No Code Programmatic SEO: How To Use AI-Powered Spreadsheets To Create Content At Scale [Video Included]
Programmatic SEO, or pSEO is a thing now – it’s all over the internet and John Mueller loves Programmatic SEO Twitter.
I love fire, but also programmatic SEO is often a fancy banner for spam.
— I am John – ⭐ Say no to cookies – biscuits only ⭐ (@JohnMu) July 25, 2023
I prefer to write my articles the good old fashioned way – on Microsoft Word (not with a pen and paper). Sometimes, life gets in the way and I prefer not to write articles at all.
But did you know pSEO lets you create content in bulk, with the click of a few buttons?
Now this tactic can be used for spam, but it can also be used as a part of a world-class SEO strategy. The same way creating content the good old fashioned way can be used for spam and as part of a world-class SEO strategy.
In this article, I’m going to explain what programmatic SEO is, and how you can create content at scale with no code involved.
What is Programmatic SEO?
Programmatic SEO involves generating a whole bunch of SEO-optimized web pages – simultaneously. The point is to create content at scale.
What’s the Point of Programmatic SEO?
To boost traffic, leads and revenue – pretty much the same as any other SEO campaign.
So now that’s out of the way… actually I’m not done yet. Before I get to how we can create content at scale, I’m going to show you a few examples of pSEO.
What are Some Examples of Programmatic SEO
Have you heard of Tripadvisor? It’s a website that has a page for nearly every travel related keyword on the internet.
When a user searches for something to do in a city, Tripadvisor is almost always in the top 2 positions.
Yelp is another example, they have thousands of pages targeting specific keywords + a city.
It would be very time consuming for a content writer and a web developer to write and post every page, these pages are created with the help of automation. That’s where programmatic SEO comes into play.
So now that I’ve shown you a couple of real life examples, let me show you how you can use programmatic SEO to rocket past your competitors.
How To Do Programmatic SEO [No Code, Step By Step Guide]
If you don’t want to read the steps outlined below, then you could always watch my video instead!
#1 Find Your Keywords [Base and Modifier]
What keywords do you want to target? Some examples from the internet:
- Yelp: plumbers, gyms, beauty salons
- Tripadvisor: things to do, hotels, restaurants
- Target: groceries, toys, electronics
For this exercise, and this exercise only, I’m going to become a travel blogger for Spanish cities.
I’ve been trying to learn Spanish on Duolingo so it’s only right that I choose Spain.
We are going to do programmatic SEO for day trips from [city].
My base keyword is “day trips from [city]”.
Once you’ve identified your keywords, verify their search volume. I call these keywords base keywords because they will base your entire strategy.
Pro Tip:
- Enter “Day Trips From” in column A of other Google Sheets or Excel. Make sure you leave a space after the m in From.
- In column B have a list of your cities.
- In column C use the CONCATENATE function =CONCATENATE(A2,B2). Drag the cell down and there’s all your keywords.
#2 Verify Search Volume
Ok so 8 of those keywords have a global volume of less than 10 a month (according to Ahrefs) but we’re going to create those pages anyway.
#3 Structure Your Content
To use it, you’ll need a paid Chat GPT account. You’ll also need to install the extension GPT for Sheets and Docs.
Follow the instructions to hook up ChatGPT to Google Sheets. Once that’s out of the way, we can create content. It’s really easy to install – you can follow the instructions that they have on their website.
Once installed and opened in Google Sheets, I am going to change the default settings. Click on extensions, open and I am using the GPT4 model and i’ve increase the max word count to 1600 words.
Let’s define our headings, and figure out the overall structure of the page. The layout of the Google Sheet will determine the prompts that we give to ChatGPT. There will be a lot of the concatenate functions involved.
- H1: “Best Day Trips From [City]
- Introduction: “In 100 words or less provide an introduction to [City]. Mention that this article will contain a list of the best day trips from [City].
- H2: “For the First H2, use the heading ‘These Are The Best Day Trips From [City]’. I would like at least 5 recommendations. Each location that you recommend should be accompanied by a number, this should be formatted as a H3. Your answer should include the distance between the center of the original city and day trip location, how long it would take to get to that location and how long it would take to get back to the original location. Make sure you include a description of why the location is a good place for a day trip. Your description should be no longer than 150 words. Use a maximum of 2 lines for each sentence. After you are finished wrap each element in HTML so that I can paste each element into WordPress.”
So that’s going to be how our content is structured. Once you’ve entered your content into the Google Sheet, we’ll be using the Concatenate function to combine all of our hidden prompts, to make the prompt that we want to give to the AI tool.
This is what my sheet currently looks like, had to zoom out to give you the full picture.
#4 Enter Your Prompt
Once you have created your prompt, copy the column with your prompts and then paste into a new Google Sheet.
Next click on “Extensions”, “Enable GPT for Sheets”. Then in the next empty column enter =(GPT and the cell of your prompt). In my case it’s =(GPTB2)
Now drag down and fill the rest of the columns.
#5 Upload Into WordPress (Or Another Platform)
Now that you have all of your code, you’re ready to upload to your website. All you’ll need to do is format a CSV file accordingly.
You can install an import / export plugin to help you with the process.
Use Programmatic SEO To Level Up Your SEO Game
There’s many different use cases for pSEO. In fact, what I showed you doesn’t even have to be called programmatic SEO.
If you run an e-commerce store you use these same methods to beef up your product category pages.
The SEO industry is wild right now, there’s a lot going on. If you do decide to use this method for content creation then remember you still need to take care of the other areas of SEO, so while you’re check out my guide to completing an SEO Audit, and my guide to best in class keyword research.
If you have any questions then feel free to reach out to me with the contact form, or connect with me on twitter (soon to be X) or LinkedIn.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/harpreetchatha_
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harpreetsingh8/
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SEO focused digital marketer with over a decade of experience driving organic growth. Successfully implemented SEO strategies for some of the world’s most loved enterprise brands across automotive, ecommerce, FMCG, retail, finance, and B2B SAAS industries. Harpreet holds a BA in Geography from the University of Leicester and a MSc in International Management from King's College London.