According to BrightEdge Research, 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search, so giving credence to content quality is crucial. In a survey conducted by Kyle Byers, Director of Organic Search for Semrush, 53% of marketers believed high content quality to be the most effective strategy to improve ranking. However, creating a consistent strategy goes beyond just the credibility of the content.
It is a patchwork of credible sources, content flow, audience interaction, user experience, distribution channel and many other elements. However, as per recent research, thought leadership and audience interaction over social media with the coming of the age of AI and influencer marketing have also proven to increase sales by 20%. Marketers must establish an effective workflow where all these pieces fit into each other to deliver unparalleled results.
For this, the back and front end of content strategy must go hand in hand. As the front end focuses on content and user experience, back-end content strategists should look towards structure and scalability. With the collaboration of these two ends, a new domain emerges that bridges the gap between content strategy and management: content architecture.
What is Content Architecture?
Content architecture is an umbrella term that includes many operations that go into creating and organising content for a holistic digital experience. This is an abstract concept that may be hard to understand at first, but its constituents are essential to bringing audience-ready content to life.
The drive of content architecture is to give a blueprint to the content that is effortless to create, store, revive, track, tag, distribute, and manage effectively. This allows a better user experience in multiple-dimensional, omnichannel content space.
When this happens, the audience can easily find what they are looking for and content authority improves, directly influencing brand imaging and content ranking. It is also a pivotal factor in personalised user experience. Some people may get the impression that content architecture is all about creating content. Actually, it is the primary pillar of the content management system (CMS).
Key Elements of Content Architecture
A well-executed content marketing strategy can significantly boost your online visibility and drive business growth, which includes 5 crucial elements. To better understand what content architecture is, get familiar with the elements that shape it:
Content Models
A content model is the placement of different content elements on a web page in a manner that enhances the user experience. This is designed based on the collaboration between the brand, content marketing team, CMS team and developers.
Metadata
This is all the information concerning a piece of content required for SEO and internal link building. Therefore, metadata is a crucial part of the puzzle. It includes meta text, meta description, date of publication, author, etc.
Taxonomy
For building content architecture, all the content on a website must be linked internally so that users can navigate easily. Taxonomy is a content architectural strategy that helps identify the content based on category, tags, content type, or other factors.
Wireframes
Similar to content models, wireframes are content architecture at the page level. While content model maps cover the rough placement, wireframes go into detail about size, design, navigation, functionality and visual elements.
Workflow
Content architecture involves a systematic succession of tasks, from brainstorming ideas to publishing and promotion. This is where the final element of content architecture comes into place as it commands which team oversees what.
Constructive workflow allows you to distribute tasks within the content strategy and management team while simultaneously outlining the flow of content.
Content Architecture and Information Architecture (IA)
One can’t talk about content architecture without acknowledging information architecture (IA). These are two sides of the digital user experience. Information architecture, as the name suggests, is a structure for organising all the information on the platform. With IA, it is easier for users to navigate through the platform and find what they are looking for or complete a task, such as purchase. Content architecture, on the other hand, includes IA and other elements, as mentioned above.
Information architecture requires taxonomy to label and navigate through the content on the website. However, content architecture goes beyond the website. It also helps navigate content distribution, scaling, and sharing on other platforms.
Benefits of Adhering to Architecture in Content Marketing
When your content is not structured, any two pieces of content across the same channel will not have homogeneity. This makes it hard for users to identify the brand voice or USP irrespective of how much content you have put out online.
Here are some other benefits of content architecture in content marketing.
It enhances the user experience on the page and other channels
It allows you to create evergreen and scalable content
It helps meet customer expectations and may boost sales
It helps in building a coherent storytelling and user journey
It ensures that content works more effectively, which may be cost-saving for the future
It is crucial to making content future-proof and ensuring that it can be modified for a personalised experience
It maximises your productivity and contributes to better interdepartmental communication
To wrap up, content architecture is the backbone and link chain for successful content strategy and marketing, which can open a portal of growth possibilities. Finding the right footing for your content architecture may seem complicated at first. However, once you grasp the concept and set the cycle into motion, the process can untangle all knots.
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