Canva’s SEO Strategy: 100M+ Visits with Programmatic SEO

The SaaS market is a jungle!

New companies are popping up left and right, and Google’s always changing its algorithm.

Getting organic traffic is harder than ever!

SaaS marketers need ways to scale content production and capture search demand without a linear increase in effort or cost. This is where Programmatic SEO comes in.

Programmatic SEO (pSEO) is a strategy that automates the creation of large numbers of web pages by using data and templates​.

Instead of crafting content one page at a time, a programmatic approach can generate hundreds or thousands of pages, each targeting a different keyword variation or user query pattern.

Why Programmatic SEO matters for SaaS:

• Scalable content creation – Quickly creates tons of content, way more than a small team could do themselves. Perfect for SaaS companies trying to grow fast!
• Capturing long-tail traffic – Targeting lots of niche search terms (like “find [subject] online tutor”) with individual pages might not bring in tons of traffic on their own, but all together they can add up to a good amount. By going after all those long-tail keywords, SaaS companies can grab a bunch of potential customers that their competitors might be missing out on.
• High-intent user targeting – Programmatic pages are great for attracting users looking for something specific, so they usually get high-quality traffic. For example, if you offer a free template or integration on a programmatic page, you’re more likely to get signups. This is exactly what happens when someone searches for an “[X] template” and ends up starting a trial to get it.
• More accessible than ever – No-code platforms, data scraping, and AI content generation are changing the pSEO game. Even lean SaaS teams can now get in on programmatic SEO without a massive engineering project. Startups can now go head-to-head with the big guys in terms of content volume and breadth, leveling the playing field.

How Programmatic SEO Works

Programmatic SEO is all about finding patterns in what people search for and then making a webpage for every single variation of that pattern.

It’s like connecting a database to a webpage template and using automation to create tons of pages quickly. Each page looks the same but has different info to match a specific search.

For example, imagine a tutoring marketplace wants to rank for all subjects that people seek tutors for. They might have a template for “Find a {Subject} Online Tutor” and generate separate pages for math, Spanish, biology, and so on​.

Each of those pages would be optimized for its specific subject (long-tail keyword) while using the same basic design. By doing this, the site covers a wide array of searches (“math online tutor”, “Spanish online tutor”, etc.) with minimal manual work.

Key elements involved in programmatic SEO include:

• Template + Data: A scalable page template is the foundation. This template is populated with data from a source (database, spreadsheet, etc.) to create unique pages for each keyword variant​. In our tutoring example, the template is the page design, and the data is the list of subjects.
• Long-tail Keyword Focus: Programmatic strategies thrive on seed terms and modifiers. You pick a seed term and plug in various modifiers to target long-tail permutations (e.g. seed “online tutor” with modifiers like math, Spanish, biology)​. Each page targets a specific search intent without needing a completely custom write-up.
• SEO-friendly Structure: Even though pages are generated in bulk, each must follow SEO best practices. The template should incorporate the keyword in the title tag, meta description, and H1 header for relevance​. Pages should also be interlinked (for example, via category pages or an XML sitemap) so that search engines can easily crawl them​. Good internal linking ensures the new pages don’t exist in isolation.
• Valuable Content: A common mistake is to create cookie-cutter pages that offer little substance. Effective programmatic pages must provide useful, original content – not just boilerplate text with a keyword swapped in. Adding descriptive text, images, examples, or FAQs can give depth. The goal is to avoid thin content where a page only barely addresses the topic​. The template should be designed to include sections that genuinely help the user (e.g. a brief how-to, tips, or a list of resources related to the keyword).
• Automation Tools: Finally, the heavy lifting is done by automation – whether through a custom script, a CMS that supports bulk publishing, or integrations (for instance, using Airtable + Zapier + Webflow to push out pages)​. These tools pull in the data and create each page dynamically. Automation ensures that once you set up the framework, adding 100 or 1,000 more pages is relatively easy.

Programmatic SEO is all about finding the sweet spot between scaling up and maintaining quality.

You can quickly create tons of content targeting a wide range of keywords, but you gotta make sure each page is unique, valuable, and matches what users are looking for.

If you nail it, you’ll see a massive boost in your website’s content, bringing in a steady stream of organic traffic.

Canva’s Approach to Programmatic SEO

People always talk about Canva as a programmatic SEO success story in SaaS. Canva, the graphic design platform, totally crushed it by using programmatic content to rank high for tons of design-related searches.

This strategy led to over 100 million organic visits each month, backed by around 190,000 indexed pages in Google.

How’d they do it?

They systematically created landing pages that cater to specific user needs in the design space, all at a massive scale.

Key components of Canva’s strategy include:

• “Maker” Landing Pages: Canva cleverly created pages that pop up when people search for online design tools like “logo makers,” “resume makers,” and “photo collage makers.” These are searches where people are ready to make something.

