In the ever-evolving landscape of search engine optimization (SEO), staying ahead of the curve is crucial for you to drive traffic to your website.
Programmatic SEO offers the opportunity not only to keep up but also thrive. It streamlines and automates the process of optimizing your web pages, helping you achieve higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
To give you a better understanding, I’ll delve deep into the concept of programmatic SEO, with some input from industry experts. This article will:
- Explore its benefits and challenges
- Identify essential tools for programmatic SEO
- Discuss best practices
What is programmatic SEO?
Programmatic SEO is the application of automation and technology — such as artificial intelligence (AI) and various algorithms — to streamline SEO processes, allowing you to publish optimized landing pages at scale.
Programmatic SEO software, meanwhile, uses data sets to generate similar but nevertheless distinct landing pages, each targeting a specific keyword. Some even incorporate large language models (LLMs) like GPT-3 to help write unique content for every page.
For instance, thanks to programmatic SEO, TripAdvisor is often one of the top results when searching “best things to do in X city.”
Besides the company’s sponsored paid ad near the top, you can also see TripAdvisor’s the top organic search result once you scroll down.
However, due to programmatic SEO’s nature, all of TripAdvisor’s landing pages have similar layouts and structures — but the content of each is different.
As an example, the above image is what you see after clicking on the company’s page about “THE 15 BEST Things to Do in NYC.”
Meanwhile, this page displays when you search “best things to do in manchester city,” then visit “THE 15 BEST Things to Do in Manchester” page.
How does programmatic SEO work?
This type of SEO employs software to automate certain aspects of your SEO strategy, such as:
- The analysis of search engine algorithms
- The optimization of your content
- The monitoring of keywords, backlinks, and other SEO metrics
- The implementation of tactics to improve your website’s rankings
The focus of programmatic SEO is making data-driven optimizations to ensure your website is primed for all major search engines.
Additionally, by automating certain tasks, you save time and resources, which allows you to give attention to other important facets of your SEO strategy.
Pros and cons of programmatic SEO
Similar to any other aspect of eCommerce though, programmatic SEO has its advantages and disadvantages, which I’ve broken down in detail.
Programmatic SEO benefits
Increased efficiency
“What I like about using AI for programmatic SEO is that it allows me to effectively automate complex tasks such as rank tracking or link building without having to dedicate too much time to them manually…. It all just works silently in the background, taking away some of our workloads, so we can focus on more critical areas like growing our client base or improving customer service standards instead!”
– Maria Harutyunyan, Loopex Digital Co-founder & Head of SEO
As Maria mentioned, programmatic SEO enables you to automate the tedious tasks associated with SEO, such as:
- Link building
- Content creation and optimization
- Keyword research
- And more
Streamlining them saves time and lets you redirect your attention to more important activities that’ll grow your business further.
Increased visibility
“Another area where AI and machine learning have been beneficial is in content creation and optimization. AI algorithms can analyze existing content and provide insights on how to optimize it for search engines. They can suggest improvements in keyword usage, content structure, and readability, which can lead to better search engine visibility and user engagement.”
– Mohit Maheshwari, NMG Digital Founder & Director
Organic search accounts for 53.3% of all website traffic, while organic click-through rates (CTRs) for ranks 1 to 10 on Google’s SERPs range from 2.4% to 27.6%, respectively.
Since programmatic SEO techniques let you scale your content creation and optimization efforts (which helps you rank more web pages), you also enjoy more people seeing your website and on more SERPs.
Better targeting
“One approach I’ve found particularly effective is using AI-powered tools to enhance keyword research. By leveraging natural language processing algorithms, you can quickly extract key phrase clusters from your content that are important for optimization. This helps ensure greater relevance and accuracy while also enabling the identification of long-tail keywords related to the primary topic.”
– Maria Harutyunyan, Loopex Digital Co-founder & Head of SEO
Programmatic SEO’s data-driven approaches help you target specific audiences more effectively. Software can identify keywords that match your audience intent and thus improve your research precision.
It can even conduct comprehensive audits to identify SEO issues and provide optimization recommendations.
Improved personalization
That stronger targeting also ensures users receive information relevant to their specific location, interests, and needs, which enhances personalization.
And, since 71% of consumers now expect tailored experiences (with 76% becoming frustrated when they don’t get them), programmatic SEO can help you increase customer satisfaction and build a positive reputation.
