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Most SEO reports go unread.

Or, worse — they get skimmed, misunderstood, and ignored.

But knowing how to create an SEO report that demands attention can change everything.

It’s not just a performance recap.

It’s a strategic tool that helps you build trust with decision-makers. Win bigger budgets. And keep your SEO efforts on track.

In this article, you’ll learn how to:

• Create SEO reports that people actually read (and act on)
• Tie SEO performance to business goals
• Highlight wins and uncover growth opportunities

Free resource: Download our SEO Report Template. It has ready-made sections for tracking key metrics, visualizing performance, and presenting clear next steps.

What Is an SEO Report and Why Is It Important?

An SEO report is a tool for measuring performance and shaping strategy.

It tracks key metrics like traffic, rankings, and conversions.

Then, connects them to business outcomes, opportunities, and priorities.

A strong SEO report helps answer:

• What changed?
• Why did it happen?
• What should we do next?

For example, let’s say you run SEO for a workplace furniture ecommerce company.

You notice a spike in traffic and rankings for your category page on ergonomic office chairs.

Here’s how a useful SEO report would break that down:

It’s a clear, focused snapshot that distills the data into what improved, why it happened, and why it matters.

How to Create an SEO Report That Drives Results

Too many SEO reports dump data without insight.

Traffic, rankings, and top pages might look impressive — but they don’t tell the full story.

And without context, stakeholders are left guessing.

The best SEO reports connect the dots. They tie performance to business goals, spotlight what’s working, and make the next move obvious.

Here’s how to build one that actually drives results:

Step 1: Determine the Stakeholders

Before pulling data or building charts, get clear on who you’re reporting to.

Knowing your audience should shape your whole report, from the SEO stats you’re using to how you communicate them.

Ask yourself:

• Who will read this?
• What do they know about SEO?
• Who will be making the decisions?
• What decision do I want them to make?

And here’s one more that’s just as important:

Have I asked what metrics actually matter to them?

A quick conversation can surface priorities that no dashboard will show you.

From there, tailor the format, metrics, and language accordingly.

(This is where many SEO reports go sideways — too much data, not enough direction.)

Here’s a quick breakdown of how to match your audience to your data and format:

For example, if your primary audience is a CEO or CMO, you probably wouldn’t lead with details about unindexed pages or on-page engagement time.

Likewise, a report for a small business owner with zero SEO background shouldn’t be packed with complex metrics or jargon.

They need simple wins, clear summaries, and next steps they can act on.

Pro tip: When your SEO report serves multiple audiences, prioritize what matters most to decision-makers — like ROI, growth, and performance. Then, layer in tailored insights for other teams (product, content, dev, etc.) in separate sections or an appendix.

How to Report to Non-SEO Audiences

Working with clients who don’t speak SEO?

You can help them level up their knowledge by translating industry terms into easy-to-understand language.

Add simple explanations to your reports and introduce new concepts one at a time.

Here are three ways you can do this in your SEO reports:

1. Include key takeaways to clarify complex points.

2. Add links to educational resources on SEO concepts.

3. Add short videos with explanations of the client’s data or performance.

Step 2: Decide Which Metrics Matter Most

Start with the key SEO metrics every report needs, no matter the audience.

You can find the majority of your must-have metrics in SEO tools like Google Search Console (GSC) or Semrush.

Add-On SEO Report Metrics

Once you’ve covered the essentials, you can layer in additional metrics depending on your team’s strategy and goals.

Further reading: Curious about some of these add-on metrics? Check out our guides on bounce rate and dwell time.

Step 3: Turn Raw Data Into Actionable Insights

Raw data doesn’t drive decisions — clear stories do.

Knowing how to create an SEO report means turning numbers into narratives.

It needs to clearly tell a story around these questions.

• Is our SEO strategy working?
• What changed?
• Why did it change?
• What should we do next?

One of the best ways to tell the story is through time-based comparisons.

Show how SEO performance has changed month-over-month (MoM), quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), or year-over-year (YoY).

Highlighting changes over time makes it easier for stakeholders to spot trends. And understand why they matter.

