Search is a ubiquitous term we use freely and imprecisely. By understanding the different types of search and user behaviours around search, we can design better content structure to support better search.
Using search terms as part of a content audit can give insight into the structure of your site. You can analyze these search terms to inform your taxonomy and future content efforts, and to evaluate the findability of content on your site.
Structural content strategy supports content goals through the appropriate use of structure to improve the user and authoring experience, and to support business goals.
Structural content strategy and taxonomy can support, and are impacted by, voice search.
While doing a content audit, analytics are a great way to dig into what's happening with content on your site.
The user experience for content authors is critical to the successful adoption of content management systems.
A unified approach to metadata and taxonomy enabled this client to set up a standardized onboarding process and handle enterprise-wide taxonomy requests.
Defining a patient-centred model propels content strategy solutions.
A website content audit gives you a both a great overview and in-depth knowledge of the current state of your website content.
Learn of some challenges we faced on a large website overhaul.
More and more of my work has moved from straightforward information architecture and taxonomy work and more into the "why" behind information architecture and taxonomy. For me, the answer to this "why" became content strategy.
One thing that's been around for a while but is rarely taken advantage of (at least on the digital property projects that I've come across) is dynamic content display. Maybe it's poorly understood, but it's an easy concept to grasp and, quite frankly, can feel very liberating. When I explain the concept to my clients, they typically respond with, "Yes, that's what we need. That's what we've been waiting for. Where have you been all my life? You had me at hello!!"
Once you understand what information architecture (IA) is, you may wonder why exactly it is that you need it, in order to have a successful site. Maybe your site has some usability problems or suffers from common taxonomy mistakes, but isn’t that something that anyone can just go in and adjust with a few tweaks of the design? Technically, yes. But you’re most likely only resolving a surface level issue with a band-aid fix, as opposed to addressing the real website problems that you’re suffering from.
Is your customer service team spending most of their time answering questions that are directly answered on your website? Is your bounce rate far higher than it should it be? Is the most used function of your website the search bar? All of these common website usability problems are symptoms and signs of poor information architecture. Information architecture (IA) aims to connect users with the content that they are looking for, in a seamless and intuitive manner.
When looking to improve the searchability on your website or intranet or in your CMS or DAM, there are a few areas where you can look to solve searchability problems. This second part in a two-part series focuses on solving searchability problems.
When I talk with customers about website problems, I frequently hear the refrain: "Our website search is terrible. People tell us it sucks. We need to fix it." Or "I can't find anything on the website and the search doesn't give me what I am expecting." There are a few areas where we can look to fix search problems. Normally, I start with user interviews and testing, then move on to reviewing site analytics, metadata, and taxonomy.
Combining multiple taxonomies can be a contentious issue: each taxonomy belongs to a team who has put a lot of thought into their taxonomy and may not easily let go of certain terms or features. However, sometimes taxonomies do need to be combined, and here are some tips on how to go through the process.
While you recognize that your company needs a website taxonomy or intranet taxonomy, you may not be sure how to convince management to provide resources to create, implement, and maintain a taxonomy. Here are some tips.
If you’re working on a taxonomy that doesn’t have the resources (right now) to do a lot of research and engagement with subject matter experts, there are still some actionable steps you can take to improve your taxonomy.
When building a taxonomy, there are 9 steps to a best practice approach.
After going through numerous taxonomy projects, I've learned a few things about how to work with stakeholders and subject matter experts to build a website taxonomy. Here is a presentation with a few tips for making the taxonomy development process smoother.
Having worked on many a taxonomy project, this presentation details a few (relatively straightforward) lessons learned. I like to share them so you can be more successful with taxonomy. The lessons learned include: ensuring you consider the next steps for the taxonomy, taking into account the abilities of the team and technology to implement and maintain the taxonomy, and thinking strategically before diving into taxonomy design. Enjoy the presentation! If you'd like to learn more, here are some links to visit: Case study: Taxonomy for Technical Non-Profit Taxonomy Driven Content Publishing
When first learning about taxonomies and how they're useful, it helps to know some basics. This presentation looks at why taxonomy is useful, some examples of how taxonomy is used on websites, and different links for learning more about taxonomies.
When I start working on taxonomy projects, it's common that some team members don't understand how taxonomy can help their website's user experience or the writer's experience in finding and re-using content. One of the easiest ways to explain how taxonomy works is to show examples of taxonomy. Here are a few examples of how website taxonomy can be used to improve search results, browse by category, and automatically build pages on a website.
A taxonomy is a list of terms you use to categorize and find your information again, without having to look through every file, image, document, or web page.