Cost savings
The cost of SEO can vary for each business depending on the arrangement:
- Those paying a monthly retainer typically spend $500 to $1,500 a month
- The most popular hourly rate is $75 to $100
- One-off projects can net $2,501 to $5,000 each
Its affordability, however, comes from its ROI, which is around $2.75 for every dollar spent. Further, because programmatic SEO automates time-consuming processes, scales your efforts, and helps you achieve higher rankings faster and more effectively, you can:
- Reduce labor costs
- Allocate resources more efficiently
- Enjoy higher ROI for less spend
Reduced risk
Programmatic SEO uncovers comprehensive insights into your content and activities. For example, software can crawl your website, find broken links, analyze your page titles and meta data, visualize site architecture, and generate reports.
Those activities provide a more detailed analysis compared to traditional SEO methods and can include the tracking of data from social media, as well as mobile and desktop devices. With that valuable information, you can then:
- Identify what is and isn’t working
- Develop corrective measures and strategies
- Pinpoint what’s effective and allocate resources accordingly
Overall, it minimizes human error and enables marketers to make more informed decisions, reducing the risk of investing in ineffective campaigns.
Programmatic SEO challenges
AI has its limitations
“AI-powered tools are only as good as the data they are trained on, so it’s crucial to ensure the quality and relevance of the data used in training the algorithms. There is also the risk of overreliance on AI tools, which can lead to a lack of human creativity and intuition in SEO strategies. It’s essential to strike a balance between leveraging AI capabilities and incorporating human expertise in decision-making.”
– Mohit Maheshwari, NMG Digital Founder & Director
Despite offering lots of conveniences, AI can’t replace the abilities of skilled personnel, so it’s best to leverage a healthy mix of both. If the AI user doesn’t know how to provide the right prompts, or context, your results may not be viable.
An example from Maria of Loopex was: “when running a competitor analysis, my most competent team member may choose certain metrics to prioritize according to their strategic marketing expertise, whereas bots only apply algorithmic formulas based solely on numbers. As a result, you end up seeing focal points where no insight is really gained or, worse, actionable intelligence glossed over, leading to poor decision-making down the line.”
Output can be repetitive
“AI content can be repetitive. If you use these tools to generate a lot of content, you may find that some of it is similar to other ones that they’ve previously created. Their content can also be unoriginal. Sometimes, they will produce output that’s similar to what’s been published elsewhere.”
– Linh Khanh, GameDayr General Editor
Experts have pointed out how AI is reliant on the data it’s trained on, and this also applies to content creation, as it tends to base its output on what’s already been published. Your best way of countering this is to incorporate human creativity.
Difficulty scaling
When implementing programmatic SEO, it can be difficult to scale the process for larger or multiple websites. Managing and optimizing the vast amount of content requires careful planning, coordination, and continuous monitoring.
Not to mention, these setups need protocols that ensure the proper optimization of all pages, which can be time-consuming and complex to construct. It may require an investment of more resources as well.
Accuracy in measuring results
While programmatic SEO can improve ranking and visibility, accurately measuring its impact can be difficult. Compounding the issue, it typically takes three to six months for concrete SEO results to materialize.
And, when they do manifest, there are other variables you need to consider as well. For example, did your SEO software miss something an experienced specialist would’ve noticed? Are you tracking the right metrics, or using the right analytics tools?
As a result, measuring your success and determining whether programmatic SEO is worth the investment becomes a challenge.
Keeping up with algorithm changes
Successful programmatic SEO requires you to follow best practices, which are based on search engine algorithms. However, these algorithms change frequently.
In fact, Google reported that, in 2021 alone, they ran more than 700K experiments that resulted in over 4K improvements to their search engine!
Regularly updating your programmatic SEO protocols to keep up with so many adjustments is thus a burdensome undertaking that’s necessary to ensure you maintain best practices.
Programmatic SEO tools
Now that you have an overview of programmatic SEO, I’ll show you some tools that’ll help you implement it effectively. The following are notable ones that industry experts recommend adopting.
Alli AI
This AI-powered tool lets you manage on-page SEO in bulk, easily edit content and code, deploy changes in real time, and automatically conduct testing and site speed optimizations.
