Search engine algorithms change constantly – but effective search engine optimization has always relied on a few key principles. In my experience, creating content that’s relevant and useful to users is still the best way to increase the visibility of your site in search. The tactics and optimizations we pursue may change, but we’re still trying to deliver valuable content that serves our ideal audience.
Programmatic SEO (sometimes called pSEO) is an emergent practice that, at its heart, is an attempt to do that on a much larger scale with the help of AI and other automated tools. In essence, programmatic SEO uses templated pages and AI content generators to produce and publish massive amounts of keyword-focused content.
In very specific cases, programmatic SEO is a powerful tactic. But when done poorly, it can dramatically harm your keyword rankings and your overall user experience.
What Is Programmatic SEO?
Programmatic SEO is the practice of generating large volumes of keyword-optimized web pages using automation. To do this, SEOs feed their existing site data into automated tools that automatically generate content according to a predesigned page template.
The goal is to create unique, keyword-optimized pages that target as many separate keywords as possible.
With the right model, programmatic SEO can generate thousands of pages in mere moments. It’s particularly popular for sites targeting long-tail keywords – low-competition, low-traffic keywords that can add up to a lot of new traffic if targeted en masse.
If you’ve booked a vacation recently or tried to research your destination with the help of a search engine, then you’ve encountered programmatic SEO. The pages and pages of auto-generated lists created by TripAdvisor and other review/booking sites use a programmatic model to create those pages.
This process already demanded very little human intervention. Now, with the advent of more powerful AI tools, programmatic SEO can be done with virtually no human interaction once they’re set up.
Should I Use Programmatic SEO?
Programmatic SEO has its benefits. It even has the potential to improve the user experience. If done well, an automated content generation model can work (and has) in a few specific scenarios.
Websites with vast amounts of data that can be structured and templated are ideal candidates for programmatic SEO. Some examples include:
- E-commerce websites: Generate unique pages for every variation of a product.
- Real estate platforms: Create individual pages for each property listing or particular search categories.
- Travel and booking sites: Target specific location-based searches and other travel-related terms at-scale.
- Large-scale resource/listing sites: Job boards, as an example, can quickly generate unique pages for each job listing.
- Local businesses: Local SEO is all about long-tail keywords modified by location, which makes the ability to quickly generate location-targeted content a powerful tool.
For sites like these, programmatic SEO has a few obvious benefits:
1. Scalability
Traditional SEO methods can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially when dealing with large websites. Programmatic SEO, on the other hand, allows for the rapid creation of thousands of pages, each optimized for specific search queries.
2. Efficiency
Instead of manually crafting each page, website owners can use templates to generate pages dynamically based on structured data. This not only saves time (and money) but can also help with offering consistent layouts across the site.
3. Enhanced User Experience
If a user is searching for “blue running shoes size 10” and arrives at a programmatically generated page relevant to that search, that’s a positive user experience. Creating that experience, however, is dependent on proper setup of your automation tool and content model.
The Risks of Programmatic SEO
Programmatic SEO is not a good fit for every site. It’s also not an AI-fueled shortcut to #1 rankings on Google. Spammy, low-quality content will ultimately harm any site’s rankings, AI-generated or not. If you’re looking into programmatic SEO for a large website, just make sure to keep a few of these challenges in mind:
1. Quality Control
One of the primary risks of programmatic SEO is the potential for poor-quality content. Automation can lead to the generation of pages that are thin, repetitive, or lack value for users. If search engines detect that a site is filled with low-quality content, it will eventually be penalized, whether through lower rankings or even de-indexing from search.
2. Duplicate Content
Programmatically generated pages can sometimes lead to duplicate content issues, especially if the content is not sufficiently unique or is repeated across multiple pages. This can confuse search engines and dilute the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
3. Technical Challenges
Setting up a programmatic SEO system can be technically challenging, particularly for those without a strong background in web development or data management. Ensuring that the system functions correctly, integrates with your existing website platform, and produces SEO-friendly pages requires careful planning and execution.
4. Over-Reliance on Automation
While automation is a key component of programmatic SEO, it’s important not to rely on it exclusively. AI frequently makes mistakes, as even OpenAI acknowledges. Without human oversight, automated systems tend to produce subpar content with false information that may or may not be relevant to users.
5. Penalties
Search engines, particularly Google, are continuously refining their algorithms to prioritize high-quality, user-centric content. If a programmatic SEO strategy results in a large volume of low-quality pages, the site could be penalized. This might not only hurt the site’s rankings but could also lead to a loss of credibility with users.
Programmatic SEO Tools
Programmatic SEO hinges on two main functions: gathering data from the site to guide new content and using automatically generated content to rapidly create those new pages.
Most programmatic SEO tools handle one of these functions but not the other.
- Scrapy, for example, is a popular open-source tool for extracting website data that you can use in programmatic SEO content templates. This assumes that you have the technical and SEO expertise on hand to process that data and identify new keyword opportunities.
- Tools like frase, on the other hand, focus entirely on AI-driven content generation based on data the user provides. If you have data processing expertise but no SEOs on staff, tools like this might be the right fit for you.
- If you don’t have either, you may need a more comprehensive solution. A good example is Letterdrop, a tool designed by former Google employees that automatically pulls data from a wide range of sources (even sales calls) and identifies new keyword opportunities from that data. It then uses AI-generated content to build those pages for you based on pre-set templates, allowing you to stay ahead of what your customers are looking for.
- Some content management systems also have pSEO features included with their toolset. Webflow is a prime example, but WordPress plugins can also make it much easier to quickly generate new content.
As with any investment in new software, it’s best to understand exactly what you need the tool to do before investing. The more features you need, the more expensive the tool will be. It’s worth weighing the cost with how much time the tool might save you and your team.
Don’t forget to also weigh the pros and cons of programmatic SEO listed above before investing in a pSEO tool.
Programmatic SEO: Powerful in the Right Hands
Approaching programmatic SEO with a clear strategy, technical expertise, and focus on quality content is critical to the method’s success. It’s not a good fit for every website – or every marketing team.
Getting it right can have major benefits, as many large-scale websites have shown. But simply producing massive amounts of content isn’t enough to make it work. Effective programmatic SEO takes careful content modeling and constant governance to keep the new users coming.
Need assistance with your SEO strategy or implementation? Reach out! Our expert SEO and content strategy team is ready to help.