Canva’s smart strategy was to build a specific page for each tool. For example, searching for “free logo maker” will probably show you Canva’s Logo Maker page, which has an online logo design tool. Similarly, “online resume builder” takes you to Canva’s resume builder page.

Each of these pages follows a similar format: it introduces the tool, shows off its features, includes a picture or example, and has a big button to start designing​. This not only lets the user create a logo or resume right there, but also gets them to use Canva’s platform.

The traffic payoff is huge – the Logo Maker page alone gets around 179,000 organic visits a month, with other maker pages (resume builder, collage maker, etc.) also each getting tens of thousands of visitors​. All together, these “creative maker” pages bring in a ton of Canva’s search traffic.

• Template Gallery Pages: Canva’s SEO strategy also focuses on design template searches. They have tons of template gallery pages for stuff like Instagram templates, resume templates, certificate templates, business card templates, and more.

So, if you search for a specific template (like “certificate template”), you’ll find a Canva page with a bunch of certificate designs. These pages are made from a template structure that has a title and intro, a grid of designs (with thumbnail images), filters, and SEO-friendly text describing the template category​.

By doing this for every major design category, Canva covers a lot of ground. For example, the Resume Templates page reportedly gets around 83,000 organic visits a month​.

Similar pages for business cards, invitations, posters, etc., each bring in traffic, and together these pages make Canva super visible on Google for creative template searches.

The content on these pages isn’t just a boring list of images – it has helpful stuff like template names, the creator of each template, and sometimes tips on how to use them​, which makes the page better for both users and SEO.

• Industry Solution Pages: Canva didn’t just stop at providing tools and templates. They also targeted business-related keywords by creating pages like “Canva for [industry or team].”

Think “Canva for Real Estate Agents”, “Canva for Nonprofits”, “Canva for Education”, and so on. These smart pages are designed to catch searches where users might be looking for design solutions specifically for their job or situation.

Each page has a standard layout showing how Canva can help that particular audience: it usually lists relevant features, gives a short description of benefits, includes a big “Try Canva” button, and often has FAQs or even case studies for that segment.

While the search volume for any single niche (like, “Canva for real estate agents”) isn’t huge, Canva made sure they show up whenever someone looks for such a term.

Some of these pages only get a few hundred organic visits a month, but they’re highly targeted and probably convert well because they speak directly to the needs of that audience.

Plus, by covering many niches, the total traffic from all “Canva for [X]” pages adds up and makes Canva’s position in the design world even stronger.

Canva’s approach to building different types of programmatic pages is all about giving users what they want. If they want to create something (like a logo or a resume), the page gives them the tools to do it.

If they’re looking for inspiration or templates, they get a catalog of designs. If they want to see how Canva can help with something specific, the page explains it.

All of this is done with templates that can be easily adjusted, instead of building a separate page for every little thing.

Another plus is that these pages naturally get backlinks over time – for example, people might share a link to “free certificate templates” or a popular infographic template – which boosts their SEO without Canva having to do any extra work.

The end result is that Canva gets a steady stream of organic traffic and new users, showing how powerful this strategy can be for SaaS companies.

Implementing Programmatic SEO for SaaS (Step-by-step)

Looking to replicate similar success? Here is a step-by-step guide on how SaaS companies can implement programmatic SEO effectively:

1. Research scalable keyword patterns – Start by brainstorming areas of your domain where you can create lots of content variations.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes: what could they be searching for that relates to your product or expertise?

Common patterns for SaaS include things like integrations (e.g., “[Product A] integration with [Product B]”), templates or checklists (e.g., “[Use case] template”), how-to guides (answering specific questions, like how to do X with Y software), feature directories, or comparison pages (e.g., “X vs Y” competitor comparisons)​.

The key is to find a seed keyword that, with modifiers, can generate dozens or hundreds of meaningful permutations.

For example, a project management SaaS might identify “project plan template” as a seed term—this could lead to pages for marketing plan template, product launch plan template, event plan template, etc.

Compile a list of potential seed terms and modifiers by thinking broadly and using keyword research tools to ensure you’re not missing obvious variants.

Validate demand and competition – Not every idea you have is going to be a winner, so before you go crazy and build out a thousand pages, make sure your idea is solid!

Check how often people search for the keywords you’re targeting and how tough the competition is.

Even if each individual keyword doesn’t get a ton of searches, the total number should still be high enough to make a difference.

Also, take a look at what currently shows up in search results for a few sample queries related to your idea.

Ask yourself, “What’s ranking at the top right now?” If the top results aren’t great (think forum posts, old blogs, or no dedicated page at all), that’s a good sign your page can fill a need.