Top features:
- Bulk on-page optimization
- In-browser content editor
- Real-time deployment
- Automated A/B testing
- Site speed optimizer
Price:
- $249 to $999 per month
- $24.99 to $9.99 per extra 100 keywords
- $19.00 to $4.99 per extra 250 pages
BrightEdge
BrightEdge provides AI-powered SEO and content marketing solutions such as performance tracking, keyword research, and content optimization. Use this tool to develop SEO strategies that engage customers along their journey.
Top features:
- Keyword ranking management
- Actionable market insights
- SEO forecasting
- Competitor analysis
- Page reporting
- SEO recommendations
Price: Pricing info upon request
MarketMuse
MarketMuse’s solutions leverage AI to identify content gaps, keyword opportunities, and data-driven recommendations to optimize your content and improve your SEO approach.
Top features:
- Content planning
- Content cluster creation and analysis
- Competitive analysis
- Comprehensive keyword data
- High-quality brief builder
- Content optimization
Price: Free to custom pricing
Quick Creator
“Quick Creator is an AI-Powered tool to create SEO-friendly landing pages quickly and easily. You just need to fill in ideas, and it will create them for you”
– Linh Khanh, GameDayr General Editor
This solution streamlines landing page creation, effectively scaling your SEO efforts. Besides the main product, it provides a suite of SEO tools as well.
Features:
- GPT-powered landing page creator
- Unique landing pages for various audiences
- Mobile-responsive pages
- Design templates
Price: $19.90 to custom pricing
Loyae Beta
“A CMS plugin for automatic technical SEO, [Loyae] uses natural language processing [NLP] for website optimization. It can also automatically generate meta descriptions, keywords, etc., and alt text for images.”
– Linh Khanh, GameDayr General Editor
Loyae Beta also possesses features for website usability and accessibility.
Features:
- Diagnostic tool provides insight on request speed, file sizes, and more
- AI-generated meta tags and alt text
- Direct CMS integration
Price: Free; waitlist sig-nup required for plugin
SEOmatic
“With a large dataset for all niches, [SEOmatic] helps you generate dynamic content, display with listicles, and conditional rendering based on keywords for more unique content.”
– Linh Khanh, GameDayr General Editor
This AI-powered tool allows you to create SEO-friendly pages at scale using your own or their datasets. You can leverage AI to find relevant datasets in their database as well as create custom copy to target low competition keyphrases at scale.
Features:
- Keyword research
- Datasets for multiple niches
- Dynamic content and updates
- CMS integrations
- Multi-language capabilities
Price:
- $39 to $299 based on how many AI-written words you need per month, websites, and pages per project
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
SEO Spider is a website crawler that analyzes your website for technical SEO issues, identifies broken links, audits metadata, and generates XML sitemaps for better optimization.
Features:
- Conducts SEO audits
- Visualizes site architecture
- Integrations for Google Analytics, Search Console, and more
- Technical support
Price: Free to $259 per license per year
Semrush
Semrush offers a suite of SEO tools to help you do keyword research, audit your website, review internal and external backlinks, optimize your ads and social media, and more.
Features:
- Keyword research
- On-site and local SEO
- Rank tracking and link building
- Competitor analysis
Price: $119.95 to $449.95/month
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is great for keyword and website analysis, and provides tools to help website managers check their links, rankings, and overall site health. The tool also comes with a centralized dashboard for simpler tracking and analytics.
Features:
- SEO dashboard
- Site explorer and audit
- Rank tracker
- Keyword explorer
Price: $99 to custom pricing
Moz
Moz provides keyword research tools, rank and link tracking, site audits, and more. It has many free tools, making it a good choice for budget-conscious organizations.
Features:
- Site crawling and auditing
- Competitor research
- On-page optimization
- Link research
- Custom reporting
Price: Free to $599/month
Lumar (formerly Deepcrawl)
Lumar is a website intelligence solution that provides detailed insights on technical SEO and accessibility issues, as well as automates SEO quality assurance (QA).
Features:
- Website audits and monitoring
- SEO strategy and QA
- Accessibility audits
Price: Pricing info upon request
Seobility
Seobility offers an all-in-one suite of tools designed for top-notch programmatic SEO.
Features:
- Website crawling and auditing
- Keyword checking and Google rank tracking
- Backlink building and checking
- Monitoring and reporting
Price: Free to $200
Google Search Console
Google Search Console provides valuable insights into website performance, indexing status, and issues that may affect your visibility on Google’s SERPs.
