# Programmatic SEO

> Generate SEO-optimized pages at scale using templates and structured data. Use when the user wants to create programmatic SEO pages, template pages, directory pages, comparison pages, niche pages, glossary pages, or any pages at scale for SEO. Triggers: "programmatic SEO", "pSEO", "template pages", "pages at scale", "directory pages", "niche pages", "glossary pages", "comparison pages".

- Skill: `a-lezin/programmatic-seo` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add a-lezin/programmatic-seo`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/a-lezin/programmatic-seo/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: a-lezin (https://skillmd.com/u/a-lezin)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/a-lezin/programmatic-seo

---


# Programmatic SEO

Generate SEO-optimized pages at scale using templates and structured data. Every page must pass quality checks before generation.

## Critical Rules

Before generating any page, internalize these rules:

1. **Every page must pass the "Unique Answer Test"**: would a real user get meaningfully different value from this page vs its siblings?
2. **Minimum 500 unique words per page** (< 300 = thin content risk, Google penalty)
3. **30-40% content differentiation** between sibling pages (< 15% = danger zone)
4. **No AI detection markers**: avoid em dashes, "delve", "leverage", "robust", "comprehensive", "utilize", "facilitate", "in today's fast-paced world"
5. **AEO-optimized lead**: start every page with a direct answer in 40-60 words
6. **Gradual rollout**: max 50-100 pages in first batch, monitor 2-4 weeks before scaling
7. **No orphan pages**: every page must have 5-15 internal links AND be linked from existing content

Read [references/pseo-quality-checklist.md](references/pseo-quality-checklist.md) for the full quality checklist.

## Workflow

### Step 1: Choose Page Type

Ask the user which type of pages to generate:

| Type | Risk Level | Volume | Words/Page |
|------|-----------|--------|------------|
| **Glossary** | Low | 30-50 | 500-800 |
| **Niche Guide** | Medium | 50-150 | 800-1200 |
| **Comparison** | Low-Medium | 30-50 | 800-1200 |

See [references/page-types.md](references/page-types.md) for detailed descriptions and examples.

### Step 2: Prepare Data

Ask the user to provide data in one of these formats:
- **JSON** array of objects (preferred)
- **CSV** file with headers matching template fields
- **Manual** specification of entries

See [references/data-requirements.md](references/data-requirements.md) for required fields per page type.

### Step 3: Generate Pages

For each data entry:

1. Read the user's existing page template or site layout for styling patterns (nav, footer, CSS, JS, analytics). Ask the user for the path to their template or an existing page to use as reference.
2. Fill template placeholders with data
3. Generate unique content for each section (not just word replacement)
4. Add 5-15 internal links to existing pages and other generated pages
5. Include Schema.org markup (Article + type-specific schema)
6. Set unique title tag (50-60 chars), meta description (150-160 chars)
7. Add hreflang tags if multilingual versions planned

### Step 4: Quality Check (mandatory)

Before outputting each page, verify:

- [ ] Word count >= 500 unique words
- [ ] Title tag unique and <= 60 chars
- [ ] Meta description unique and <= 160 chars
- [ ] >= 5 internal links present
- [ ] Schema.org JSON-LD present and valid
- [ ] No AI-writing markers (check against [references/ai-writing-detection.md](references/ai-writing-detection.md))
- [ ] Content differentiation >= 30% from nearest sibling page
- [ ] AEO lead present (40-60 word direct answer)
- [ ] OG tags present (og:title, og:description, og:image)
- [ ] Canonical tag present (self-referencing)

**If any check fails**: do NOT output the page. Report which checks failed and ask the user how to fix.

### Step 5: Post-Generation

After generating a batch:

1. **Sitemap update**: output the XML entries to add to the site's `sitemap.xml`
2. **Internal link suggestions**: list which existing pages should link to new pages (with exact anchor text)
3. **Index page update**: output card HTML to add to the blog/category index page
4. **Rollout recommendation**: "Publish first N pages, monitor GSC indexation rate for 2-4 weeks. Target: >60% indexed. If <40%, pause and review quality."
5. **Monitoring checklist**: provide GSC queries to track, target indexation rate, engagement benchmarks

## Page Output Format

Output each page as:
1. File path: determined by the user's site structure (ask for target directory)
2. Full HTML content (matching the site's existing CSS/JS/analytics setup)
3. QA report: pass/fail for each check

## Site Integration

Pages must match the user's existing site patterns:
- Same CSS/JS as the rest of the site
- Same analytics tracking
- Same nav, footer, CTA sections
- Same author attribution

Ask the user to provide their site template or an existing page to use as a reference.

## Examples

### Example 1: Generate glossary pages
```
User: "Create 5 glossary pages for video marketing terms"
Actions:
1. Ask user for their existing page template path
2. Ask user for terms or suggest from references/page-types.md
3. Generate 5 pages with unique definitions, explanations, related terms
4. Run QA checks on each
5. Output pages + sitemap entries + internal link suggestions
```

### Example 2: Generate niche guide pages
```
User: "Create pages for TikTok niches: fitness, cooking, pets"
Actions:
1. Ask user for their existing page template path
2. Ask user for niche-specific data (or generate with available knowledge)
3. Generate 3 pages with unique tips, hooks, strategies per niche
4. Run QA checks (especially differentiation >= 30%)
5. Output pages + sitemap + index cards
```

### Example 3: Generate comparison pages
```
User: "Create TikTok vs Reels comparison pages for 3 niches"
Actions:
1. Ask user for their existing page template path
2. Generate comparison data per niche
3. Ensure each page has unique metrics, recommendations, examples
4. Run QA checks
5. Output pages + sitemap
```

## References

- **Quality checklist**: [references/pseo-quality-checklist.md](references/pseo-quality-checklist.md)
- **Page types**: [references/page-types.md](references/page-types.md)
- **Data requirements**: [references/data-requirements.md](references/data-requirements.md)
- **AI writing markers**: [references/ai-writing-detection.md](references/ai-writing-detection.md)
- **AEO/GEO patterns**: Install the **seo-audit** skill for comprehensive AEO/GEO content patterns