Canva: Programmatic SEO Case Study

Psssst. Just so you know - this entire section was built using programmatic SEO and this Google Sheet.

Canva is one of the biggest examples of programmatic SEO as it receives more than 100 million monthly organic traffic. Again, they analyzed what their potential customers/users are searching for and capitalized on that. At the time of writing this, there were more than 190,000 pages were indexed in Google.

Canva Overview

Canva is a graphic design company that provides an online design tool that allows users to create professional-quality designs without the need for extensive design skills. The platform offers a wide variety of templates, design elements, and tools that can be used to create everything from social media posts and flyers to presentations and infographics. Canva is easy to use and offers a range of design options for users of all skill levels.

Canva screenshot

Canva has implemented the techniques of programmatic SEO in the following area(s).

1. Creative maker

In this area, Canva targets {creative} maker or builder which is transactional in nature. The programmatic pages generated under "creative maker" would be considered landing page type.

Let's take a look at some example pages in this area, and how much organic traffic they generate every month:

Example page Monthly organic traffic
Logo maker 179k
Online resume builder 71k
Photo collage maker 74k
Canva area Creative maker screenshot
Creative maker on Canva

Creative maker Data Points

A few data points that Canva uses on these programmatically generated pages are:

  • The name of the tool with an illustration showing the tool
  • A big call to action (CTA) button
  • Some related templates and links to other related tools
  • Some features and a short description of the tool
  • A quick how-to section and a FAQ section at the end

2. Creative templates

In this area, Canva targets {creative type} templates which is transactional in nature. The programmatic pages generated under "creative templates" would be considered landing page type.

Now we can check out some example pages in this area, and how much organic traffic they get every month:

Example page Monthly organic traffic
Resume templates 83k
Certificate templates 51k
Business card templates 38k
Canva area Creative templates screenshot
Creative templates on Canva

Creative templates Data Points

A few data points that Canva uses on these programmatically generated pages are:

  • A title for the creative template
  • A short description describing the template
  • A list of templates with multiple filtering options
  • Images of all the listed templates
  • Each templates' names along with their makers' names

3. Business solutions

In this area, Canva targets Canva for {business solutions} which is transactional in nature. The programmatic pages generated under "business solutions" would be considered landing page type.

Finally, lets dive into the example pages in this area, to see how much traffic they get for this section:

Canva area Business solutions screenshot
Business solutions on Canva

Business solutions Data Points

A few data points that Canva uses on these programmatically generated pages are:

  • A name describing the business use case
  • A short description
  • Detailed descriptions of all features
  • Frequently asked questions section
  • A big CTA button

And that is how Canva uses programmatic pages to generate 108 million organic traffic every single month.