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What is programmatic SEO for beginners? 10x Traffic Atscale

Searching for “what is programmatic SEO”? Simple, creating tons of pages dynamically at scale! That’s programmatic SEO.

Table of Contents

What Is Programmatic SEO?

It’s a technique where you can create thousands or even millions of landing pages dynamically using a template, a dataset, a head term and modifier (variables), and a plugin if you’re using WordPress, or a developer if you’re working with custom code.

Essentially, programmatic SEO helps scale your website’s content to target a vast array of keywords and search queries, making it highly effective for large-scale websites like e-commerce, marketplaces, and directories.


Why Is There a Need for Programmatic SEO?

So, why the need? It’s simple: scalability and efficiency.

Imagine having to create individual pages for every possible keyword combination related to your business. That’s incredibly time-consuming. Programmatic SEO automates this process, ensuring your site can cover more search queries and attract more traffic without manual page creation.


What Are the Things Needed to Implement Programmatic SEO?

  1. Template: A consistent page layout that can be used across multiple pages.
  2. Dataset: A structured collection of data that will fill your template, such as product details or location information.
  3. Head Term and Modifier: Keywords that change dynamically based on user queries.
  4. Plugin or Developer: Tools or expertise to automate the process of generating these pages.

Benefits of Programmatic SEO

The benefits of programmatic SEO are numerous:

  • Efficiency: Automate the creation of vast amounts of content.
  • Scalability: Easily manage thousands of pages.
  • Increased Traffic: Cover more keywords, attracting more visitors.
  • Personalization: Tailor content to specific search queries, improving user experience.

What’s the Difference Between Regular SEO and Programmatic SEO?

Regular SEO involves manually researching, writing, and optimizing each page. This process is detailed and time-consuming but allows for high-quality, targeted content.

Programmatic SEO, on the other hand, automates content creation at scale. It uses templates and data to produce many pages efficiently, each tailored to specific keywords and user intents. While it requires a solid setup, once in place, it can generate a significant amount of content quickly.

It’s the difference between handcrafting each page and using a machine to produce pages at scale.


What Tools Are Used in Programmatic SEO?

Popular tools include:

  • Google Docs, Apple notes or any other editor for creating a template. 
  • Excel or Google sheets for creating and managing datasets.
  • Kaggle or any other data exploring websites, for finding and downloading datasets for your needs.
  • Programmatic SEO plug-insor developers, for sinking your datasets, template and publishing all pages at scale dynamically.

How does Programmatic SEO Work?

1. Identify Your Unique, Valuable Data Sources.

To start with programmatic SEO, you must identify data sources unique to your business.

For example, if you run a coaching platform, your data could include coaches’ locations, specialties, availability, and pricing. This information, when organized and structured properly, can be used to create detailed, personalized pages for each search query.

Similarly, you can target multiple cities in your desired country for your specific services.

In this case, the number of cities will be your datasets for the specific country you’re targeting.

Just to tell you, I have did the same.

In my scenario, I used the head term as )Best SEO services in) and the modifier or a variable was )city names) in Pakistan.

Also check out How can you do SEO for real estate website?

2. Implement Keyword Research

When doing programmatic SEO, keyword research is slightly different. You’ll need to combine your head term and variable to make a long tail keyword.

For example, imagine you are creating a pet caring website, and you want to implement programmatic SEO.

In this case, your head term will be best food for and your variable will be pet breeds like: German Shepherd, Russian, Pomeranian, bulldog, etc.

When combined, it will make a complete long tail keyword, which will be dynamically replaced when a new page will be created like: best food for German Shepherd, best food for bulldog and so on. 

3. Develop a Page Template Structure.

Creating an effective page template involves understanding your user’s needs and search intents. Your templates should be designed to provide a seamless user experience, presenting the most relevant information upfront.

For example, if you’re creating pages for an e-commerce site, your template might include sections for product descriptions, reviews, and related products.

But make sure, when creating your template, you’ll need to use { and } within the variable, to specify that it’s the placeholder, which will be dynamically replaced when new page will be published.

For example: Best SEO services in is the head term and city names will be in brackets, to specify as the placeholder.

4. Finally, Launch Your Programmatic SEO Campaign.

Once your templates and data are ready, the next step is to launch your campaign. This involves creating as many page variants as possible, each targeting different keywords and search queries.

You can use programmatic SEO plug-ins to execute your programmatic SEO campaign.

Then, Monitor these pages’ performance and adjust your strategy as needed to maximize their effectiveness.


What Are Examples of Programmatic SEO?

Zapier: Creates pages that rank for specific software integration.

Screenshot taken from Google search, displaying how Zapeir used programmatic SEO
Notice how only the tool name changes, but everything else is same

TripAdvisor: Generates travel related pages with unique data for each place.

Screenshot taken from Google search, displaying how TripAdvisor used programmatic SEO


Shahnoorblogger: Use programmatic SEO to generate landing pages based on SEO services and specific locations.

Screenshot displaying service page of  Shahnoorblogger, where you can see I have targeted several cities.

    How Does Programmatic SEO Enhance Traffic and Conversions?

    By generating highly relevant pages based on specific queries, programmatic SEO ensures that users find precisely what they’re looking for.

    This relevance improves user satisfaction and  engagement, leading to increase in traffic and  higher conversion rates.

    What Are the Challenges of Programmatic SEO?

    The main challenge is maintaining quality and avoiding duplicate content issues. Each generated page must provide unique value to avoid penalties from search engines like Google.

    How Do You Avoid Duplicate Content with Programmatic SEO?

    Ensure that each page has unique content by using varied datasets and avoiding repetitive templates. User-generated content, such as reviews, can also add uniqueness to each page.

    Pro tip: The more number of variables you have in your datasets, the more unique, your content will be.

      What Should You Avoid in Programmatic SEO?

      Avoid creating low-quality, thin content pages, also known as doorway pages, which are solely designed to rank for specific queries without providing real value. Google penalizes such practices, so focus on creating valuable content.

      Dive deep in How does Spam score increase?

      What Type of Websites Can Use Programmatic SEO?

      Programmatic SEO can be used on any type of websites you are working on such as:

      1. Informational or blogging websites.
      2. E-commerce websites.
      3. Real estate property market Place websites.
      4. Tourism or travel websites
      5. Locational websites 

      A Word from SHAHNOORBLOGGER

      Hope this helps! Have any questions? Feel free to ask in comments.


      Frequently Asked Questions

      Should I do programmatic SEO, is it safe?

      Yes, you can use programmatic SEO and it’s 100% safe, if done correctly.
      Meaning: Your template should satisfy user search intent and it should provide information right away.

      If I do programmatic SEO, will I be plagiarised?

      Not at all, because how can you even plagiarise yourself?

      Does programmatic SEO requires coding?

      In 2024 and beyond, no, because now you can use several tools and plug-ins to sync your template, datasets, and create pages dynamically.
      But when working on custom coded, you might need a developer


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