat visits.

Step 2: Create a landing page template

Before building your content database, you need to create a template to generate thousands of copies of the same landing page. Follow these steps to ensure an effective template:

• Determine the page layout and design:

Start by planning the visual and structural elements of your landing page. This template will serve as the foundation of your programmatic SEO project.

• Consider user search intent:

Design the template with the user's search intent in mind. Ensure that each landing page includes common elements such as images, videos, reviews, and infographics. However, it's crucial to make sure the content on each page is unique to avoid duplication and improve SERP ranking.

• Use wireframe or design tools:

Tools like Writesonic’s landing page generator can simplify the process of creating landing pages without the need for coding or backend configuration. These tools can help create landing pages optimized for conversions, featuring customizable designs, A/B testing capabilities, and built-in lead capture forms.

• Be specific with template details:

Provide detailed instructions to get the best results from your template. Taking screenshots of competitor pages can help guide your template design by providing a visual reference.

• Selecta design based on your offer:

Choose a design that complements your product or service. Whether you need a high-converting landing page or assistance as a novice, tools like Writesonic offer comprehensive solutions.

Step 3: Find data sources

This step will be different for each website. The primary task is to build a database that aligns with the goals set by your template.

The best method to access data for programmatic SEO content will depend on your website type and the landing pages you plan to create.

Check search results for your keywords. Many top-ranking articles use data from common sources. To stand out, explore new sources to add unique data that other top-ranking articles don't have.

There are various types of data that you need to store, such as:

• Proprietary data: Unique to you or your company, this data is crucial as it is owned and controlled by you or your team and is not publicly available. Examples include financial information, trade secrets, and more.
• Public data: Licensed for commercial use, this data is the easiest to find and can be used, reused, shared, and redistributed without any restriction. Examples include laws, geographic data, performance metrics, and more.
• Scraped data: Extracted from websites using web scraping tools, this data includes market trends, product details, user reviews, product details, and more.

But where will you save this data?

You can either use a basic Excel sheet or leverage an online tool to make your work easy. Various tools can save your data effortlessly, automatically creating tables to organize and manage it.

By including data sources on your site, you can consolidate all of your preferred data points in a single location.

Step 4: Develop the content generation system

Now that you know how to find keywords on a large scale, it's time to create pages around search intent related to those keywords. Follow these steps to develop an effective content generation system:

• Research search intent:

To understand user search intent, spend time browsing SERPs to analyze which keywords rank for what search intent. This helps you determine what information Google associates with specific keywords.

• Create purpose-driven content:

Provide precise and comprehensive information for each keyword. For example, when creating pages about the best places to visit in India, include specific keywords, city names, costs, and breakdowns of other expenses like transportation and food.

• Combine data sources with a single-page template:

Merge your data sources with a well-structured template to quickly generate multiple pages. Ensure thorough research to avoid crafting thin content, making each page substantial and unique.

• Use AI tools for content generation:

Utilize AI tools like Writesonic's AI Article Writer to generate high-quality, SEO-optimized content. Writesonic's LLM framework ensures seamless operation with multiple AI models, delivering top-notch output. These tools can help create content faster and include internal linking to enhance SEO performance.

• Customize content output:

Ensure that your content aligns with your brand voice. Customizable AI tools, like Writesonic, can help customize content to fit your brand’s unique tone and style, and they offer options for bulk content generation to streamline the process.

Step 5: Publish pages and monitor performance

Now that you have the content ready, it’s time to publish it on your website. Follow these steps to ensure a smooth publishing process and effective performance monitoring:

• Sync with your CMS:

Once your content is ready, sync it with your website's CMS to start publishing.

• Address indexing challenges:

Publishing many pages at once can lead to indexing issues, making it hard to drive traffic initially. Implement a robust internal linking structure and dedicate time to contextual linking to avoid creating orphaned pages.

• Use no-code publishing tools:

You can use no-code tools like Zapier or WordPress plugins like WP All Import, or opt for solutions integrated with your CMS provider. Maintain a content calendar to help align content across channels and organize your publishing schedule.

• Update pages regularly:

Your work doesn’t end after publishing. Update each page whenever you edit the database to avoid constant manual updates.

• Monitor performance metrics:

Track website metrics such as traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, and click-through rate to quantify your content's performance. Use site audit tools to check for performance issues and get detailed tips on how to fix them.

5 Must-Try Programmatic SEO Tools

Unlock the benefit of these top five programmatic SEO tools to gain a competitive edge:

1. Writesonic

Writesonic offers a wide range of AI-powered tools that can simplify the keyword research process. Using its keyword research tool is straightforward—just enter the topic name, and it generates relevant keywords. This serves as a great starting point for creating SEO content.

