Programmatic SEO: A Comprehensive Guide

Or how to build programmatic SEO website from a Software Engineer

Programmatic SEO is a hot topic, no doubt it has tons of videos covering it on platforms like YouTube. Unfortunately, most of those videos don’t go deep enough into actual implementation and details. It seems too easy to find an idea and with a click of the fingers, you get a nice website at your disposal which is ready to generate traffic. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen in reality. If you like to move fast and break things you will end up with a spoiled domain (like I did). My goal is to show you how to not end up in such a situation.

Today, I will be talking about my experience with programmatic SEO as a software engineer and startup founder. In the past four months, I conducted multiple experiments with programmatic SEO and would like to share some tips here. By the end of this guide, I hope you’ll learn how not to go about programmatic SEO, so your website doesn’t get into Google’s spam filters — as happened to one of my experiments. This guide will cover:

1. How to come up with an idea?
2. Keyword research and tools
3. Why is buying a good domain name important?
4. Backlink building and why it is important
5. Future of programmatic SEO

1. How to Come Up with an Idea?

Every successful programmatic SEO project starts with a solid idea. But how do you come up with one? Start by identifying a niche or industry you’re passionate about or familiar with. Your understanding of the niche can provide a competitive edge.

If you can’t come up with an idea easily, it means you need to do some research. There are tons of ways to generate ideas, and I’ll list a few effective methods here.

Find Datasets with Poor UI and Transform Them into Great Websites

One of the best platforms for discovering datasets is Kaggle, which hosts thousands of searchable datasets. As of now, Kaggle lists more than 400,000 datasets — crazy, right?

Browse through the list to find a dataset that sparks an idea. Here’s an example:

A board games dataset containing information about more than 100,000 games. You could use this to create pages with enhanced UI and useful features.

💡 Pro Tip: Transforming datasets with subpar interfaces into user-friendly and visually appealing websites can be a winning strategy.

Leverage Your Own Datasets to Gain a Competitive Advantage

If you run an existing business or side hustle, chances are you already have access to data that no one else has.

For example, consider the JobTest website. Users complete a quiz and receive career recommendations based on their answers to multiple-choice questions. This unique data could easily be utilized to create programmatic SEO pages, giving you a significant edge over competitors.

JobTest could easily use their quiz data to create skill-based pages that highlight careers suited to specific skills identified in the quiz, such as problem-solving or creativity. For instance, pages like /careers-for-problem-solvers or /careers-for-creative-thinkers could summarize job opportunities for individuals with these strengths. These pages could rank for searches like “Careers for creative people” or “Jobs for problem solvers.”

Scrape publicly available data and transform it with existing AI tools

If you don’t have proprietary data, another great option is to scrape publicly available data. The key is not just scraping but transforming this raw data into something unique, insightful, and user-friendly. For example:

• Scrape real estate listings and create a hyper-localized property directory.

• Collect restaurant menu data to build a comprehensive food discovery platform.

• Use AI tools like GPT-based models or Stable Diffusion for creative enhancements such as summarizing reviews, generating captions, or even creating visuals.

Start Backward: Understand Monetization First

Before finalizing your idea, it’s crucial to think about how you’ll monetize your website. This should be a significant factor in your decision-making process. A brilliant idea without a clear path to revenue can lead to wasted effort and frustration.

• Will you monetize through ads, affiliate marketing, or direct sales?

• Does the niche have products, services, or opportunities with sufficient earning potential?

• Are there high-value keywords or industries you can target for premium ad placements?

Watch this for more context on monetization strategies:

Great talk from John Rush on Monetization strategies for pSEO

💡 The key takeaway. A successful programmatic SEO idea solves a real user problem while leveraging unique or underutilized data to create value — and has a clear path to monetization. Once you have your idea, you’re ready to move on to the next step — keyword research!

2. Keyword Research and Tools

Everyone knows tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, and similar SEO platforms. We also know they can be expensive as hell! If you can afford them, great — but there are effective, free alternatives to get you started.

A combination of Google Ads Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and (if possible) a short-term subscription to Ahrefs can work wonders for your keyword research workflow. Even if you subscribe to Ahrefs for just one month, it should provide enough value to kickstart your process. Let me break down how to use these tools together for maximum efficiency.

