Whatnot Organic Growth Opportunities

Create a massive library of pages detailing the market price for every collectible item at each specific condition grade (e.g., PSA 8, CGC 9.6). This play captures extremely high-intent searchers looking for precise valuation data before buying or selling.

Example Keywords

• “psa 8 umbreon gold star value”
• “cgc 9.6 uncanny x-men 266 price”
• “beckett 9 michael jordan fleer 1986 worth”
• “sneaker condition rating 7 vs 9 price difference”

Rationale

Collectors and investors search for precise, grade-specific pricing information. By providing a comprehensive price matrix using its own transaction data, Whatnot can become the definitive source for valuation, intercepting users at the final stage of their research before a purchase.

Topical Authority

Whatnot possesses millions of data points on graded collectible sales, a proprietary asset that competitors like eBay or grading companies themselves do not publish in an aggregated, user-friendly format. Publishing this data establishes Whatnot as the market's most transparent and authoritative pricing resource.

Internal Data Sources

This play leverages the transaction ledger segmented by item and grade, population counts from grading company APIs, and hosted images of the actual graded items (slabs) from past listings.

Estimated Number of Pages

1,600,000+

Generate an item-level price guide page for every unique collectible SKU that has a significant transaction history on the platform. These pages serve as a central hub for an item's market value, recent sales trends, and upcoming auctions.

Example Keywords

• “charizard vstar 2022 price”
• “air jordan 1 chicago resale value”
• “funko pop #01 price guide”
• “amazing fantasy 15 graded 3.0 price”

Rationale

Price discovery is a primary activity for all collectors. By creating dedicated price guide pages, Whatnot captures high-funnel research traffic and can immediately convert that interest by showing live and upcoming auctions for that specific item.

Topical Authority

As a major marketplace, Whatnot has first-party, real-time sales data that is more current and reliable than competitor data, which often relies on scraping or manual entry. This gives Whatnot a significant advantage in building topical authority around market pricing and trends.

Internal Data Sources

The core data includes the transaction ledger (final hammer prices, condition, date), auto-generated charts showing 30/90/365-day price trends, and photos from actual sold listings.

Estimated Number of Pages

200,000+

Create geo-targeted landing pages that combine a product category with a specific city or metro area. These pages surface local sellers, highlight faster shipping times, and cater to users searching with local intent.

Example Keywords

• “sneaker auctions in Atlanta”
• “pokemon card breaks Los Angeles time zone”
• “live coin auctions UK”
• “funko pop auction Toronto”

Rationale

Searches including 'near me' or specific locations signal a high degree of trust-seeking and logistical concern (e.g., shipping speed). By creating pages that address these needs directly, Whatnot can capture valuable local search traffic that competitors ignore.

Topical Authority

While topical authority for local terms may need to be built, Whatnot has a unique advantage by knowing the physical location of its thousands of sellers. It can use this data to create genuinely useful local pages that surface sellers from a user's region, something a generic e-commerce site cannot do.

Internal Data Sources

This play utilizes seller origin ZIP codes to filter live shows, historical shipping time averages for origin-destination pairs, and flags for local pickup eligibility to provide unique, localized value.

Estimated Number of Pages

100,000+

Develop detailed guide pages for every minor variant, special edition, or convention-exclusive version of popular collectibles. These pages explain the rarity and origin of each variant, targeting hyper-specific, long-tail search queries from serious collectors.

Example Keywords

• “funko pop voltaic purple meaning”
• “jordan 1 low atmosphere grey release details”
• “batman #50 j scott campbell variant value”
• “labubu sweet dream chase ratio”

Rationale

The most dedicated collectors hunt for obscure variants, and their searches are often answered by low-authority forums or Reddit threads. Whatnot can win this high-intent traffic by creating authoritative, well-structured pages that also link directly to live listings for those items.

Topical Authority

By cataloging and explaining the universe of collectible variants, Whatnot demonstrates a level of expertise that builds immense trust and authority. This positions the brand as a resource for both novice and expert collectors.

Internal Data Sources

Leverage the internal product database which contains flags for variant names, the sold-price distribution for each variant to create value charts, and Getty Images for clean hero photos.

Estimated Number of Pages

60,000+

Build static landing pages for every popular Brand and Category combination available on Whatnot (e.g., 'Nike Sneakers,' 'Funko Pop Toys'). These pages act as evergreen hubs that introduce the topic and funnel users directly into relevant live auctions.

Example Keywords

• “nike sneaker live auction”
• “pokemon cards live break”
• “funko pop live sale”
• “lego minifigure live auction”

Rationale

Users often search by brand and category before they are aware of specific products or sellers. These pages capture that mid-funnel intent and serve as the perfect bridge, educating the user while simultaneously showcasing Whatnot's core value proposition: live shopping.

Topical Authority

Whatnot already has immense authority for branded search terms like 'whatnot' and its core feature, 'live auctions.' Combining these two areas of strength by creating dedicated Brand + Auction pages is a natural extension that leverages existing authority to rank for new, high-value commercial keywords.

Internal Data Sources

Utilize the internal brand and category taxonomy to generate the pages, historical sales data (GMV) for social proof, and seller rating data to highlight top-rated sellers for that category.

Estimated Number of Pages

62,500+

Improvements Summary

Consolidate fragmented seller help content into authoritative pillar pages, optimize for high-volume keywords, and strengthen internal linking to improve rankings for seller onboarding queries. Add schema markup, interactive tools, and new content formats to capture rich snippets and drive organic traffic.

Improvements Details

Key tasks include merging and expanding articles on topics like 'how to sell on whatnot', 'seller fees', and 'shipping', retitling and restructuring pages with clear H2s and embedded videos, and implementing FAQ/HowTo schema. The /seller page will become a hub linking to deep-dive resources, while new content such as comparison blog posts, case studies, and an interactive fee calculator will target additional search intent. Internal links from all seller articles will point to the hub, and a 'Seller Resources' footer will surface the cluster sitewide.

Improvements Rationale

Current content is thin and scattered, causing poor rankings despite high search demand and low competition. Consolidating and optimizing pages will signal authority to search engines, while schema and internal links will improve visibility and user navigation. These changes are expected to drive significant organic traffic and increase seller sign-ups by capturing more relevant queries and improving user experience.