But, if you see big-name websites or direct competitors with similar pages, think about whether you can offer something even better.

Make sure your idea can be scaled up too – ideally, you want to be able to create hundreds of pages from your concept, not just a few.

For example, “integration pages” are super scalable (Zapier has thousands!), while something like “pricing pages” might not have as much potential.

Use tools like Google Trends to make sure there’s steady or growing interest in the topic you’re planning to target (so you’re not wasting time on something that’s going out of style).

This research and validation step is super important to make sure you’re putting your energy into a project that has real potential for traffic and good rankings.

2. Create a page template – Alright, once you’ve got your target keywords and data, it’s time to cook up a page template that you’ll use for all your programmatic pages.

Think of it like a blueprint for your content and HTML, which you can then fill in with different info for each variation.

When you’re crafting your template, remember to include all those important on-page SEO elements and useful content sections right from the start.

For SEO, make sure the template uses the keyword in the title tag, meta description, URL, and H1 header of the page (just remember to add the relevant variable). Also, map out a logical heading structure (H2s, H3s) for the body content so each page is well-organized and easy to read.

Next, think about the content modules you’ll need on each page to give the user what they’re looking for. This might include things like: an intro paragraph that explains things, a list or table (maybe a list of integrations or templates), images or screenshots, a how-to section, user reviews or FAQs, and so on.

Make sure there’s a clear call-to-action too – for SaaS, that could be a sign-up button, free trial link, or whatever next step you want the visitor to take.

Check out Canva’s pages – they all have a big “Start designing” or “Use this template” button because they want to turn that SEO visitor into a user.

Also, don’t forget about navigation and internal linking: you should create a hub or index page that links to all your programmatic pages in that set (like an “All templates” page that links to every specific template category page).

This hub not only helps users find related topics, but also gives you a solid internal link structure so Google can find and index all the pages easily. If you can, add the hub or the programmatic pages into your top navigation or footer too, which shows search engines they’re important.

3. Generate and populate content – With the template ready, you need to actually create the hundreds of pages with their unique content. This is where automation comes in.

Gather the data for each page in a structured format (spreadsheet or database).

For instance, if doing software integration pages, you’d compile a list of all integration pairs, along with any details for each (descriptions, logos, how the integration works, etc.).

If doing a template library, you’d have a catalog of template types, maybe with links to examples or short blurbs.

Many teams use tools or scripts to automate the page generation: for example, you can use a combination of Airtable (for storing data) and a service like Zapier to push that data into your CMS and generate pages programmatically​.

There are also specialty tools emerging for programmatic SEO that streamline this process. Consider leveraging AI carefully at this stage – for instance, to generate meta descriptions or brief text snippets unique to each page – but quality-check the AI output.

The content on each page must be accurate and useful. One effective approach is to programmatically insert core data (names, numbers, facts) and then manually or semi-manually add a custom intro or FAQ for each page to ensure uniqueness.

This hybrid approach keeps things scalable while avoiding the “cookie-cutter” issue. Once your pages are generated (even if they’re not public yet), do a spot check: navigate a few of them as if you were a user or Googlebot.

Verify that all the variables populated correctly, the pages load fast, and there are no glaring content gaps.

4. Launch in controlled batches – When it comes time to push your programmatic pages live, a cautious approach can help. Rather than releasing hundreds or thousands of pages all at once, consider launching in phases.

First, upload the pages and perhaps set the section live with a sitemap. Immediately use Google Search Console to submit the new sitemap or a handful of individual URLs for indexing, which nudges Google to crawl them sooner​.

You should also ensure your main site links to the new pages (for example, link your “hub” page in your site’s header or footer, and the hub links out to all the individual pages) – this internal linking is critical for indexation​.

If you have the ability to do so, you might release, say, the top 50 pages first (perhaps those targeting the highest-value keywords) and wait until Google has indexed those and you’ve fixed any initial issues, before rolling out the next batch​.

This “drip feed” approach helps manage your crawl budget (Google has a limit to how fast it will crawl your site) and lets you monitor results and catch problems early.

Also, if some of your programmatic pages are very important, consider building a few external backlinks to them or the hub page to increase their crawl priority and authority.

For example, you could write a guest post or do a press release that links to your new resource library, which can expedite discovery by search engines.

5. Monitor, iterate, and improve – After launch, the work is not done. Treat your programmatic pages as you would a product feature – measure their performance and improve continuously.

Use Google Search Console and analytics data to see how many pages got indexed, which keywords they’re ranking for, and how much traffic and engagement they’re getting. It’s common to see some pages perform extremely well and others lag behind.

For those not hitting the mark, consider enriching the content (adding a more detailed description or an infographic), tweaking the on-page SEO (maybe the title tag could be made more compelling or include an additional keyword), or improving internal linking to boost their importance.

