Paylocity 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
- Driving 1.9M monthly organic visits, valued at $5.9M in equivalent ad spend.
- Brand and navigational searches (e.g., "paylocity login") drive over 75% of your traffic, showing strong brand equity but high dependency on existing users.
- Your site has a strong Authority Score of 68 and over 33k referring domains, providing a solid foundation to expand your reach.
Growth Opportunity
- The market leader generates 9.4M monthly visits—nearly 5x your current traffic—revealing a significant addressable market for you to capture.
- Your informational content (glossary, articles) already ranks for high-volume terms like "oasdi" and "exempt vs non exempt," but these pages collectively drive less than 3% of total traffic, proving the model for a much larger content scaling opportunity.
- While you rank for 187k keywords, the market leader ranks for over 933k, highlighting a clear path to expand your keyword footprint into non-branded, problem-aware topics.
Assessment
You have a powerful foundation built on brand authority, but you are heavily reliant on existing customers finding you. Data reveals a massive opportunity to capture the top-of-funnel audience by systematically creating content for non-branded HR and payroll topics. An AirOps-powered content strategy can execute this at scale, closing the competitive gap and driving significant new user acquisition.
Competition at a Glance
An analysis of 3 direct competitors shows that Paylocity currently ranks 2nd in organic search performance. The site generates approximately 1.8 million monthly organic visits and ranks for over 187,000 keywords, placing it firmly ahead of Paycor and Rippling.
The market leader, ADP, generates 9.4 million monthly organic visits from over 933,000 keywords. This reveals a significant gap in market visibility and audience reach between the top position and Paylocity, highlighting the scale of the opportunity available.
While Paylocity holds a strong position, the performance of the market leader indicates a substantial opportunity for growth. Closing this performance gap would allow Paylocity to capture a much larger share of the available audience and challenge for the leading position in the digital landscape.
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 ultra-granular static pages estimating the full cost to employ specific job roles in hundreds of U.S. cities. These pages combine salary data with local taxes and benefits costs to provide an unmatched resource for financial planning and hiring.
Example Keywords
- “total cost to employ a software engineer in Austin”
- “how much does a warehouse associate really cost Atlanta 2025”
- “employer taxes for nurses Chicago”
- “all-in cost for a sales rep in Denver”
Rationale
Businesses struggle to budget for new hires, as salary is only part of the equation. By providing a city-and-role-specific total cost, Paylocity can capture high-intent search traffic from finance and HR leaders making critical budget decisions.
Topical Authority
Paylocity already ranks for high-level payroll terms (FICA, FUTA). This play drills down to the local level, demonstrating unparalleled granularity and leveraging their core payroll data to build extreme authority in compensation and compliance.
Internal Data Sources
Use de-identified payroll data for median salaries, the internal tax engine for local statutory rates, and anonymized benefits enrollment data for typical cost-sharing percentages.
Estimated Number of Pages
50,000+
Develop a comprehensive library of guides for every state and major job family on how to comply with new pay transparency laws. Each page will offer legally-vetted templates and real salary benchmarks from Paylocity's data.
Example Keywords
- “colorado software engineer salary range posting law”
- “illinois sales rep pay transparency template”
- “new york pay transparency compliance guide”
- “how to write a salary range for job posting”
Rationale
A wave of new legislation has made pay transparency a top compliance concern for HR teams nationwide. These guides will attract urgent, high-intent traffic from businesses seeking to avoid legal risk and attract talent.
Topical Authority
As a leader in payroll and HR compliance, Paylocity is perfectly positioned to be the authoritative source on this topic. Providing real salary data from their platform creates a unique, defensible advantage over generic legal blogs.
Internal Data Sources
Leverage anonymized salary data from the HRIS/payroll platform, applicant tracking analytics to show the impact of posting ranges, and the internal legal team's legislative tracking database.
Estimated Number of Pages
4,000+
Build a definitive compliance resource with a pillar page for each state, supported by detailed sub-pages on every key statutory topic. This creates a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate hub for HR and payroll professionals.