For most SEO teams, the challenge isn’t collecting data. It’s translating it into context stakeholders care about.

Raw numbers might make sense if you’re inside the tools every day.

But executives and cross-functional teams need more than charts. They need meaning.

The best reports go beyond what changed. They explain why —and connect the dots to business impact.

Like this:

Translate percentages and numbers to what actually happened:

• What new pages were published?
• Did your development team ship technical fixes?
• How many backlinks were earned?
• Are algorithm changes or seasonal searches a factor?

Most importantly, link the SEO impact to business terms.

For example, let’s say your top product page jumped from position No. 9 to No. 3.

In the same month, inbound demo requests doubled.

That’s not just a ranking improvement. It’s a signal that higher visibility on the right terms is driving qualified traffic.

In this case, the takeaway isn’t just “rankings are up” — it’s that SEO is contributing directly to revenue growth.

Step 4: Showcase the Results

A great SEO report doesn’t overwhelm your reader — it guides them.

It frames wins. Flags issues. And makes the next move crystal clear.

Executive Summary

Start with a snapshot that shows where things stand.

The Executive Summary gives a high-level view of key metrics and overall performance trends.

So, stakeholders can get the big picture fast.

Keep it sharp and clear. Spotlight what’s working, what’s driving it, and where to go from here.

Performance Metrics

This section covers your core SEO performance data — like traffic, rankings, keywords, and backlinks.

Include context and key takeaways.

When showcasing trends, show the progress over time, not just one-off wins.

And use visuals as much as possible.

Charts, graphs, and annotated screenshots really can make your performance insights pop.

Next Steps

What needs to be tackled next?

Here’s your chance to include those thoughts for your stakeholders.

Include clear, actionable recommendations, like a fresh SEO audit or doubling down on high-performing content.

Appendix

This optional section includes deeper data for teams, stakeholders, and ongoing projects.

It helps keep the main report focused, while still delivering the context others may need.

Bonus move: Once your report is done, record a short walkthrough to present it. It’s a great way to highlight key takeaways, explain the big picture, and guide stakeholders through anything they might overlook.

Mistakes to Avoid in Your SEO Report

Even with the right data, your SEO report can still fall flat if it’s hard to interpret, misaligned with business goals, or missing a clear takeaway.

Here are some common mistakes to avoid — and how to fix them.

Reporting Data Without Context

Don’t just drop data into your report. Make it meaningful.

Show how it relates to business goals and your site’s overall SEO performance.

For every metric, briefly explain what it means, why it matters, and what action it might prompt your team or your client to take.

Surfacing Issues Without Providing Solutions

Reporting on every issue isn’t helpful unless it impacts your site’s SEO performance.

For example, say you note that a group of pages are experiencing index issues.

Include a hypothesis on why this is happening and how you might recommend fixing it.

Listing Every Keyword Ranking

A full list of keyword shifts (especially minor ones) can bury your most important wins.

Instead, spotlight high-impact keywords — non-branded terms driving traffic or tied to revenue pages.

Including Every. Single. Page.

Reporting on every page creates noise, not insight.

Focus on the top 10 pages for organic traffic, or spotlight the top page in each key topic cluster.

Ignoring Business Outcomes

Your report might show SEO progress. But, does it show business progress?

Tie your work to signups, revenue, pipeline, brand visibility — whatever matters to your decision-makers.

Telling, Not Showing

You shared the data. But did you explain the story?

Use visuals, comparisons (e.g., MoM or QoQ), and commentary to walk the reader through what changed, why, and what’s next.

Show the Impact. Earn the Buy-In.

SEO reporting isn’t just about checking a box.

It’s your opportunity to show impact, earn trust, and steer strategy.

Surface insights that get stakeholders aligned and excited about what’s possible.

Want to make it easier on yourself?

Download Backlinko’s free SEO report template to create reports that stand out and get results.

The post How to Create an SEO Report That Wins Trust (and Budgets) appeared first on Backlinko.

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Imagine if your website could rank for every single keyword related to your niche.

