Strava’s SEO Move

Kyle Frost for the Here & There newsletter takes a fascinating deep dive into some backroom cleanup Strava’s been doing:

The ramp-up in SEO-friendly route pages suggests that Strava is doubling down on discoverability. These new pages don’t (currently) serve users who are already on the platform; they’re a top-of-the-funnel acquisition and marketing tool, drawing in new audiences searching for routes in specific areas.

Until now almost everything Strava offered was inside the app. These new offerings are for the open web. Strava is trying to reach new users, and probably taking aim at AllTrails and other competitors which have had a pretty solid open web search strategy so far.