Example Keywords
- “california payroll compliance checklist”
- “new york new hire reporting rules”
- “texas final paycheck laws”
- “florida 2025 minimum wage increase”
Rationale
Navigating multi-state compliance is a primary challenge for Paylocity's target audience. A centralized, state-by-state hub will become a go-to resource, capturing consistent search traffic for a wide range of compliance-related queries.
Topical Authority
The domain already has authority for federal tax terms like 'OASDI' and 'FUTA'. This play expands that authority to the state level, solidifying Paylocity's position as a comprehensive compliance expert and leveraging data they already use to service clients.
Internal Data Sources
Use the real-time statutory rate tables from the Paylocity tax engine and repurpose client alert emails written by the internal tax team to ensure accuracy and depth.
Estimated Number of Pages
750+
Create a forward-looking library of guides that map emerging work models to state-level labor laws and compliance risks. Each page will cover a specific model, like a 4-day workweek or digital nomad policy, providing actionable advice and data-backed ROI.
Example Keywords
- “4-day workweek overtime rules Texas”
- “digital nomad payroll tax implications Colorado”
- “asynchronous schedule compliance New Jersey”
- “ai copilot oversight policy”
Rationale
As companies experiment with new ways of working, they are entering a compliance grey area. This play positions Paylocity as a thought leader, capturing traffic from innovative companies seeking guidance on how to implement these models legally and effectively.
Topical Authority
While Paylocity has authority in traditional HR, this play establishes them as an expert on the *future* of HR. By analyzing their own platform data, they can provide unique insights into the practical application and impact of these new work models.
Internal Data Sources
Analyze anonymized Time & Labor data to identify trends in work schedules, use engagement survey data to show the impact of new models, and draw from HRIS policy libraries of innovative clients.
Estimated Number of Pages
12,000+
Develop scenario-based playbooks for maintaining payroll continuity during various disasters, tailored to specific industries and states. These guides provide checklists, emergency procedures, and links to relevant regulatory waivers.
Example Keywords
- “hurricane payroll contingency plan Florida”
- “ransomware payroll playbook for healthcare”
- “wildfire evacuation same-day pay California”
- “business continuity plan payroll”
Rationale
When a disaster strikes, ensuring employees get paid is a critical, high-stress priority. This content addresses a severely underserved niche, capturing urgent search traffic and positioning Paylocity as a reliable and resilient partner in times of crisis.
Topical Authority
This play builds authority in risk management and operational resilience, a key concern for larger enterprises. It demonstrates a level of strategic partnership beyond simple payroll processing.
Internal Data Sources
Use internal incident-response SOPs, anonymized support case data related to emergency payroll runs, and the compliance team's library of regulatory waivers from agencies like the IRS and DOL.
Estimated Number of Pages
10,000+
Improvements Summary
Expand and differentiate glossary entries targeting high-volume, question-based payroll and HR terms currently ranking on page 2. Optimize on-page elements for featured snippets, add semantic depth, and strengthen internal linking to improve rankings and user engagement.
Improvements Details
Key tasks include rewriting title tags and H1s to front-load target questions, providing concise definitions in the first 40 words, expanding content to 800-1,000 words with examples, formulas, and FAQs, and implementing FAQPage and Speakable schema. Add 'Payroll Pro Tip' callouts, interlink glossary entries with related terms, and link from high-authority pages. Create 8-10 new glossary entries for high-search-volume terms like FUTA tax, FICA, and PTO, and add a glossary link to the site footer.
Improvements Rationale
These improvements address thin content and lack of differentiation, making glossary pages more competitive for featured snippets and People-Also-Ask boxes. Enhanced internal linking and schema markup help search engines understand topical relationships and improve crawlability, while expanded content and unique value propositions increase user engagement and click-through rates. The strategy aims to move key terms into top-5 positions, drive incremental organic traffic, and support broader site authority in payroll compliance.
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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