That’s the promise of programmatic SEO.

It’s how Tripadvisor creates “Things to Do in” pages for countless locations across the globe…

…and ranks for almost 100K keywords featuring the words “things to do in”:

But the reality is more nuanced. It’s not a magic trick that’ll instantly drive traffic.

And we’ve seen programmatic plays go wrong countless times (more on that below).

The real differentiator nowadays isn’t the ability to create thousands of pages. It’s whether those pages actually deserve to rank.

In this guide, I’ll show you when programmatic SEO works, when it doesn’t, and how you can build your own winning programmatic SEO strategy.

What Is Programmatic SEO?

Programmatic SEO, also referred to as pSEO, is the systematic creation of content at scale using templates and data to target thousands (sometimes millions) of related search queries. The goal is to drive traffic and revenue through these automatically generated pages.

Put another way:

You create landing pages at scale to rank in lots of search results.

In traditional content marketing, you create individual articles targeting specific keywords. With programmatic SEO, you automate page creation based on patterns in search behavior.

Each page uses the same template structure, layout, and core elements. The only things that change are the keywords you’re targeting.

You use automation to spin up hundreds or thousands of variations. Each one targets different long-tail keywords with relatively low competition.

The goal is to drive traffic, build authority, and generate revenue for your business — at a volume you couldn’t replicate manually.

4 Successful Programmatic SEO Examples

Use the programmatic SEO examples below to get inspired and understand how to spot patterns that make good candidates for programmatic campaigns.

Note: Some of these sites have millions of pages, and they often run across multiple different types of programmatic SEO efforts. As a result, the number of pages and traffic figures are estimates. But they should still give you a good idea of what is possible when pSEO works well.

1. Wise

Wise is a global financial platform that helps users send, spend, and receive money internationally.

You’ll see Wise as a common example of programmatic SEO in action, generally for their currency converter pages. But most discussions on the topic don’t properly convey the true scale of Wise’s pSEO play.

The total number of currency converter pages across Wise’s domain (including across different global subfolders like /gb/ and /us/) is a whopping 8.5 million.

Not tens of thousands. Millions of pages. That all look like this:

How do I know there are that many?

Because Wise’s main sitemap index contains 170 individual sitemaps for the currency converter pages alone (it starts at “sitemap-0”):

And each of those contains 50K individual URLs (except the last one, which has just under 47K):

All of which are indexable and canonicalized:

That includes the variants for specific currency amounts.

That’s right, Wise has created a bunch of pages for various currencies that are prefilled with common amounts of currency to convert. Like “2,000 Maldivian rufiyaas to New Zealand dollars.”

And they rank:

In fact, Wise ranks for tens of thousands of related keywords, including 36.5K that include the word “convert”:

Wise’s currency conversion pages demonstrate the difference between valuable programmatic content and thin content.

Each page (like USD to EUR) includes real-time rates, interactive calculators, historical charts, bank comparisons, and transactional capabilities. Not just basic templated text with a CTA.

Their pages solve real user problems rather than merely existing to capture keywords.

But that’s not the only way Wise uses programmatic SEO. They also use it for:

SWIFT codes for businesses (1.25 million pages):

Stock tickers (280K+ pages):

And they also have:

• Currency exchange pages (~8K)
• Account pages (~1K)
• “Send money” pages (~16K)
• IBAN pages (~10K)
• Comparison pages (~38K)
• Routing number pages (~45K)
• Various landing pages (~6K)

Overall, the Wise website has more than 10 million pages. Combined, they drive 100+ million visits every month.

Note: Want to see traffic metrics for other sites? Try our free website traffic checker tool.

This isn’t necessarily the most relatable example. It would require extensive resources to pull off this kind of automated page creation.

But it does show the sheer scalability and ranking power of programmatic SEO.

Why this works: Wise has massive amounts of proprietary data about currencies and other financial information. Each page also caters to a very specific user need that is globally relevant.

2. Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor uses programmatic SEO for its location pages.

Search for “things to do in [city]” and you’ll see how they’ve dominated this pattern.