Start with Google Ads Keyword Planner: Finding Keyword Opportunities

Google Ads Keyword Planner is fantastic for discovering high-volume, low-competition keywords. Here’s how to use it effectively:

• Search for Seed Keywords: Start with a broad keyword related to your niche. For example, if you’re building a directory for board games, you might begin with “board games” as your seed keyword. From there, explore related categories like Popular board games (“best board games 2025”, “top-rated board games.”, etc)

• Analyze Metrics: Look at the search volume and competition. Prioritize keywords with:

• Moderate to high search volume (e.g., >= 1K searches per month).
• Low to medium competition (keep in mind this metric relates to paid ads, but it still gives a rough idea of keyword viability).

• Look for Trends: Use the “Year-over-Year Change” metric to identify keywords with growing popularity. For example, if “solo board games” or “board games for couples” shows a significant increase in search volume over the past year, it indicates rising demand.

💡 Pro Tip: Export your keyword list and organize it by search volume and competition. This will help you prioritize effectively.

Use Google Trends: Validating Growth Potential

Google Trends is a great tool for validating the potential of keywords identified in Keyword Planner. Here’s how to integrate it into your workflow:

• Check Seasonal Trends: Search for your keyword in Google Trends to see its popularity over time. For example, “board games” might spike in the winter months, indicating seasonal demand.

• Compare Related Keywords: Use the comparison feature to check multiple related keywords. For instance, compare “solo board games” and “board games for couples” to see which has the most consistent or growing interest.

• Spot Emerging Trends: Look at related queries and “rising” terms for ideas that are gaining traction but aren’t yet oversaturated.

💡 Pro Tip: Filter by location and timeframe to get insights tailored to your target audience (e.g., “United States” and “past 12 months”).

Leverage Ahrefs: Deep Dive into Keyword and Competitor Analysis

If you can afford Ahrefs, even for a month, it can add a lot of depth to your research.

• Check Keyword Difficulty (KD): Ahrefs provides a Keyword Difficulty score, helping you identify terms that are easier to rank for. Combine this with the volume data from Keyword Planner for a more informed decision.

• Analyze Competitor Pages: Enter the top-ranking URLs for your target keywords into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. Look for:

• Content gaps: Topics or subtopics that competitors missed.
• Backlink profiles: Opportunities for your site to acquire similar backlinks.

• Discover Long-Tail Keywords: Use the “Questions” feature in Ahrefs to find long-tail variations of your keywords. These are often easier to rank for and attract highly targeted traffic.

• Monitor Trends with SERP Features: Ahrefs shows which SERP features (e.g., featured snippets, FAQs) dominate for a given keyword. This insight can help you optimize your content format.

How to Combine These Tools Effectively

1. Start Broad (Keyword Planner): Use Google Ads Keyword Planner to generate a list of potential keywords with volume and competition data.

2. Refine and Validate (Google Trends): Cross-check these keywords in Google Trends to identify seasonal patterns and validate their growth potential.

3. Deep Dive (Ahrefs): For your top 10–20 keywords, use Ahrefs to:

• Assess competition.
• Analyze top-ranking pages.
• Discover long-tail variations.

4. Iterate: Repeat the process for additional keyword ideas, refining your list as you go.

💡 Final Tip: The sweet spot is identifying keywords with:

• High search volume.

• Low keyword difficulty (KD).

• Consistent or growing interest over time.

• Room for unique content (e.g., underserved niches or content gaps).

3. Why Buying a Good Domain Name Is Important

Your domain name is the cornerstone of your website’s identity. It’s the first impression potential visitors get, often before they’ve even clicked through to your site. Imagine browsing search results for information about coffee brewing. Would you trust coffeelovers.org or best-coffee-for-you123.info? The difference is stark, and it shows why your choice of domain matters. A well-chosen domain can establish trust, improve visibility, and make your site memorable, while a poorly chosen one can do the opposite.

Extensions Matter Too

While the coveted .com extension is often the first choice, it’s not the only viable option. In fact, alternatives like .org or .net can lend credibility, especially for non-commercial or informational sites. For instance, a directory for community art projects might thrive with a name like localarts.org, suggesting a resource-driven platform. Meanwhile, opting for an unusual or unfamiliar extension — think .xyz or .biz — can raise red flags for users accustomed to more traditional domains.

Good and Bad Examples Speak for Themselves

Good Examples:

1. bookfinder.org — Straightforward, professional, and clearly conveys its purpose.

2. studyresources.net — Focused and reliable, suitable for an educational platform.

3. localarts.org — Suggests a trustworthy and community-driven resource for art projects.

