Structured content: How to make it work for you

Content is still King. However, with the immense amount of it being created every minute, making it organized is a big deal. Even the most powerful tools are always more effective when systemized correctly. And content is not an exception. That's when structured content shows its strength.

What is structured content?

Structured content is not a buzzword or trend – it's a system that has already proven its value to many businesses. But what does structured mean in this context?

Structured content refers to the practice of organizing information in a standardized and modular format, making it easily reusable and adaptable across various platforms and devices. Unlike traditional unstructured content, which is often created and stored one-off, structured content follows a predefined set of rules, leading to consistent presentation and flexibility.

In a nutshell, structured content is broken into smaller pieces that allow you to build, reuse, replace, and reassemble it just like LEGO. Each piece is labeled, making it easy to navigate through tons of these elements. 

What's the difference between structured and unstructured content?

In fact, as an external user, you can't see a difference between structured and unstructured content as it looks the same on the page. However, the difference is significant for content editors. 

For example, you are selling a product with a dynamic price that changes several times daily, like solar energy. When using unstructured content, the price will appear directly in the text block alongside the description and other information. This solution, however, is not flexible or scalable because if you need to put the price on multiple pages, you will have to update the entire page each time something changes. 

On the other hand, structured content divides the entire page into nestable components or blocks that can be rearranged quickly without requiring the entire page to be updated.

3 main benefits of having well-structured content

The bigger your organization is, the more beneficial it will be for you to organize and structure content.

1. Improved SEO ranking

Thousands of times, various marketing experts predicted the "death" of SEO. However, search engine optimization remains the most stable and effective strategy in the long run. People still primarily use Google to search for information, so optimizing your content for its crawlers is a must. 

It is easier for search engines to scan structured and well-labeled data, understand its relevance, and rank it higher in search results. Assume you have two identical images, but one contains meta-data, and the other does not. Guess which one will appear in the search results.  

2. Easier to navigate for content teams

Content creation and management can quickly become overwhelming, especially when dealing with large amounts of unstructured information. Structured content simplifies this process by breaking it down into modular components like small bricks that don't change, but you can build anything from them. 

For instance, content editors can focus on creating and updating individual blocks or content elements, such as product descriptions, prices, or FAQs, without worrying about the overall presentation.

Structured content also simplifies making the universal changes, since you can easily locate every instance of a certain piece of data. This modular approach also makes it easier to repurpose and reuse content in different contexts, saving time and effort for content creators, as well as ensures consistency across all channels. 

Long routine tasks that would normally take an hour can be reduced to 5 minutes with structured content. Assume you need to update a piece of content that appears on ten pages of your website. Rather than manually updating it on each page, the change can be made once, which saves time, ensures consistency, and eliminates any silos or discrepancies.

3. Way to omnichannel publishing and cross integration

Structured content serves as the foundation for creating an omnichannel experience. By storing content in a structured format, businesses can easily adapt it for various channels and devices. Whether it's resizing images for mobile screens, repurposing text for social media posts, or syndicating content to third-party platforms, structured content enables businesses to deliver a consistent brand message while adapting to the unique requirements of each channel.

At the same time, well-structured content can be used across multiple integrations and "migrate" from one tool to another. Product descriptions, for example, can be pulled from the CMS and used in eCommerce tools, email, social media ads, and so on. 

Getting started with structured content

Structured content requires a solid base, and the first step is content modeling. 

Content modeling is the process of mapping out the architecture of your content and its relationships by breaking them down into component parts. 

But what does it mean in practice? Every website has some form of content on it – for example, product pages, blog posts, contacts, etc. These are called content types and serve as the general categories of what your content can look like.

Meanwhile, each content type is built of different aspects, such as text fields, images, contact forms, and so on. These smaller component aspects are called content attributes. 

The process of defining content types and the content attributes that make them up is content modeling.

To create a content model, you have to go through 5 steps:

1. Define content types.
2. Create fields associated with those types.
3. Ensure conformity.
4. Define relationships between content.
5. Preview and publish your results.

Once everything is ready, your modeled content becomes prepared for becoming structured content that can be easily managed, reused, and repurposed.

How to structure your content within a CMS?

While structured content brings multiple benefits to organizations, they also need to have the proper software, including the CMS, to leverage this type of content. Headless CMS is the best option as it offers all the required features. Here is how a headless CMS like Storyblok can be handy in content structuring:

1. Separate the content creation and delivery layers 

The headless approach decouples these two parts so that the content can "live its life," and it's not tied to the back end. Separating these layers allows you to structure your content to be modular and reusable. This means that the dynamic content can be used across multiple websites, mobile apps, or other digital platforms, without the need to copy it over and over again.

2. Integrate third-party solutions into a headless CMS 

The API-first approach of headless CMSs such as Storyblok also includes adding best-of-breed integrations that perform a particular task perfectly. For instance, there is a special tool called GatherContent that can enhance the process of structuring your content.

3. Create rich metadata and customize it

Metadata is a crucial part of content modeling and structuring, as it affects SEO and makes it easier to juggle content. Metadata provides additional context and information about your content, allowing for better categorization and organization. With custom metadata, you can define specific attributes and properties that align with your content's unique requirements. 

4. Store and manage your content effectively with DAM

Digital asset manager is a place where you store and manage your content. However, structuring content involves not only text-based elements but also visual assets, such as images, videos, and graphics, and all of that can be stored in DAM.

With a DAM system integrated into your CMS, you can easily associate digital assets with your content, ensuring they are readily accessible and linked appropriately. Additionally, DAM systems often provide features like version control, asset tagging, and metadata management, further enhancing your content organization capabilities. Storyblok offers a built-in DAM system making content management even more effortless.