programmatic-seo

Programmatic SEO Skill

Programmatic SEO turns a data set + a template into hundreds or thousands of pages that each target a specific

long-tail query ("best [tool] for [use case]", "[city] [service]"). Done well it captures huge long-tail

demand; done badly it's thin doorway spam that gets deindexed. This skill plans the good version — real

data, real value per page, and the guardrails to stay on the right side of that line.

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• The business & the money pages — what you sell and what these pages should drive (signups, leads).
• The pattern — the head term + the modifiers (e.g. [integration] + alternatives, [role] + templates).
• The data — what data set powers the pages, and where it comes from (is it real and maintained?).
• Competition & intent — who ranks now and what the searcher actually wants on the page.

Output Format

Programmatic SEO plan: [pattern]

1. The page model — head term × modifier(s) → URL pattern, and the realistic page count. Prioritise the modifier sets with real search volume and commercial/informational intent.

2. Page template — the sections every page has, and what makes each page genuinely useful (unique data, comparisons, specifics) — not just swapped keywords. Show the template with data placeholders.

3. Data schema — the fields each page needs, the source, and how it stays fresh. (No data = thin page.)

4. Quality guardrail — the bar a page must clear to be published (enough unique value, real data, intent match). Pages that can't clear it shouldn't exist. How to avoid near-duplicate/thin pages.

5. Internal linking & indexation — hub/spoke linking, sitemaps, and a phased rollout (publish a quality batch, confirm it indexes and ranks, then scale) rather than dumping 5,000 pages day one.

6. Measurement — what to watch (indexed %, rankings, traffic, conversion) and the kill criterion for pages that never rank.

Quality Checks

• [ ] The page pattern targets real long-tail demand with clear intent, not just keyword permutations
• [ ] Each page has a source of unique value (real data/comparison), not just swapped words
• [ ] A thin-content guardrail defines the bar to publish — and what to exclude
• [ ] Rollout is phased (validate a batch before scaling) with an indexation plan
• [ ] Internal linking and measurement (incl. a kill criterion) are specified

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not generate near-duplicate pages that differ only by a swapped keyword — that's doorway spam
• [ ] Do not publish without real, maintained data behind each page
• [ ] Do not dump thousands of pages at once — phase it and watch indexation
• [ ] Do not ignore search intent — a page that doesn't answer the query won't rank or convert
• [ ] Do not skip the kill criterion — unmaintained thin pages become a sitewide quality drag

Based On

Programmatic SEO practice (templated data-driven pages, intent + unique value, Google's thin-content/helpful-content guidance).