Automattic Organic Growth Opportunities
1. Readiness Assessment
1. Readiness Assessment
2. Competitive Analysis
2. Competitive Analysis
3. Opportunity Kickstarters
3. Opportunity Kickstarters
4. Appendix
4. Appendix
Readiness Assessment
Current Performance
- Your domain generates approximately 34k in monthly organic traffic from over 11k ranking keywords, with an equivalent ad value of $66k.
- Traffic is highly concentrated, with the homepage and the
/work-with-us/page capturing over 93% of all visits, driven primarily by branded searches (e.g., "automattic") and career-related terms. - You have a moderate Authority Score of 47 supported by a massive backlink profile from over 6.2m referring domains, indicating a strong foundation of domain trust.
Growth Opportunity
- The heavy reliance on branded and career-related keywords reveals a significant opportunity to capture a wider audience by targeting non-branded, informational, and product-related search terms.
- You have low-ranking positions for extremely high-volume keywords like "sabbatical" (74k monthly searches) and "hiring" (40k monthly searches), presenting a clear opportunity to improve rankings for quick traffic wins.
- The vast majority of your site's pages contribute minimal traffic, indicating a substantial opportunity to optimize existing content and build out new topic clusters to attract new user segments.
Assessment
You have a powerful foundation built on strong brand equity and immense domain authority. However, your organic traffic is narrowly focused, leaving a significant, untapped opportunity to capture a much broader audience. Airops can help you systematically expand your content footprint to translate your domain authority into market-wide topic authority and drive meaningful traffic growth.
Competition at a Glance
An analysis of the competitive landscape against 1 key competitor, Squarespace, shows that automattic.com currently ranks 2nd in organic search performance. Your domain generates approximately 34,000 in monthly organic traffic from over 11,000 ranking keywords.
In stark contrast, the market leader, Squarespace, captures a significantly larger audience. They attract nearly 2.9 million in monthly organic traffic and rank for over 1.5 million keywords, demonstrating a dominant position in the market.
This data reveals a substantial performance gap between automattic.com and the top competitor, representing a significant opportunity for growth. The sheer scale of the difference in traffic and keyword footprint indicates a large, untapped potential for Automattic to increase its market share and audience engagement through expanded online visibility.
Opportunity Kickstarters
Here are your content opportunities, tailored to your domain's strengths. These are starting points for strategic plays that can grow into major traffic drivers in your market. Connect with our team to see the full traffic potential and activate these plays.
Create hyper-local landing pages showcasing WordPress templates for specific industries and cities, capturing long-tail search intent from SMBs. This play directly challenges competitors like Squarespace on their core user acquisition ground.
Example Keywords
- spa website template wordpress miami
- wordpress theme for accountants london
- dentist wordpress template toronto
- free construction company website template houston
Rationale
SMBs and local businesses often search with geographic and industry modifiers when looking for website solutions. By programmatically creating thousands of pages that precisely match these queries, Automattic can intercept high-intent users at the exact moment they are evaluating options, positioning WordPress as the most relevant choice.
Topical Authority
As the parent company of WordPress.com, which hosts thousands of templates, and the steward of the official Pattern Directory, Automattic has unparalleled authority on WordPress themes and designs. This play leverages that deep-seated expertise to create a resource that is both broad in scale and deep in relevance, solidifying their position as the go-to source for any WordPress template need.
Internal Data Sources
Utilize the WordPress.com theme library API, the official Pattern Directory metadata (which includes industry tags, color palettes, and block types), and anonymized WordPress.com user activation statistics sorted by industry to showcase popular and relevant 'built-with' examples for each niche.
Estimated Number of Pages
250,000+
Establish the definitive, SEO-optimized library for every WordPress security vulnerability by creating a unique page for each CVE identifier. This turns a reactive, fear-driven search into a direct, high-value funnel for Automattic's security products like Jetpack Scan and VaultPress.
Example Keywords
- wordpress gravity forms cve-2023-3145
- woocommerce critical vulnerability fix
- elementor xss patch download
- akismet privilege escalation explained
Rationale
When a plugin vulnerability is announced, site owners and developers immediately search for the CVE ID and plugin name, desperate for information and a fix. These pages provide immediate value in a moment of crisis, establishing Automattic as the authoritative and helpful source for WordPress security, which naturally funnels panicked users to a trusted, paid solution.
Topical Authority
Automattic owns WPScan, the industry-standard WordPress vulnerability database, through a 2021 acquisition. Leveraging this proprietary and comprehensive data asset gives them unassailable topical authority and a source of content that competitors cannot legally or practically replicate, creating a powerful, defensible moat.
Internal Data Sources
The full WPScan JSON feed can be used to programmatically provide all necessary vulnerability metadata, severity scores, and fix versions. This can be enriched with Jetpack Scan telemetry to add real-time context like 'Detected on X active sites,' and internal remediation SOPs from Happiness Engineers can inform the recommended steps.