For example, here’s the result for “things to do in Paris”:

And this is the result for “things to do in New York”:

Each page follows the same structure. But each one is populated with location-specific attractions, reviews, and booking options unique to that destination.

These pages collectively drive millions of organic traffic to Tripadvisor.

Bonus note: This is just counting the URLs on Tripadvisor’s .com domain. There are similar pages on its global domains too, like .co.uk.

Why does this work so well?

Because Tripadvisor is able to meet the pain points of users all over the world. Travellers are always looking for things to do in different locations.

And Tripadvisor can cater to this need with its vast array of data on landmarks, sights, and activities. Plus, they have proprietary user data (like reviews) that helps make every programmatically generated page unique and useful.

Why this works: Tripadvisor has an Authority Score of 100. Add to that the fact that its pages cover the global travel market and contain heaps of UGC (like reviews) and you have the ideal candidate for pSEO.

3. Zillow

Zillow uses programmatic SEO to generate thousands of hyper-local pages for every city, neighborhood, and property type to capture long-tail real estate search traffic.

The site transforms raw data (like home value estimates, price trend visualizations, school information, and walkability scores) into context-rich resources that both rank well and help users make important decisions.

And they have A LOT of listings.

I trawled through their sitemaps and found various groups of pages:

• Home values by location (173K pages)
• Miscellaneous listings (9K pages)
• School districts (146K pages)
• For sale by agent (1.6M pages)
• For sale by owner (26K pages)
• New construction (160K pages)
• Pending (1.5K pages)
• Recently sold (7.5M pages)
• For rent (1.2M pages)

Then there are other sitemaps covering buildings, apartments, off-market, other, and “for sale” suggesting tens of millions of pages.

But one sitemap index for off market homes contained 4999 sitemaps, each with seemingly around 23K URLs. This would suggest there are more than 100 million URLs in this category.

Either there is some overlap on the pages (which would be impossible to manually check for) or Zillow lists pretty much every single home in the US on its site.

Regardless, Zillow has millions of pages. And these rely on programmatic SEO.

The result?

243 million organic visits every month.

Why this works: Zillow has massive authority (Authority Score of 97). When you combine that with masses of proprietary data and a nationwide market, you have a brilliant use case for programmatic SEO.

4. Zapier

Zapier is an automation platform that connects different web apps and creates workflows based on these connections.

They generate detailed integration pages for every possible app combination to capture search intent around software integrations. With 590K+ pages, Zapier’s programmatic efforts are impressive.

The /apps/ subfolder that contains these integration pages drives more than 610K organic visits every month:

Each integration page (like “Connect Calendly to Slack”) offers specific use cases via templates…

…along with lists of supported triggers and actions:

Why this works: Zapier’s entire tool works around integrating different tools. So they have proprietary data they can lean on (the lists of templates and triggers) that nobody else can replicate. But the key part is that every one of these pages serves a very specific intent in a detailed way.

When pSEO Makes Sense (And When It Doesn’t)

Not every business can or should use programmatic SEO.

So before you spend resources building a system that cranks out thousands of pages, let’s be brutally honest about when this approach actually works.

Marketplace sites, aggregators, and directories are the perfect candidates for pSEO. Think Zillow (property listings), Tripadvisor (travel destinations), or Zapier (software integrations).

Why do these programmatic SEO sites work so well?

Because each piece of content changes enough to justify its own page. Plus, users genuinely need that specific information or functionality.

Key takeaway: If your data or functionality doesn’t meaningfully change between variations, strongly reconsider whether you should use programmatic SEO.

Simply changing “[City] plumbers” to target 500 locations while offering identical generic text isn’t programmatic SEO — it’s spam.

The Dangers of Programmatic SEO

Programmatic SEO can look a lot like spam if you just create a bunch of thin content.

But even if it doesn’t look like spam, if users have a different intent or there are better sources out there, you’ll struggle to rank.

We’ve seen programmatic efforts have negative consequences with the likes of G2 and ZoomInfo.