You can also A/B test elements at scale: for example, try two different template variations for your pages and see which yields better conversion or SEO metrics, then standardize on the winner​.

If you notice user engagement issues (e.g. high bounce rate on some pages), it might indicate the content isn’t matching what they hoped to find – adjust the copy or add info to address that.

Additionally, continue to build some backlinks to your programmatic pages over time, especially if they’re in competitive niches – this will strengthen their ability to rank.

Remember that Google’s algorithms also value freshness and maintenance; periodically updating these pages (even via an automated script) to ensure information is up-to-date can help their SEO longevity. In summary, use data to guide refinements: programmatic SEO is not a “set and forget” tactic if you want to achieve maximum results.

By following these steps, SaaS companies can roll out a programmatic SEO initiative methodically and effectively. It’s a process that blends creative SEO thinking (to find the opportunities) with engineering and automation (to execute at scale), plus a dose of ongoing optimization.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

The tech team working on pSEO usually focus on the technical side of things, like sitemaps, internal linking, landing page templates and all that jazz. But, they often forget about the actual user experience – or even worse – they’ll knowingly launch crappy pages just to get more organic search traffic.
Full read -> The Hidden Dangers of Programmatic SEO

• Thin or Duplicate Content: Creating many pages with identical templates and minimal unique content can result in thin content, which Google may not rank. To avoid duplicate content issues, ensure each page has substantial, unique content, such as custom introductions or dynamic user-generated content.

• Indexing Overload: Publishing many pages doesn’t guarantee immediate or eventual indexing by Google, especially for sites with low authority or limited crawl budget. To improve indexing, submit pages through Google Search Console, maintain clear site structure, build internal and external links, and monitor indexation. Don’t assume page creation equals search visibility; actively manage the indexing process.

• Poor User Experience (UX) or Conversion: Getting a page ranked is only half the battle; you also want the visitors to stay, engage, and ideally convert into leads or customers.

A common pitfall is focusing so much on scale that the quality of the page experience suffers.

For example, some programmatically generated pages might have outdated design, be hard to navigate, or lack clear calls-to-action. In those cases, even if the SEO side works and traffic comes, users will bounce quickly or fail to sign up.

In fact, many SaaS companies have seen pSEO pages drive traffic but not conversions due to poor on-page experience​.

To avoid this, apply the same UX standards to programmatic pages as you would to your main pages: ensure the design is clean and mobile-friendly, the content is logically organized, and include obvious next steps (e.g. a “Try this for free” button). It’s worth doing user testing on a few of the pages to catch UX issues.

Remember, the ultimate goal is not just traffic, but turning that traffic into satisfied users.

• Over-reliance on Automation (Bad Data): Programmatic SEO often relies on feeding a data source into pages. If that data is inaccurate, outdated, or shallow, it can lead to bad user experience and harm your credibility.

For instance, imagine auto-generating comparison pages with pricing info that isn’t updated regularly – users will get wrong info.

Or using a dataset that has errors will scale those errors across your site.

Additionally, purely machine-generated text can read poorly or even contain inaccuracies.

The saying “your content is only as good as your data” holds true here​.

The fix is to invest in data quality: pull from reliable sources, double-check the information populating key sections, and consider a manual review step for critical content.

If using AI to help write content, have a human editor refine the output. In short, don’t sacrifice accuracy for scale.

It’s better to have slightly fewer pages that genuinely help users, than thousands of pages that mislead or frustrate them.

High-quality data and oversight will ensure your programmatic pages actually serve their purpose and build trust with your audience.

Keep exploring Programmatic SEO

As we saw with Canva, a smart programmatic approach can help a SaaS dominate a landscape of relevant keywords and drive a steady flow of organic sign-ups.

The appeal is clear: scaling content marketing in a way that is systematic and data-driven, rather than purely manual.

SEO experts warn that missing out on programmatic SEO means missing significant opportunities. Programmatic SEO’s role in SaaS will likely grow, as AI and no-code tools make it easier to generate and optimize large numbers of pages.

For example, generative AI can assist in creating unique textual content for each page, and machine learning can help identify which new keywords or content themes to target.

We’re also seeing programmatic SEO intersect with product-led growth strategies – many SaaS are integrating their actual product or user data into SEO pages (like live data, user-generated content, or interactive tools), blurring the line between a content page and a product feature. This integration can make programmatic pages extremely valuable to users and hard for others to replicate.

That said, the future will also demand higher quality and relevance. Google’s algorithms (and users’ expectations) are continuously focusing on content usefulness and experience.

Programmatic SEO is not a shortcut; it’s a scalable extension of content strategy that requires planning and upkeep. Done well, it can significantly boost organic growth, but cutting corners will lead to diminishing returns.