3 Powerful Ways Product-Led SEO Can Boost Your Business

SEO is evolving fast. Traditional SEO — where content teams create blogs and landing pages — is still important. But a new approach called Product-Led SEO (PLSEO) is rapidly gaining ground, especially for companies with large user bases, marketplaces, or platforms that generate tons of data or user content.

In this article, we will explore what product-led SEO really means, why it matters, and look at three real-world examples to understand how companies are using this smart strategy to grow organically and stay ahead of the competition.

What is Product-Led SEO? Understanding the Basics

Simply put, Product-Led SEO is an organic growth strategy where the product itself drives SEO success. Instead of relying solely on marketing or editorial teams to create content, the product generates content automatically through user interactions, data, or inventory.

Imagine your product creating thousands or even millions of unique pages that Google can index — all without your content team writing each one manually. This happens because the product aggregates information, user-generated content (UGC), or data, and transforms it into discoverable SEO pages.

Why is this important?

• It scales SEO content creation beyond manual efforts.
• It creates a growth loop where every new user action or product update can lead to more search visibility.
• It offers a competitive moat, as it’s hard to replicate the data-driven, dynamic nature of these pages.
• It can withstand the rise of AI-driven search, which often pulls from rich, structured data and real-time content.

The term was first coined by Eli Schwartz in his book Product-Led SEO, and it is becoming popular especially among SaaS platforms, marketplaces, and aggregators.

What Product-Led SEO Is NOT

It’s equally important to clear up some misconceptions:

• PLSEO is not about manually writing thousands of SEO pages.
• It’s not focused purely on traditional keyword research or editorial calendar planning.
• It’s not static. The SEO content grows and changes automatically as your product evolves or users add content.
• It doesn’t fit every business, only those that have scalable data or content within the product.

The 3 Main Types of Product-Led SEO: Real-World Examples

Now, let’s explore three primary ways companies use product-led SEO to grow organically. Each model uses a slightly different mechanism to generate SEO-friendly content directly from the product.

1. User-Generated Content (UGC) Driven SEO

Example: Figma

In this model, the users of your product create content themselves, which then becomes SEO assets. The more users contribute, the more SEO pages are generated automatically.

How does Figma use this?

Figma, a popular design tool, encourages users to create and share design templates. Each template has its own landing page, which ranks for long-tail keywords related to design, UI kits, and app mockups. Over time, this community-generated content builds an enormous SEO footprint, without Figma’s content team writing each page.

Because users keep uploading new templates regularly, the site’s SEO footprint grows organically and keeps pace with evolving search trends.

Why this works well:

• Content is authentic and varied, helping capture a wide range of search queries.
• It creates a strong network effect; more users attract more users.
• AI search and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT often refer to this rich, real-world content in their responses, amplifying visibility.

Other platforms that follow this UGC-driven SEO model include:

• Notion: Users create and share wikis, which Google indexes.
• Typeshare: Automatically converts user social posts into mini-blogs for search indexing.
• Marketplaces like TripAdvisor or G2: Aggregated user reviews power millions of SEO pages.

Best suited for:

• SaaS platforms with user-customisable content.
• Knowledge-sharing communities.
• Review and recommendation sites.

2. Supply-Driven SEO

Example: IMDb

Here, the product itself supplies structured data, which is used to generate SEO pages programmatically. These datasets can be rich metadata, statistics, or constantly updated feeds.

How does IMDb do it?

IMDb holds an extensive database of movies, actors, release dates, streaming availability, and ratings. Each new piece of data automatically creates or updates pages that rank for long-tail queries such as “new Netflix releases 2025” or “cast of [Movie Name].”

When new data comes in, IMDb’s system generates fresh SEO content, keeping the site relevant and highly ranked for many niche queries.

User ratings and reviews add a touch of UGC, making the content even more engaging and trustworthy.

Why this works well:

• Structured data ensures accurate, up-to-date pages.
• Automated updates reduce manual effort.
• Provides real-time information which search engines and AI love to surface.

Similar supply-driven SEO applications include:

• Security advisory databases that publish new vulnerability pages.
• Real-time pricing comparison platforms (like Glassdoor salary data).
• SaaS tools tracking user performance or behaviour metrics.

Best suited for:

• Businesses with unique, defensible datasets.
• Platforms that can template pages at scale.
• Organisations focusing on detailed, timely information.

3. Locale-Driven SEO

Example: Doordash

This model leverages location-specific inventory to create SEO pages targeting hyperlocal searches. It’s ideal for businesses where users search for nearby products or services.

How does Doordash do it?

Doordash generates SEO pages for each city, zip code, or neighbourhood, listing available restaurants, food types, and popular meals. The pages also include FAQs and user reviews.

They link city pages to nearby locations and restaurant pages to others in the same city, creating a rich internal linking structure that boosts SEO.

They also create pages around schools, hotels, and zip codes to cover many local search intents like “food delivery near me” or “restaurants near [campus].”

Other examples include:

• Zillow: Real estate listings by neighbourhoods and cities.
• Booking.com: Hotel listings by location.
• Retailmenot: Coupon pages based on regions.

Why this works well:

• Local search is a high-intent, evergreen opportunity.
• Search engines and LLMs value detailed, hyperlocal content.
• Internal linking between local pages enhances SEO strength.

Best suited for:

• Food delivery and local services.
• Real estate marketplaces.
• Ecommerce platforms with large local inventories.
• Travel and accommodation sites.

Challenges to Keep in Mind with Product-Led SEO

Product-led SEO is powerful but requires careful execution and ongoing maintenance.

1. SEO Hygiene and Quality Control
   Automatically generated pages can easily suffer from duplicate content, spam, or outdated information if not properly managed.
   For UGC-heavy sites, robust spam filters and moderation are essential.
2. The AI Search Impact
   Modern AI-driven search engines and Large Language Models (LLMs) sometimes pull data directly from your pages but display answers without sending users to your site. This can reduce traditional organic traffic.
   Building a strong brand and community can improve your chances of being cited or linked to in AI-generated answers.
3. Depth of Content and User Experience
   Programmatic pages need to maintain quality and provide enough useful information to satisfy users. Thin, templated pages with little real value can hurt SEO in the long run.
   Balancing scale with rich content is vital.
4. Preparing for the Future of AI Agents
   AI agents might interact with your product directly, bypassing search results altogether. Consider how your product-led SEO strategy could evolve to serve AI users, not just human searchers.

Why Product-Led SEO is Worth Considering

When done right, product-led SEO turns your product data and user interactions into a dynamic, scalable SEO engine.

• It lowers dependence on content teams by creating SEO assets programmatically.
• It aligns SEO with product growth, generating growth loops that feed each other.
• It helps build defensible organic growth that’s difficult for competitors to copy.

Final Thoughts

Product-led SEO isn’t for every company, but if your business can aggregate user content, data, or inventory at scale, it’s an opportunity worth exploring.

The three models — UGC-driven, supply-driven, and locale-driven — provide a clear framework to evaluate how your product can unlock organic growth in today’s evolving search landscape.

Stay aware of the challenges, especially related to quality and AI-driven search trends. With smart execution and continuous adaptation, product-led SEO can be your secret weapon to sustainable, long-term growth.