Programmatic SEO uses automation to create content at scale. It's not inherently spammy, but many sites abuse it to pump out low-quality pages. Done right, it enriches existing content and matches what people actually search for.
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because of the nature of programmatic SEO that allows pretty much to generate information and content at scale, many websites have used it to generate low quality content, but it doesn't need to be like that. There are plenty of examples out there of websites currently making the most out of programmatic SEO in order to generate information at scale that can be helpful to enrich existing content or to generate even more content to connect with the way that the user search.
It's just SEO, but once you automate it, it becomes programmatic. That's it. So if your SEO practices are spammy and might get you in trouble, then your programmatic SEO practices might do the same. So it's not about using automation that makes it spammy. It's just about the end result of it.
Programmatic SEO is not going to hold you back. On the contrary, it can amplify the efforts that you already have in place.