Workiva 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
- You rank for 26k organic keywords and drive about 48k/mo organic visits (≈ $249k/mo in equivalent ad spend), putting you behind the traffic leader in your set despite strong keyword breadth.
- Authority is solid at 48, supported by ~81k backlinks from ~5k referring domains—good credibility, but not yet translating into top-tier traffic yield.
- Traffic is concentrated in a few education + brand pages: “What is ESG” resource (~8k/mo, 16% share) and the homepage (~5k/mo, 11%), with top queries led by “esg”, “esg meaning”, and “workiva careers.”
Growth Opportunity
- Close the visibility-to-traffic efficiency gap vs peers: Diligent earns ~96k/mo organic visits (~2× you), and AuditBoard drives ~67k/mo from fewer keywords—signaling meaningful upside from better rankings/CTR on the terms you already cover.
- Expand and systematize non-brand, high-volume topic clusters where you already show traction (ESG/GRC/SOX, risk management, financial reporting terms like “financial statements,” “balance sheet,” “cash flow statement”) to capture more top-of-funnel demand and funnel it into solution pages.
- Increase conversion of existing content into product demand with tighter internal linking from top resources to ESG/GRC/ERM solution pages, refreshed SERP-first updates (titles/meta for CTR), and more “software/platform” intent coverage (e.g., “esg software,” “risk management software,” “policy management software”).
Assessment
You have a strong foundation (26k keywords, Authority 48) but you’re under-monetizing it in traffic versus competitors. The biggest opportunity is improving traffic yield from existing visibility and scaling repeatable content clusters around ESG, compliance, and reporting. AirOps can help you execute this systematically at scale and unlock meaningful incremental organic growth.
Competition at a Glance
Across 3 direct competitors (Diligent, AuditBoard, and OneStream), Workiva shows solid organic visibility but is not capturing proportional traffic from its keyword footprint.
Workiva ranks #3 in monthly organic traffic at 47,675 visits and #2 in ranking keywords at 26,197. The market leader is Diligent, generating 96,300 monthly organic visits from 37,173 ranking keywords, which is roughly 2× Workiva’s traffic and supported by broader search coverage.
Overall, Workiva’s position suggests a visibility-to-traffic efficiency gap: despite strong keyword breadth, competitors convert rankings into more visits—most notably AuditBoard, which earns 67,325 visits with 23,815 keywords (more traffic from fewer keywords). This indicates Workiva is competitive on presence, but trails in overall reach versus the leader and in traffic yield versus the most efficient peer.
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.
A comprehensive directory of SEC filing requirement pages broken down by specific form types and individual form items to assist reporting teams with compliance mechanics. This play targets the 'job-to-be-done' phase of filing where users need specific checklists and disclosure rules for individual sections of SEC documents.
Example Keywords
- form 10-k item 7 requirements
- md&a disclosure checklist
- form s-1 filing requirements
- regulation s-k item 402 requirements
- proxy statement disclosure timeline
Rationale
By moving from broad definitions to specific filing mechanics, Workiva can capture high-intent traffic from professionals actively preparing reports. These users are often seeking efficiency and accuracy, which aligns perfectly with Workiva's core software value proposition.
Topical Authority
Workiva's current organic success is rooted in governance and reporting education, with its top resource page driving over 15% of total traffic. Extending this into technical SEC requirements is a natural progression of its established credibility in the regulatory space.
Internal Data Sources
Leverage the 154 customer stories to provide industry-specific context, developer documentation from developers.workiva.com for technical workflow steps, and help center articles to address common filing errors.
Estimated Number of Pages
3,000+ (Covering core SEC forms, individual items, and filer-status variants)
A technical encyclopedia mapping specific taxonomy elements and validation error codes to clear definitions and remediation steps. This play targets the highly technical pain points encountered by filers during the tagging and validation phase of digital reporting.
Example Keywords
- ixbrl validation error [code]
- xbrl tag for [line item]
- xbrl calculation inconsistency fix
- edgar filing xbrl errors
- us gaap taxonomy element [name]
Rationale
Technical errors in XBRL tagging are a major source of friction for reporting teams. Providing a searchable, programmatic library of fixes positions Workiva as the essential technical partner for complex digital filings.
Topical Authority
Workiva already has dedicated solution pages for XBRL and iXBRL and ranks for technical support queries. This play leverages its reputation as a technical leader in the 'Wdesk' ecosystem to capture users in the middle of a high-stress filing task.
Internal Data Sources
Utilize proprietary guidance from internal XBRL services teams, anonymized filing QA patterns, and technical documentation from the Workiva Support and Training properties.
