How to Get Started with Programmatic SEO

Programmatic SEO means creating many pages from a template and a dataset, so that each page targets a specific search. It can work well, but publishing thousands of weak pages at once can also hurt a site. The safest way to start is small.

Step 1: Check that your idea fits

Programmatic SEO suits searches that repeat a pattern, such as "[tool] alternatives" or "[service] in [city]". It needs three things:

• People search for many variations of the pattern.
• You can get real data for each variation.
• Each page can be useful on its own, not just a copy with one word changed.

If you cannot answer yes to the last one, stop here. It is the point where most projects go wrong.

Step 2: Find your pattern

List the head term and the modifiers, for example "plumber" with a list of cities. Check demand in a keyword tool or your own Search Console data, then group the terms to see which variations really need their own page. Look at examples in other industries for ideas in our page pattern library.

Step 3: Look at what ranks

Search for a few variations. If the results are templated pages, the pattern can probably work. If they are all long editorial guides, a template may not satisfy that search. Note what the top pages include, because your page will need to match it.

Step 4: Build your dataset

Create one row per page and one column per piece of content. Use sources you are allowed to publish, and check a sample by hand. Our guide to SEO datasets explains how to check a source, and you can start from a free dataset.

Step 5: Design one template

Write one page by hand first, as well as you can. Then mark which parts come from the data. If most of the page stays the same from row to row, add more data or a more useful section. Make sure each page gets its own title, description and internal links.

Step 6: Publish a small test batch

Publish a batch you can review by hand, for example 20 to 50 pages. Read a random sample as if you were the searcher. Link to the pages from your site so that Google can find them, and add them to your sitemap.

Step 7: Measure before you scale

Give the batch several weeks. In Search Console, check three things:

• Indexing: did Google index the pages?
• Impressions: do they appear for the searches you targeted?
• Results: do visitors take the action you care about?

If many pages are left unindexed, improve the template before adding more. Scaling a page Google does not want only gives you more of the same problem.

Next step

For a fuller walkthrough, take the free programmatic SEO course, or try the page generator with your own data.