Features:
- Search analytics
- Website crawling
- Email alerts about website issues
- URL inspection tool
Price: Free
Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing Webmaster Tools’ functionalities are similar to Google Search Console’s, providing insights into website performance and search visibility on Bing. It does, however, offer more tools.
Features:
- Dashboard
- Backlinks and keyword research
- SEO reporting
- Website auditing
Price: Free
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights analyzes website performance and provides suggestions for improving page speed — a crucial factor for better user experience (UX) and SEO.
Features:
- Real UX data
- UX quality classification
- Performance metrics
- Core Web Vitals
- Lighthouse
Price: Free
Google Analytics
Although not an AI tool, you can use Google Analytics in your programmatic SEO arsenal to get insights into your SEO, organic traffic, user behavior, and page-to-page conversions. Overall, this tool is great for monitoring key metrics that measure performance, as well as identifying areas of improvement.
Features:
- Site and app user data
- Performance metrics for marketing, content, and more
- Google insights
- Machine learning capabilities
Price: Free
Best practices for programmatic SEO
With the foundation laid, learning programmatic SEO best practices and then choosing tools that fit your business should be simpler. I’ve broken down some of the foremost strategies below to help you along your journey.
Start with a comprehensive SEO audit
A comprehensive audit should be the first step in any programmatic SEO strategy. It serves as an overall SEO health check for your website and typically covers areas like:
- Keyword research and competitor benchmarking
- Indexing and crawlability
- Website architecture and UX
- On-page SEO and your backlink profile
This evaluation helps you identify any existing SEO issues hindering your website’s performance. It can also show you opportunities to focus on as you begin building your programmatic SEO strategy.
Leverage AI
”At GameDayr, we are leveraging AI for programmatic SEO and for keywords with high search volume that don’t require much human research efforts. The most outstanding benefit is, of course, accelerating the content creation process, which allows you to publish a large number of articles and landing pages. This literally helps you save time and effort.”
– Linh Khanh, GameDayr General Editor
AI can bolster your programmatic SEO strategy in multiple ways:
- It allows search engines to better understand the content of your website and focus on more relevant results.
- You can use AI algorithms for automatic content generation and optimization to elevate search engine rankings.
- It helps identify search engine trends and patterns, allowing marketers to adjust their strategies accordingly.
- AI can help marketers identify new keywords to target and potential link opportunities, as well as monitor their SEO performance.
Research keywords to target
“One of the key areas where AI has made a significant impact is in keyword research and analysis. AI-powered tools can analyze large volumes of data to identify relevant keywords and phrases that have high search volumes and low competition. This helps in optimizing website content and targeting the right keywords to improve organic rankings.”
– Mohit Maheshwari, NMG Digital Founder & Director
According to Ahrefs, 94.74% of keywords net just 10 monthly searches or fewer. Meanwhile, only 0.10% to 0.0008% enjoy volumes exceeding 1K or 100K searches a month, respectively.
Given that large difference, identifying the right keywords is vital, and you’ll need proper research to accomplish that. It’s a non-negotiable practice in programmatic SEO as well.
For example, only a few users may search for them, but are they high-purchase intent keywords that can further your business goals?
“AI also helps with predictive analytics. For instance, by analyzing historical search data coupled with current web traffic patterns, AI-enabled tools can provide detailed insights into which pages or topics are likely to get more traction over competing sites.”
– Maria Harutyunyan, Loopex Digital Co-founder & Head of SEO
You can supplement your keyword research with predictive analytics and other useful tools as well. With Google Keyword Planner, for instance, you can determine which keywords are most relevant to your business and possess the highest potential for generating organic traffic.
Optimize your content for search engines
Once you’ve identified the most relevant keywords for your website, you can optimize the content you create for higher search engine rankings. That includes titles, headings, meta descriptions, and URLs. You can also run a content audit and update on what you currently have to refine your existing pieces.
Build quality backlinks
Quality backlinks are essential for improving your website’s visibility in SERPs. In fact, it’s one of Google’s top ranking factors, as Andrey Lipattsev confirmed, who was then Google’s Search Quality Senior Strategist.
