Programmatic SEO — generating many pages from data + templates — is one of the highest-ROI SEO tactics when done well. It’s also one of the riskiest when done poorly. Google’s Helpful Content Update specifically targets ‘doorway pages’ that use programmatic SEO as a shortcut to thin content. Here’s how to do it right for Quebec businesses.
What good programmatic SEO looks like
Good programmatic SEO has three features:
- Real underlying data. Pages are generated from a structured dataset (cities, services, industries, integrations, comparisons) that contains genuine information per row.
- Unique content per page. Each generated page combines the data row with templated structure to produce 400-800 words of content that’s genuinely unique to that combination. Not just slug substitution.
- User value. Each page actually helps the searcher accomplish something. ‘Web design in Brossard’ should help a Brossard business understand the Brossard-specific market — not just mention ‘Brossard’ 8 times.
What bad programmatic SEO looks like
- Slug-only changes. Identical content with the city name swapped. Google’s Helpful Content Update specifically targets this.
- Zero local detail. A ‘Web design in Repentigny’ page that says nothing about Repentigny is a doorway page.
- Mass auto-generation with no editing. AI-generated pages with no human review usually have telltale signs Google can detect.
- Internal linking that loops only between programmatic pages. Real authority comes from links from your hub pages + clusters, not just the matrix.
The Quebec approach
For Quebec businesses doing city × service combinations, the formula is:
- Real city research per page (real neighborhoods, real local industries, real demographic context)
- Real service depth per page (specific to that service’s value proposition)
- Real intersection content (why this city specifically benefits from this service)
- Real FAQ per combination (city + service-specific questions)
- Internal linking back to both the service hub and the city hub
- Bilingual parity (the FR page isn’t just a translation — it’s its own well-tuned content)
How we do this at Touché
Our city × service matrix covers 20 Greater Montreal cities × 5 services = 100 combinations. Each combo page has:
- City-specific hero with named neighborhoods
- 300+ word local relevance section combining city + service intersection
- Service-tier pricing with city-tagged lede
- 4 unique FAQ items per combo
- Proof + CTA closer
Total unique content per combo: ~600 words. Across 100 combos in two languages: ~120,000 words of genuinely unique content. Google sees that as authority, not doorway pages.
Cost reality
Done right, programmatic SEO is expensive upfront — typically 6-10 weeks of work for the architecture + initial content. Done wrong, it’s cheap but penalised. There’s no middle ground that works long-term.
If you want this done properly for your business, see our Authority Sites service.