4. healthdirect.org — Clean and professional, ideal for a healthcare directory.

Bad Examples:

1. books-4u-online.info — Cluttered with unnecessary symbols and a weak extension.

2. studies-helper101.biz — Overly generic and unprofessional, with a questionable extension.

3. local-artz.xyz — Misspelling and unfamiliar extension reduce credibility.

4. healthfindersnow123.com — Hard to remember and untrustworthy due to random numbers.

💡 Pro Tip: When brainstorming a domain, imagine telling someone about it verbally. If you’d need to explain the spelling, symbols, or numbers, it’s not the right choice. Stick with clarity and simplicity to make your site easy to trust and revisit.

4. Backlink Building and Why It Is Important

Backlinks are the lifeblood of SEO. They signal to search engines that your website is valuable and trustworthy, helping you rank higher and attract more visitors. For new websites, backlinks are even more critical — they’re like a stamp of approval that gets you noticed. But not all backlinks are created equal. Here’s how to build them the right way.

List Your Website on Relevant Directories

Directories aren’t just for directories — they’re a solid starting point for any website. Find directories that are closely related to your niche and list your site there. Be selective. Posting your link on random, irrelevant directories will do more harm than good, spoiling your website’s profile in the eyes of search engines.

💡 Pro Tip: If your website is about sustainable fashion, list it on directories focused on eco-friendly living, fashion resources, or green business tools. Avoid directories that are generic dumping grounds for random links — they can hurt your credibility.

Engage on Reddit and Social Media

Reddit is a double-edged sword. Done wrong, it’ll backfire. Redditors hate blatant self-promotion, but if you’re smart, you can build trust and sneak your link in naturally. Here’s how:

• Start by answering questions and adding value to discussions in your niche. Don’t drop your link right away — it’ll get flagged or ignored.
• If someone asks a follow-up question and your website has the perfect answer, that’s your moment. Drop the link naturally as part of a helpful response.

For example, if you’re running a website on urban gardening, participate in r/Gardening. Share tips, answer questions, and when someone asks about resources, link to your site as part of a detailed, genuine reply.

Social media platforms like Facebook groups or Twitter threads can also be effective. Again, the key is to engage authentically. No one likes a spammer, but everyone appreciates a valuable resource.

Comment on Blogs and Articles

Find blogs, news articles, or discussion threads relevant to your website’s niche. Comment thoughtfully and add your link only when it adds value. Even if these links are “nofollow” (meaning they don’t pass much SEO value), they still help with visibility and may drive direct traffic.

For instance, if your website is about home fitness, look for articles about workout trends, leave insightful comments, and link to your site where it genuinely contributes to the conversation.

Work Long Enough, and Opportunities Will Find You

Building backlinks takes time, but here’s the thing: if you consistently create high-quality content and keep improving your website, opportunities will come your way. Influencers will notice your work, bloggers will link to it, and other websites will want to collaborate.

Patience is the name of the game. Focus on making your website so good that people can’t ignore it. Keep improving, keep sharing, and let your work speak for itself.

5. Future of programmatic SEO

The rise of AI is reshaping how people interact with information online. Standard content-based websites are at risk of becoming obsolete as AI generates instant answers to questions. But directories and programmatic SEO projects built around datasets have a unique advantage — they offer functionality that AI or plain text cannot replicate effectively.

When users need to compare multiple options — whether it’s products, services, or anything else — a text-based AI response just doesn’t cut it. The best user experience for comparisons is visual and interactive. Think side-by-side comparisons, sortable tables, and detailed filters. These are features that programmatic SEO excels at, and they’re something AI simply can’t deliver in a conversational format.

For example:

• Visualization: Allow users to explore data through graphs, heatmaps, or charts.

• Interactive Comparisons: Enable users to scroll through lists, filter by specific attributes, or compare options side by side.

• Niche-Specific Insights: Build tools tailored to your dataset, like calculators, personalized recommendations, or resource aggregators.

In a future where AI dominates traditional Q&A searches, programmatic SEO websites that focus on functionality and unique datasets will thrive. They won’t just provide information — they’ll empower users to interact with it in ways that AI-generated text cannot.

This blog post is a part of my larger Programmatic SEO 101 guide which covers more topics like:

- Tech stack for building a programmatic SEO website

- Product Analytics tools to track your progress

- Launch Strategy

Make sure to access the full Programmatic SEO 101 guide through my newsletter (it’s free).