ZoomInfo’s databases of companies and people still drive significant traffic:

But nowhere near as much as they used to:

The same goes for G2.

The product review and comparison site used to drive almost 12 million monthly visits back in 2021. But now it gets less than 1 million:

Both sites saw major drops in traffic on at least two occasions:

• Between May-August of 2021, coinciding with several major Google updates (including for spam specifically)
• In October 2023, again coinciding with major Google updates, and again with one for spam specifically

There are other factors at play too, like the prevalence of AI Overviews in search results, Reddit’s SERP dominance, and more authoritative competition.

But these are two examples of programmatic SEO working very well — until it doesn’t.

How to Know if Programmatic SEO Is Right for You

Before you invest in programmatic SEO, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you have lots of proprietary data, user-generated content, or structured information at your disposal?
• Does your site already have rankings and authority?
• Will your hypothetical pages each provide real value individually?
• Would you be proud to show each individual page to any user?

You should be able to answer “yes” to all of these questions. If not, rethink whether programmatic SEO is worth your investment.

How to Build Your Programmatic SEO Strategy in 5 Steps

Step 1: Find Scalable Keywords

The foundation of programmatic SEO isn’t finding high-volume keywords. It’s about identifying patterns that you can target systematically.

What Good Programmatic SEO Keywords Look Like

You’re looking for search queries that follow consistent formats but change one or two variables.

Like these examples:

• [product] vs [competitor]
• best restaurants in [city]
• convert [currency] to [currency]
• [language] to [language] translation
• average salary for [profession]
• cheap flights from [location] to [location]

The key is evaluating whether the underlying search intent stays consistent across variations.

For example, let’s take a closer look at Wise’s currency converter pages:

Someone searching “USD to EUR” wants the same core information as someone searching “GBP to JPY.” They just want to convert different currencies.

But these pages aren’t just glorified calculators. They also feature historic conversion charts:

Tables of the highs, lows, averages, and changes:

And a comparison of Wise’s own rates versus competitors:

This is why they dominate these searches: they’re solving the specific problem searchers have with each currency pair. It’s the same intent but with different variables — the right mix for programmatic SEO.

How to Find Your Own pSEO Keywords

Good programmatic SEO keywords consist of two key parts:

• Head term: The consistent part that appears in all variations (e.g., “Resume templates”)
• Modifier: The variable element that changes with each page (e.g., job titles like “product managers” or “systems engineers”)

You can use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to find keywords like this.

For example, imagine we’re looking to create programmatic content around the head term “SEO tools”:

We’d look for patterns where only one variable changes across multiple keywords.

For example, patterns like “best seo tools for [business type]”:

Once you’ve identified a potential pattern, you’ll need a variety of modifiers to create your programmatic pages.

The right modifiers expand your keyword targeting exponentially, while maintaining consistent search intent.

Here are some keyword modifiers that work across multiple niches:

• Geographic modifiers: “in [city]”, “near [location]”, “for [country]”
• Comparison modifiers: “vs [competitor]”, “alternative to [product]”, “[product] or [product]”
• Attribute modifiers: “best [product] for [use case]”, “[color] [product]”, “[size] [product]”
• Professional modifiers: “for [profession]”, “[skill] for [industry]”, “[tool] for [job]”
• Format modifiers: “[topic] template”, “[topic] calculator”, “[topic] checklist”
• Question modifiers: “how to [verb] [topic]”, “can [subject] [verb]”, “why does [topic] [verb]”
• Statistical modifiers: “average [metric] for [category]”, “[topic] statistics [year]”

Pro tip: Use the asterisk (*) search operator in Google to find even more variations (like “seo tools for *”).

Set the Keyword Difficulty to “(KD) < 30” and use the “Include” filter to narrow down to specific patterns (e.g., include “for” to find “seo tools for [industry]”).

Finally, sort by volume to prioritize higher-traffic opportunities.

Next, check the SERPs for several variations of your pattern and to confirm similar content types appear across variations.

This is an important step. Let’s say you were planning to programmatically create pages that list the top SEO tools for different business types.

