An Introduction To Pages At Scale

Programmatic SEO is an approach to SEO and content creation which uses automation and technology to efficiently create, optimize and manage a large volume of websites.

It is especially useful for websites that require thousands or even millions of pages to rank for different search queries.

E-commerce giants like Amazon or travel websites like Expedia rely on programmatic SEO to dynamically generate pages for each product, location or service they offer.

The strength of programmatic SEO lies in its ability to handle such scale while maintaining a focus on relevant keywords, content structureand user intent.

Defining your goals

Before you start with programmatic SEO, define your goals.

Do you want to increase organic traffic, rank for more keywords or improve user experience?

Clear goals guide your strategy and measure success.

1. Set KPIs: Use metrics like traffic growth, conversions and progress tracking rankings.
2. Find options: Research your industry and competitors to discover untapped keywords or markets.
3. Prioritize user intent: Create content that answers questions and solves user problems.

Programmatic keyword research

IN traditional keyword researchthe goal is often to identify keywords with high search volume that can drive significant traffic to a website.

However, these keywords usually come with a lot of competition, making it a challenge for newer or smaller websites to rank well in search engine results.

Programmatic SEO takes a different approach targeting low search volume and low competition, long tail keywords.

This strategy focuses on creating a large number of pages optimized for specific queries, allowing you to rank more easily and attract a highly targeted audience.

Keywords in programmatic SEO consist of two main components:

Main conditions

Main terms are broad keywords that describe a general topic or category. Main terms often have the following characteristics:

• High average monthly search volume.
• They tend to be “short-tailed”.
• Have multiple interpretations in common.
• They tend to be more stable SERPs with lots of competition targeting the query.

Examples include keywords such as “enable software”, “winter holidays in the sun” or “crm software”.

Modifiers

Modifiers are words or phrases that add specificity to main expressions, and will vary greatly from sector to sector.

Modifiers are easy to recognize because they follow patterns, which again vary between different sectors.

Common examples of modifiers include:

• “for SaaS.”
• “for employment agencies.”
• “for accountants.”
• “best practices.”
• “2025.”

Unlike head terms, apart from occasional spikes in traffic, the average monthly search volume tends to be lower, but combined with head terms they create more targeted queries with a more focused intent. It helps capture visibility with target audiences and consumers who may be showing intent.

Combined with the main terms, we call these keywords the “long tail”.

Reliable datasets

To effectively scale programmatic SEO, you need a reliable data set that can generate unique, valuable and relevant pages.

Depending on the types of pages you create, you need to understand and anticipate the frequency of data changes and how your infrastructure will handle the changes.

Many platforms provide APIs that you can use to retrieve structured data.

This includes:

• Yelp API: For local business details.
• OpenWeather API: For weather data.
• Google Maps API: For location-based information.

Your own proprietary data can also be a valuable resource for programming sites. These can be:

• E-commerce product catalogs.
• CRM data with user- or location-specific insights.
• Inventory databases, such as hotel room availability or property listings.

Programmatic keyword clustering

Organizing your keywords into logical clusters is a powerful way to streamline the content creation process.

You can develop scalable template-based pages that increase relevance to users and search engines by using these clusters.

This approach allows for efficiency and customization while aligning with search intent.

Grouping also allows for seamless automation and reduces the possibility of creating large sections of pages with almost dual intents and purposes.

1. Categorize by intent

Start by grouping your keywords according to them search intent. This ensures that your content responds to specific user needs, such as:

• Informative: Answering questions or providing knowledge. Example: What are the best coffee shops in Boston?
• Transactional: Enabling actions such as purchase or reservation. Example: Order coffee beans online in Boston.
• Navigational: Helping users locate specific places or brands. Example: Starbucks locations in Boston.

2. Define pages based on patterns

Once you’ve categorized your keywords, identify common patterns to create flexible templates. This strategy helps structure content consistently across multiple pages.

• Location-Specific Templates:
  • Format: [Category] in [Location].
  • Example: hotels in Paris.
• Feature-specific templates:
  • Format: [Product] with [Feature].
  • Example: smartphones with the best cameras.
• Use case-specific templates:
  • Format: [Service] for [Audience/Use Case].
  • Example: CRMs for the hospitality industry.

3. Expand with modifiers

Improve clusters by including frequently requested modifiers to make the content more comprehensive:

• Modifiers related to price: Add terms like cheap, affordable, or luxury.
• Modifiers related to time: Include phrases like “near me now” or “open late.”
• Specific characteristics: Highlight features like “with a pool,” “pet friendly,” or “free shipping.”

4. Combine variations

Use combinations of templates, categories, and modifiers to address long-tail keywords and niche queries. Examples include:

• Pet Friendly Hotels in Chicago with Free Breakfast.
• The best Italian restaurants in New York are open late.

Programmatic SEO relies on automated systems to generate great content, reducing the manual workload involved in traditional SEO efforts.

Automation allows companies to quickly create pages that meet different user needs, ensuring coverage of both broad and highly specific search terms.

Programmatic SEO challenges

Programmatic SEO can offer tremendous scalability and efficiency, but it’s not always the right approach for every website.

A manual SEO strategy may be better for small sites or those that require significant customization.

However, when using programmatic SEO, it’s important to address potential challenges to ensure success.

Over prioritizing keywords

Automation should never compromise the quality of the user experience. Pages must provide meaningful, accurate and interesting content that effectively responds to user queries.

Over-emphasizing keywords can result in content that feels unnatural or over-optimized. This can hurt user experience and reduce click-through rates.

Avoid keyword stuffing and prioritize readability and relevance instead. Make sure your content provides value by comprehensively answering user queries.

Indexing and indexing issues

Large websites with programmatically generated pages can face challenges possibility of crawling and indexing. If pages lack structure or unique value, Google may have trouble indexing them properly.

To mitigate these issues, in addition to improving the overall quality of the page to demonstrate unique value and useful purpose, you can optimize:

• Internal connection: Implement a robust internal linking strategy to help search engines discover and prioritize pages.
• Backlinks: Get backlinks to improve visibility and boost crawling.
• Sitemaps: Use an XML website map and adhere to Google’s limit of 50,000 URLs per sitemap. Organize your sitemap logically by grouping pages into categories or topics.

These steps will improve indexing and potentially move pages above Google’s indexing threshold. If problems persist, the focus should be on reducing content and improving quality.

Thin content

Thin content it has no value for users and does not meet Google’s quality standards. Pages with minimal or irrelevant information are unlikely to rank well.

Weak content can be addressed in several ways:

1. Remove low value content: Remove outdated or irrelevant pages that offer little benefit to users or your SEO strategy.
2. Improve the quality of your content: Add meaningful text, descriptive titles, and relevant multimedia content such as images or videos.
3. Merge pages: Consolidate thin content pages into a single, comprehensive piece to increase relevance and depth.

Final thoughts

When implemented effectively, programmatic SEO can drive significant organic traffic, expand market reach, and establish a competitive advantage.

However, achieving success requires a thoughtful balance of strategic planning, technical optimization, and a commitment to delivering value to customers.

More resources:

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