Whether it's WordPress, Webflow, or another platform, programmatic SEO (pSEO) follows the same fundamental principles regardless of your chosen content management system (CMS). However, each CMS has unique nuances that can affect execution.

WordPress is the most dominant CMS globally, used by millions to build and manage websites and blogs. Its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and large support community make it suitable for everything from personal blogs to business websites and e-commerce shops. 

More importantly, WordPress also works well for executing pSEO. Below, we’ll walk you through how to implement programmatic SEO on a WordPress website.

Want support executing pSEO from start to finish on your WordPress site? daydream can help build end-to-end programmatic strategies no matter which CMS your business relies on.

Does programmatic SEO work well with WordPress?

Powering more than 489 million websites worldwide, WordPress is the leading CMS on the web. It offers excellent page speed and performance—critical factors for SEO success—and supports a wide range of plugins, including tools specific to search optimization. Best of all, WordPress doesn’t impose any limits on the number of pages you can create, making it ideal for large-scale SEO campaigns.

Executing programmatic SEO on WordPress doesn’t require coding skills or advanced expertise, though having them can certainly help. The process instead depends on using the right WordPress plugins, which simplify data syncing and page generation. 

However, before diving in to any WordPress logistics, it’s crucial to prepare two components:

• A page template: In a doc, define the basic framework for how you want your content to be structured, including all of the variable elements that will be completed programmatically. Having a template and content placeholders outlined in advance will make your pSEO setup in WordPress more efficient. 

• A structured dataset: Google Sheets and CSV file are the two most common options for organizing programmatic data for easy import into WordPress. You’ll need to make sure your dataset is formatted correctly based on the plugin you choose to streamline the entire process.

Once you have these two prerequisites, you can install the appropriate WordPress plugin to execute your pSEO strategy.

Best Programmatic SEO WordPress Plugins

Plugins are the backbone of WordPress sites, enabling custom features and functionality without requiring custom code. For programmatic SEO, several plugins that help generate pages at scale exist, both free and paid. 

Below are three top-rated options. Note that features are limited based on your pricing tier, with paid versions offering more functionality all around. However, if you’re just dipping your toes into pSEO or working with a smaller dataset, the plugins’ free versions will generally suffice.

WP All Import

WP All Import from Soflyy is perhaps the most commonly used plugin for mass-generating posts and pages from imported CSV, XML, Excel, or Google Sheets files. 

After installing the plugin, the first step is uploading or downloading your dataset to WP All Import. From there, you can either choose to import the information into existing content or create new content altogether.

WP All Import then shows your uploaded data before moving you forward to its drag-and-drop interface. This step is where you can map your programmatic variables directly into a page template and also save the template for future use. Note that adding images and custom fields requires upgrading to WP All Import’s pro version.

If you plan on implementing an editorial review process, it’s possible to bulk create your pSEO content as drafts first and then publish them later. If you choose to publish them immediately, however, the plugin offers a convenient option to randomize the post dates so the content is less obviously mass-generated.

Whether you choose to make the content live now or later, the final step is designating a unique identifier for your content. This should be a programmatic element that’ll remain consistent—it’s what the plugin will refer to if you decide to update and then import the data again. Examples of practical elements to use as identifiers include product IDs and SKUs.

Once you’ve set your content’s unique identifiers, the import process can kick off. WP All Import will upload your data and create (or update) content according to your specifications.

Other notes worth mentioning:

• The WP All Import plugin relies on WordPress’s classic editor rather than its Gutenberg editor. That said, you can import Gutenberg blocks with some additional HTML work.

• The import process can be quite slow, especially if you’re creating content in the magnitude of tens of thousands of pages. Re-importing data at this scale can also be very time-consuming.

Multi Page Generator (MPG)

Multi Page Generator (MPG) from Themeisle is another plugin designed to bulk create pages for WordPress. Compared to WP All Import, it’s faster, in large part because of its simpler database sync process.  

With MPG, you can build page templates from scratch using theme and page builder plugins like Elementor and Thrive Architect. However, MPG also offers pre-made templates and example datasets, including templates for jobs, hotels, real estate, and other listings. You can even view live demo pages to get an idea of what the plugin is capable of. For instance, here’s MPG’s hotels template page demo.

To start the bulk creation process, just paste the link to your Google Sheets database or upload your CSV file, and designate the page template you’d like to use. 

MPG will then mass generate your content according to your specifications. If you’re working with a database that’ll be updated periodically, you can set the plugin’s sync frequency so that MPG regularly fetches your data to make updates.

Other notes worth mentioning:

• MPG is fully compatible with WordPress’s Gutenberg editor, which gives users greater control over page design if you choose to create a template from scratch.

• MPG offers a Spintax feature where you can create shortcode from inputted synonyms and language variations to help generate unique content. For example, you could set up shortcode so that pages randomly use “hello,” “hi,” or “hey” rather than just using “hello” across the board.

SEOmatic

SEOmatic isn’t technically a WordPress plugin—it’s a third-party programmatic SEO tool that integrates with WordPress. Its functionality is largely the same as WP All Import and MPG, though, letting you easily upload and transform datasets into bulk pages, albeit with more bells and whistles. 

For instance, SEOmatic’s template builder includes an AI writer and generative AI feature that can help with keyword research and create unique content for your programmatic pages. 

Compared to WP All Import and MPG, SEOmatic is the most expensive option. Additionally, while the aforementioned plugins offer freemium plans, SEOmatic does not have a free version beyond a 7-day trial. 

Overall, SEOmatic is a basic all-in-one pSEO platform that’s ideal for beginners. However, for more complex needs, it’s probably better to take a piecemeal approach and combine multiple programmatic SEO tools, as you can get more customization and better results all around.

Other notes worth mentioning:

• Like MPG, SEOmatic comes with pre-made, search-optimized page templates for various use cases, such as comparison pages and product listings. You can view them here but will need to submit your email address first. 

Launch and scale your pSEO engine with daydream

Though plugins and third-party tools help streamline pSEO implementation, launching a successful programmatic strategy with WordPress requires careful planning—particularly when it comes to building a comprehensive dataset and sharp page template. The heavy lifting of data preparation and template design generally requires a large investment of time and effort, especially for meaningful long-term results.

To maximize your results, consider partnering with a company like daydream. Our team is familiar with the WordPress plugins mentioned above and has helped industry leaders like Descript, Notion, and Tome build and scale high-performing programmatic SEO engines. No matter your chosen CMS, we provide expert guidance to streamline the execution process from start to finish.

Interested in taking your programmatic SEO to the next level? Send a message to thenukak@withdaydream.com to get started.