Your plan was to create pages that contained a simple list with basic facts and stats about each tool, along with some features and pricing info. You have a database with all this information, and you plug in an AI tool’s API to help create unique content for each page.

But then you check the SERP for some common terms and realize that Google seems to be rewarding more detailed lists.

Lists that feature:

• In-depth tool info
• Expert takes and opinions
• Screenshots that show the writer has used the tool

Do you think your programmatic content will rank alongside these guides?

Probably not.

That’s why checking the SERP and evaluating the search intent is so important.

But once you do have a list of ideal keywords to target, you can export it and group by modifier types (locations, products, features). This organized data will feed directly into your template planning.

Step 2: Collect and Structure Data

Every successful programmatic SEO project thrives because of its data.

Without unique, valuable information, you’re just going to create thin pages Google will eventually demote.

You have three main options for data acquisition:

1. Proprietary data: Information you own or generate that competitors can’t access is the gold standard. Think Zapier’s integration data or Tripadvisor’s reviews. If you have proprietary data, your programmatic SEO has built-in defensibility.
2. Public data with added value: You can transform, combine, or present data from public sources in uniquely valuable ways (like from government databases or APIs). Because anyone else can access this data, how you present it is absolutely key.
3. Scraped data: This is the riskiest option. If you go this route, focus on adding significant value through analysis, visualization, or aggregation. Remember: scraping should be a starting point, not your end product.

If you’re struggling to find data, here are some free datasets for programmatic SEO across different niches (including stocks, salary data, social media, books, and more).

Just remember that anyone can find these data sets. So it’s best to use them for inspiration rather than hinging your pSEO campaign on them.

Step 3: Create Quality Content Templates

Templates are the engine of programmatic SEO. But they’re also where most projects go wrong. It’s easy to generate 100,000 pages. It’s hard to make them genuinely useful.

Start by manually creating 3-5 examples of your target pages. These are your test runs. Use them to validate that your data, structure, and content actually helps users.

Once you’re happy, build your template with the following:

• 500–1,000+ words of helpful content: Use headings, bullet points, and other visual breaks to improve clarity
• Conditional content logic: Use if/then rules to tailor each page’s copy, examples, recommendations, or CTAs to match the specific data or topic
• Rich elements like HTML tables, charts, or maps: Visualize your data to make your page interactive and genuinely informative
• Internal links: Guide users to related pages, deeper resources, or next steps

Step 4: Technical Setup (Based on Skill Level)

You don’t need to be a developer to launch a programmatic SEO site. But you will need to choose your approach based on your technical comfort and scale requirements.

Here are a few examples of what your setup might look like depending on your skill level:

Pro tip: Roll out your programmatic SEO efforts in stages. Don’t push 100K URLs live overnight.

Step 5: Monitor and Improve Your SEO

Like any SEO strategy, programmatic SEO is an ongoing effort. Because you might have hundreds or thousands of pages to manage, staying on top of performance and technical issues is key.

Here are some important things to track, and the best tool(s) to use:

• Indexation rate: What percentage of your pages are in Google’s index? (Google Search Console)
• Crawl stats: How frequently is Google visiting your pages? (Google Search Console)
• Traffic distribution: Are certain variations performing better than others? (Google Analytics)
• Conversion patterns: Which page types drive valuable actions? (Google Analytics)
• Page-level metrics: What do your loading speeds, bounce rates, and time on page metrics look like? (PageSpeed Insights, Google Analytics)
• Cannibalization issues: Are your programmatic pages competing with each other? (Google Search Console, Semrush Position Tracking)

Is Programmatic SEO Really the Way to Go?

It’s hopefully clear by now that programmatic SEO can yield some pretty impressive results.

But it should also be clear that it’s not the right choice for everyone.

Unless you have:

• Existing authority
• Plenty of resources
• Unique data

It’s probably not the right approach for your website (at least not yet).

For now, I recommend focusing on growing your site with quality, not quantity. For more on this, check out our guide to creating high-quality SEO content.

The post Programmatic SEO: What It Is and When to Use It (+ Examples) appeared first on Backlinko.

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