To gain quality backlinks from authoritative websites, employ link-building tactics like:
- Analyzing competitor backlinks – This pinpoints what types of content are most effective for attracting backlinks in your industry.
- Using HARO (Help a Reporter Out) – Journalists need experts’ opinions about the topics they cover, and the HARO platform is designed for that purpose. Reputable media outlets use it as well. If one cites you in their writing, it’s highly likely they’ll link to your website.
- Answering queries on Help a B2B Writer – Writers can submit queries for experts in different areas to answer. The quotes of this article came in as a response to a query I had submitted asking about programmatic SEO results, best practices, and tools.
- Guest blogging – Writing and publishing a blog post for another website will usually gain you a backlink, but make sure you do it with organizations or key opinion leaders relevant to your niche so you produce valuable content.
Monitor and measure performance
“AI-powered tools have also been helpful in monitoring and analyzing website performance. They can track key SEO metrics, such as organic traffic, rankings, and backlinks, and provide actionable insights to improve performance. AI algorithms can identify patterns and trends in data, helping in making data-driven decisions for SEO optimization.”
– Mohit Maheshwari, NMG Digital Founder & Director
Monitor and measure your website’s performance to ensure your programmatic SEO efforts pay off. These actions help you identify areas for improvement, which then guide you to adjust your strategies.
You can adopt a tool like Google Analytics to track SEO metrics such as:
- Organic traffic – How many clicks you receive from SERPs without paying for any ad placements
- Referral sources – Measures referral traffic (visitors who land on your website by clicking a link from another source) and indicates whether your backlink efforts worked
- Keyword rankings – Your organic ranking in SERPs for specific search queries (ranking well for keywords that are relevant to your brand is crucial)
- Click-through rate (CTR) – The percentage of search users who visit your website after encountering your web page in SERPs
- Conversion rates – The percentage of website visitors who make a purchase or take desired actions like filling out a contact form or subscribing to a newsletter
- Bounce rates – The number of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page
- Time on page – The time difference between loading one page and then clicking on another (this indicates how effective your website is at engaging visitors)
Programmatic SEO FAQs
Finally, with all bases covered, I’ll answer some questions people typically ask about programmatic SEO.
What types of organizations should use programmatic SEO?
Programmatic SEO is so versatile, it can be advantageous for organizations of all sizes and industries. It helps streamline and scale SEO efforts, whether it’s a small brand looking to increase online visibility or a large enterprise juggling multiple websites.
How can I get started with programmatic SEO?
Kick things off by familiarizing yourself with programmatic SEO’s key concepts. Understanding how it works, as well as its benefits and drawbacks will prepare you for any challenges you may face as a beginner.
Then, learn about various tools and best practices to find what works best for your business. If you have the budget, partnering with an experienced SEO agency or hiring an in-house specialist can significantly smooth the path forward since they’ll guide you through the implementation process.
What metrics should I track to measure the success of my programmatic SEO efforts?
I previously mentioned a few vital metrics but, to reiterate, below are some that gauge the effectiveness of your programmatic SEO initiatives and can help you make data-driven optimizations:
- Organic traffic
- Referral sources
- Keyword rankings
- CTR
- Conversion rates
- Bounce rates
- Time on page
How often should I update my programmatic SEO strategy?
Programmatic SEO is a continuous, long-term process, and how often you should reevaluate your strategy will depend on factors like search engine algorithm changes and industry trends.
Before you adjust course to keep ahead of your competition, you need to stay informed and aim for consistent improvement. I previously mentioned how clear SEO results can take a quarter to half a year to manifest as well, so patience is a necessity.
How does programmatic SEO differ from traditional SEO?
The key difference between the two is how technology is applied. Programmatic SEO leverages automation, AI, and data-driven insights to streamline and scale one’s optimization efforts. Traditional SEO, on the other hand, often involves more manual tasks.
Wrapping up — Scale your optimization efforts with programmatic SEO
Programmatic SEO lets you harness automation, AI, and data-driven insights to streamline your SEO efforts. Overall, this approach offers you the opportunity to build high-traffic pages at scale.
As industry experts state, programmatic SEO has both strengths and weaknesses that must be considered for it to succeed. It’s also an ongoing, long-term process, so, to stay competitive in the programmatic SEO race, make sure you’re well informed and leverage tools like the ones listed above to help you implement its best practices.