Estimated Number of Pages
10,000+ (Covering thousands of taxonomy elements and common validation error codes)
An operational library where every specific disclosure requirement under new global sustainability standards (CSRD/ESRS and ISSB) is turned into a playbook for data collection and assurance. This play captures the massive surge in search demand as companies globally scramble to comply with new ESG regulations.
Example Keywords
- ESRS E1-1 disclosure requirements
- IFRS S2 disclosure checklist
- assurance evidence for [metric]
- ESRS datapoints list E2 pollution
- IFRS S1 disclosure requirements checklist
Rationale
New regulations create a vacuum of 'how-to' information. By providing granular, requirement-level playbooks, Workiva can capture the entire market of sustainability leads and controllers who are building new reporting processes from scratch.
Topical Authority
Workiva's top organic page is already an ESG resource, and the domain has a strong footprint in CSRD and carbon management solutions. This play scales that authority into the granular details of the new standards.
Internal Data Sources
Incorporate internal CSRD implementation playbooks, data request templates used by services teams, and customer stories focused on sustainability transformation.
Estimated Number of Pages
60,000+ (Covering over 1,000 ESRS datapoints across multiple industry and jurisdiction variants)
A practical directory mapping audit 'Provided By Client' (PBC) requests to exact system export steps and evidence packaging instructions for various ERP and EPM systems. This play targets audit and internal controls teams who need to standardize evidence collection across a fragmented software stack.
Example Keywords
- user access review evidence SAP export
- change management evidence checklist ServiceNow
- PBC list for [audit area]
- audit evidence request template [system]
- revenue evidence pack for NetSuite
Rationale
Audit teams spend significant time explaining how to pull evidence from source systems. Providing these 'recipes' for evidence collection drives high-intent traffic from users who need the workflow and automation capabilities Workiva offers.
Topical Authority
Workiva's existing strength in internal audit and controls management, combined with its 101 partner pages and connector catalog, provides the necessary foundation to be a trusted source for evidence collection workflows.
Internal Data Sources
Use connector metadata from the platform, help center content on data exports, and implementation playbooks from the Professional Services team.
Estimated Number of Pages
12,000+ (Mapping dozens of audit areas across hundreds of supported source systems)
A massive editorial library of model disclosure language and clause variants for SEC narrative sections, categorized by industry and specific risk scenarios. This play assists reporting teams in the drafting phase by providing high-quality examples that meet regulatory expectations.
Example Keywords
- risk factor example [scenario]
- md&a example liquidity
- critical accounting policy example [topic]
- non-gaap disclosure wording
- SEC disclosure language example [topic]
Rationale
Narrative drafting is a major bottleneck in the reporting process. Providing a library of model clauses attracts teams during the drafting phase, allowing Workiva to demonstrate its collaborative drafting and version control features.
Topical Authority
With an Authority Score of 48 and a history of winning on educational finance content, Workiva is perfectly positioned to host a definitive library of disclosure best practices.
Internal Data Sources
Transcribe and mine themes from the Amplify conference and events catalog, and use customer story themes to identify recurring disclosure challenges across different industries.
Estimated Number of Pages
50,000+ (Covering various filing sections, industries, and economic scenarios)
Improvements Summary
Refocus each page on a single primary query and rewrite key sections to win featured snippets and PAA placements (definition blocks, ordered lists, tables, FAQs). Add templates/examples for the income statement and balance sheet, strengthen E-E-A-T, apply FAQ/HowTo/Product schema where relevant, and connect the cluster with a hub-and-spoke internal linking plan that routes readers to financial statement automation pages.
Improvements Details
Rewrite the “4 financial statements” hub to open with a 40–60 word definition, add a numbered “in order” list, include a comparison table, mini examples, common mistakes, and an FAQ targeting queries like “4 financial statements in order.” Expand “basic income statement” with an ungated template, filled example, and single-step vs multi-step table plus HowTo schema; update “financial position statement” (balance sheet) with SOFP vs balance sheet near the top, a format template, ratios, and an example. Refresh product pages for “financial statement automation” and “automated financial reporting software” with above-the-fold keyword-aligned copy, scannable feature bullets, outcomes proof, integrations, FAQs, and Product/SoftwareApplication schema; add hub-to-spoke and spoke-to-hub links plus contextual CTAs from blogs to product pages.
Improvements Rationale
Several high-volume terms (e.g., “4 financial statements,” “basic income statement,” “financial position statement”) show underperformance driven by weak intent match and missing snippet-friendly formatting; tightening structure and adding templates/examples raises relevance and rich-result eligibility. A clearer hub-and-spoke architecture with reciprocal internal links and new missing spokes (cash flow statement, changes in equity) increases topical coverage and helps move page-2 URLs onto page 1 while sending more qualified traffic to automation/product pages for higher-intent searches.
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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