Typical content modeling red flags

Inconsistent naming conventions

You'll often see that companies try to follow certain patterns with naming, such as prefixes. Usually, these help with content discovery, but only if you are able to enforce them everywhere. More often, these are not properly followed and do more harm than good. For example, you might be following certain conventions in 99% of cases, but even not following them in only 1% of cases may already cause issues. Editors might miss certain content items and re-create them, introducing inconsistencies and duplicate content. An alternative way of doing things is to use taxonomies or strongly typed content types every time you want to classify your content. Taxonomies are preferred because it forces you to create more universal content type definitions and fewer content types in general. A lot of content types might cause confusion for your editors.

Embedded form and layout

Embedding form and layout goes against omnichannel design principles.  Embedding form and layout can manifest itself in multiple ways. For example, in combination with naming conventions, you might see the layout mentioned in content type or item names. You might see things as “Article with left layout”, “Right aligned text”, “About us top” in your content inventory. These can be prevented using similar techniques as mentioned above. Use taxonomies to keep the content model separated from the layout as much as possible. Alternatively, go without the use of layout metadata completely and replace it with alternative ways of influencing how your content is rendered, e.g., based on the voice or persona for which the content is intended for. The content might be rendered in a playful layout for a student persona, and in a clean and strict layout for a business persona.

Numbers in names

Numbers in names usually mean there is some shortcoming in the content model. Typical examples would be element names like “Image 1”, “Image 2”… Typically, there is no need to include numbers, as they don't express the image functions. If you need separate elements, they should serve separate purposes (“Hero image”, “Teaser image”). Alternatively, if you need multiple images, use a linked items element or asset element and specify the number of needed assets in the validation of the given element. We recommend considering a content type wrapper for your assets, so you can extend the asset fields at any time.

Elements with similar function or content

It may happen that elements with the same or similar functionality are created as the content model evolves and more elements are being added. Naming things, such as elements in this case, is one of the most difficult things in writing. Examples would be slowly adding “Facebook description”, “LinkedIn description” and other elements, where a simple “Short description” or “Social media description” element would suffice. Go through your content items and try highlighting fields with very similar function and content. They might be merged into one or even unified across content types with a content type snippet.

Unused metadata

Not used or not useful metadata might be another area for improvement. You might have added multiple metadata categories for functionality, which was never really implemented. If the given functionality is still on the roadmap, then that's fine, but if not, consider simplifying your model. Also, consult your customer journeys to see if you are able to effectively serve content for individual personas and journey phases based on your metadata. If not, consider changing or extending how you use metadata on your content.

Guidelines are a must

You may view guidelines as optional, but that's not the case. You never know if people working with the model will have sufficient training. Even though your company might implement a great onboarding process, people can slip through the cracks. The only way to make sure everyone is using the content model you created properly is to include guidelines with screenshots and detailed descriptions.

Preview is a game-changer