---
name: seo-programmatic
description: >
  Programmatic SEO planning and analysis for pages generated at scale from data
  sources. Covers template engines, URL patterns, internal linking automation,
  thin content safeguards, and index bloat prevention. Use when user says
  "programmatic SEO", "pages at scale", "dynamic pages", "template pages",
  "generated pages", or "data-driven SEO".
---

# Programmatic SEO Analysis & Planning

Build and audit SEO pages generated at scale from structured data sources.
Enforces quality gates to prevent thin content penalties and index bloat.

## Data Source Assessment

Evaluate the data powering programmatic pages:
- **CSV/JSON files**: Row count, column uniqueness, missing values
- **API endpoints**: Response structure, data freshness, rate limits
- **Database queries**: Record count, field completeness, update frequency
- Data quality checks:
  - Each record must have enough unique attributes to generate distinct content
  - Flag duplicate or near-duplicate records (>80% field overlap)
  - Verify data freshness — stale data produces stale pages

## Template Engine Planning

Design templates that produce unique, valuable pages:
- **Variable injection points**: Title, H1, body sections, meta description, schema
- **Content blocks**: Static (shared across pages) vs dynamic (unique per page)
- **Conditional logic**: Show/hide sections based on data availability
- **Supplementary content**: Related items, contextual tips, user-generated content
- Template review checklist:
  - Each page must read as a standalone, valuable resource
  - No "mad-libs" patterns (just swapping city/product names in identical text)
  - Dynamic sections must add genuine information, not just keyword variations

## URL Pattern Strategy

### Common Patterns
- `/tools/[tool-name]` — Tool/product directory pages
- `/[city]/[service]` — Location + service pages
- `/integrations/[platform]` — Integration landing pages
- `/glossary/[term]` — Definition/reference pages
- `/templates/[template-name]` — Downloadable template pages

### URL Rules
- Lowercase, hyphenated slugs derived from data
- Logical hierarchy reflecting site architecture
- No duplicate slugs — enforce uniqueness at generation time
- Keep URLs under 100 characters
- No query parameters for primary content URLs
- Consistent trailing slash usage (match existing site pattern)

## Internal Linking Automation

- **Hub/spoke model**: Category hub pages linking to individual programmatic pages
- **Related items**: Auto-link to 3-5 related pages based on data attributes
- **Breadcrumbs**: Generate BreadcrumbList schema from URL hierarchy
- **Cross-linking**: Link between programmatic pages sharing attributes (same category, same city, same feature)
- **Anchor text**: Use descriptive, varied anchor text — avoid exact-match keyword repetition
- Link density: 3-5 internal links per 1000 words (match seo-content guidelines)

## Thin Content Safeguards

### Quality Gates

| Metric | Threshold | Action |
|--------|-----------|--------|
| Pages without content review | 100+ | ⚠️ WARNING — require content audit before publishing |
| Pages without justification | 500+ | 🛑 HARD STOP — require explicit user approval and thin content audit |
| Unique content per page | <40% | ❌ Flag as thin content — likely penalty risk |
| Word count per page | 10k programmatic pages, monitor crawl stats in Search Console
- **Thin page consolidation**: Merge records with insufficient data into aggregated pages
- **Regular audits**: Monthly review of indexed page count vs intended count

## Output

### Programmatic SEO Score: XX/100

### Assessment Summary
| Category | Status | Score |
|----------|--------|-------|
| Data Quality | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |
| Template Uniqueness | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |
| URL Structure | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |
| Internal Linking | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |
| Thin Content Risk | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |
| Index Management | ✅/⚠️/❌ | XX/100 |

### Critical Issues (fix immediately)
### High Priority (fix within 1 week)
### Medium Priority (fix within 1 month)
### Low Priority (backlog)

### Recommendations
- Data source improvements
- Template modifications
- URL pattern adjustments
- Quality gate compliance actions