Keyword research is an essential part of programmatic SEO. Writesonic analyzes search volumes, keyword difficulty, and click-through rates to provide valuable insights on the best keywords for maximum visibility and organic traffic.

Writesonic also has a great feature called ‘Answer The People.' This provides you with the questions people are asking on a specific topic, helping you find high-value long-tail keywords.

Features:

• AI Article Writer tool for creating highly informative, SEO-optimized articles, blogs, social media posts, white papers, newsletters, product descriptions, website content, etc.
• The SEO Checker and Optimizer improve your content's SEO score. The tool provides real-time suggestions by comparing your content with Google-friendly metrics
• The AI Content Gap Analyzer can help compare your content with competitors who are ranking on the search engines for the same keyword.
• Create engaging and value-adding Quora answers with Writesonic’s AI Quora Answer Generator within seconds.
• Turn AI-generated drafts into engaging and human-like content with the Free AI Text Humanizer Tool.

Pricing:

• Chatsonic: $12/month
• Individual: $16/month
• Standard: $79/month
• Enterprise: Starts at $9,999/ year pricing

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that provides in-depth insights into crucial website metrics. It helps with keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis.

The Keyword Explorer generates thousands of keyword ideas and clusters them instantly, while the Content Explorer analyzes organic traffic, backlinks, keyword rankings, and social shares over time.

Features:

• Extensive resources and community support for troubleshooting and learning.
• Detailed competitor analysis and backlink opportunities.
• Keyword Explorer for generating keyword ideas.
• Content Explorer for analyzing website performance metrics.

Pricing:

• Starter: $29/month
• Lite: $129/month
• Standard: $249/month
• Advanced: $449/month
• Enterprise: $14,990/year

3. Keyword Chef

Keyword Chef is a specialized tool created to make the keyword research process seamless. It helps you find low-competition keywords and search intents, which help drive more organic traffic to your programmatic pages.

This tool also features a bulk SERP analyzer to find keywords with ranking forums. Furthermore, you can upload custom keywords in bulk to check search volume and SERPs.

Features:

• Create keyword cluster by using the Smart Wildcard Search feature
• Remove junk keywords and find highly relevant keywords with Automatic Filtering for clear search intent
• In-depth keyword analysis and research to identify the most appropriate long-tail keywords

Pricing:

• Free Trial
• Starter: $29/month
• Plus: $69/month
• Pro: $119/month

4. PageFactory

PageFactory is designed to create SEO-optimized web pages in bulk. Using this tool's single-page template, thousands of web pages can be created easily in just a few clicks.

Each page is created based on specific search queries and the user's search intent.

PageFactory is also known for managing marketing campaigns, inputting data into templates, and publishing pages in minutes.

Features:

• Create an article for each row in your spreadsheet, replacing the template placeholders with data from the spreadsheet
• Allows you to map columns to your database
• Integrates with WordPress and WebFlow to make the publishing work seamless

Pricing:

Contact the sales team for pricing

5. Engyne

Engyne is a cutting-edge platform that combines data-driven insights with automation to optimize different elements of SEO. It does everything for you, from doing keyword research to generating optimized content to rank high on search engines.

While setting up a programmatic SEO collection, you can have a single page template and dynamic variables defined that modify as per the page title.

Features:

• Dynamic variable modification for template customization.
• SEO ROI Calculator to monitor revenue potential.
• Direct integration with Webflow, Framer, or Next.js.

Pricing:

• Starter: $49/month
• Growth: $199/month
• Scale: $499/month
• Enterprise: Contact sales team

Ready to Execute Your Programmatic SEO Strategy?

Programmatic SEO is not magic, but it can be a turning stone if executed correctly.

With so many easy-to-use programmatic SEO tools available, now is the perfect time to try and analyze the results. However, creating pages is just the beginning; regular monitoring and maintenance are important for success.

A single wrong move can result in your website being flagged as spam and losing traffic due to thin content. Therefore, you must be cautious while scaling and ensure proper indexing.

Choose a competent keyword research tool to find keywords that drive results and start your programmatic SEO journey.

Programmatic SEO, combined with the power of Writesonic, an all-in-one writing assistant, SEO toolkit, and chatbot, is the future of the content landscape.

Writesonic delivers SEO-optimized content that search engines and users want to see, along with unprecedented efficiencies.

Take the next step and schedule a demo!