Estimated Number of Pages
110,000+
Create thousands of in-depth guides on how to start and grow a successful blog for any given niche, from knitting to football analysis. This play reclaims top-of-funnel authority and attracts the next generation of creators and publishers to the WordPress and Tumblr ecosystems.
Example Keywords
- start a knitting blog
- how to start a football analysis blog
- travel blog name ideas
- starting a vegan recipe blog
Rationale
Aspiring creators are a core market for WordPress, but they often begin their journey by researching their topic of interest, not by looking for a platform. By providing comprehensive, data-backed blueprints for success in thousands of niches, Automattic can capture this massive audience before they ever consider competitors like Squarespace or Substack.
Topical Authority
As the company behind WordPress.com and Tumblr, Automattic possesses decades of data and institutional knowledge about what makes blogs successful across countless categories. This play leverages that rich history to provide unmatched, credible advice and insights that feel authentic and genuinely helpful.
Internal Data Sources
Use anonymized data from WordPress.com's 'Freshly Pressed' selections to identify historically successful niches. Combine this with real-time Tumblr tag popularity data to spot emerging trends, and reference internal SEO studies on post cadence vs. traffic to offer unique, data-driven growth tips.
Estimated Number of Pages
30,000+
Develop a comprehensive library of setup guides for every major payment gateway in every country, specific to WooCommerce. This strategy captures high-intent international merchants at a critical decision point in their e-commerce platform selection process.
Example Keywords
- woocommerce klarna norway fees
- accept mpesa payments woocommerce kenya
- woocommerce upi india checkout
- stripe vs molpay malaysia woocommerce
Rationale
Choosing a payment gateway is a major friction point for merchants, especially outside North America where options are fragmented and complex. By providing clear, localized guides that address specific fees, compliance, and setup steps, Automattic removes this significant barrier, making WooCommerce the path of least resistance for global entrepreneurs.
Topical Authority
WooCommerce is an Automattic product, giving them inherent and absolute authority on the subject. By creating the most exhaustive resource on this topic, they become the default destination for any payment-related e-commerce question, effectively owning the conversation around global WooCommerce payments.
Internal Data Sources
Leverage the WooCommerce extension catalog API to get a definitive list of gateways, ratings, and pricing. This can be cross-referenced with Jetpack Payments adoption data to prioritize the most popular countries and gateways, and internal fee calculators can be used to provide unique, dynamic comparison tools.
Estimated Number of Pages
18,000+
Publish data-driven comparison pages pitting Automattic's hosting products (Pressable, WP Cloud) against top competitors, using real load-test results for different global regions. This play targets bottom-of-funnel buyers with objective, hard-to-refute proof of performance and value.
Example Keywords
- pressable vs siteground singapore
- pressable vs wp engine europe latency
- best wordpress hosting canada benchmark
- pressable uptime compared digitalocean
Rationale
Hosting decisions for serious businesses are often made by directly comparing providers on speed, uptime, and price. By creating transparent, data-backed 'versus' pages, Automattic can control the narrative, build trust through transparency, and convert users who are actively in the market for a high-performance host.
Topical Authority
Only Automattic has access to the internal performance logs, stress-test suites, and resource utilization data for its own hosting products like Pressable and WP Cloud. This proprietary data makes the content unique, defensible, and highly authoritative, as competitors can only speculate on these metrics.
Internal Data Sources
Utilize the WP Cloud automated k6 load-test suite results, which can be run against competitor staging sites for direct comparisons. Combine this with real uptime data from status.automattic.com and internal billing tables to create a compelling 'total cost per visitor' calculator.
Estimated Number of Pages
12,000+
Improvements Summary
Revise and expand career-related pages to target high-volume branded job keywords, address content gaps, and implement structured data. Strengthen internal linking, add new role-specific content, and optimize technical SEO for better rankings and user experience.
Improvements Details
Key tasks include rewriting H1s and meta tags with primary keywords like 'automattic careers' and 'remote jobs', expanding page content to cover hiring process, benefits, and FAQs, and adding JobPosting schema. New content such as role spotlights and interview guides will target specific queries, while improved internal links and technical updates (Core Web Vitals, hreflang, sitemap) will support discoverability and ranking.
Improvements Rationale
These improvements address missed opportunities for high-intent branded job searches where Automattic currently underperforms despite strong demand. By filling content gaps, optimizing for relevant keywords, and improving technical SEO, the site can capture more organic traffic, increase application rates, and reduce reliance on paid job boards.
Appendix
| Keyword | Volume | Traffic % |
|---|---|---|
| best seo tools | 5.0k | 3 |
| seo strategy | 4.0k | 5 |
| keyword research | 3.5k | 2 |
| backlink analysis | 3.0k | 4 |
| on-page optimization | 2.5k | 1 |
| local seo | 2.0k | 6 |
| Page | Traffic | Traffic % |
|---|---|---|
| /seo-tools | 5.0k | 100 |
| /keyword-research | 4.0k | 100 |
| /backlink-checker | 3.5k | 80 |
| /site-audit | 3.0k | 60 |
| /rank-tracker | 2.5k | 50 |
| /content-optimization | 2.0k | 40 |
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