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I Built an AI Baby Name Generator with 555+ Names — Here's What I Learned About SEO

#webdev #startup #seo #nextjs

I Built an AI Baby Name Generator with 555+ Names — Here's What I Learned About SEO

Eight months ago, I had a simple idea: build a baby name generator that actually helps parents find meaningful names, not just random word lists.

Today, BabyNamePick.com ranks on Google for 170+ keywords, gets 663 impressions in 28 days, and has 77 pages — all from a one-person project.

Here's the full breakdown of what worked, what didn't, and what I'd do differently.

The Core Product

An AI baby name generator that lets parents discover names by:

Every name comes with meaning, pronunciation guide, origin story, and popularity data. Free, no login required.

Technical Architecture

Stack: Next.js 16 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS v4, deployed on Vercel.

Key decision: local database over AI API calls.

I started with the idea of calling an LLM API for every name suggestion. Then I realized:

  1. Competitors also use databases (not AI) for name generation
  2. API calls = latency + cost + rate limits
  3. A curated database of 555+ names with rich metadata gives better UX

So I built a structured name database with verified meanings, cultural context, pronunciation, and style tags. Quality over quantity.

SEO Strategy That Worked

1. Programmatic SEO Pages

Instead of creating each page manually, I used Next.js dynamic routes:

  • 36 category pages from a single template
  • 26 letter pages for A-Z browsing
  • Each page has unique content, FAQ schema, and internal links

This gave me 62 targeted landing pages from 2 template files.

2. Hub-and-Spoke Internal Linking

Every page links to every other major section via a mega footer with 59 internal links. Plus an A-Z navigation bar on every letter page. Google crawls everything within 2 clicks.

3. FAQ Schema for Rich Snippets

Every category page has 3 unique FAQs with FAQPage structured data. This takes extra time to write but can double your search result real estate.

4. Content Backlinks > Blog Comments

I tried both:

  • 112 blog comment backlinks — mostly low DA sites, minimal impact
  • 6 dev.to articles — high DA, dofollow links, actual content

One dev.to article with 4-5 links is worth more than 50 low-quality blog comments.

Results After 3 Weeks

  • Impressions: 0 → 87 → 663 (week over week)
  • Keywords: 0 → 23 → 170+
  • Best page: position 6 on Google
  • 25+ pages indexed

What's Next

  • Scaling to 1000+ names
  • Adding name comparison features
  • Targeting Google Adsense at 1000 UV/day
  • More programmatic pages

Check it out: BabyNamePick.com — 555+ curated baby names from 22 cultural origins, completely free.

Browse by category: unique names | biblical names | twin names | middle names | trending 2026

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