Content Modeling

Welcome to Beyond Content Strategy

Hi!

I have long thought that content strategists occupy a unique position in the web development ecosystem.

Unlike specialists who focus on a single discipline, we see the big picture: how information architecture connects to user experience, how editorial workflows impact technical implementation, how content governance affects long-term maintenance.

You are the architect at the center of it all, pulling threads together across design, development, marketing, and business strategy.

But seeing the connections isn’t enough. We need to build the systems that will power tomorrow’s digital experiences, architecting how content behaves, scales, and adapts across every touchpoint.

Beyond Content Strategy exists for content professionals who are ready to master the technical skills that leverage this unique perspective. Your ability to see across disciplines is your superpower, but only when paired with the systems thinking that transforms vision into implementation.

In each issue, we’ll explore an essential competency that bridges content strategy with content engineering and how to use modern tools, like AI and Python, to accelerate our work in that area.

Today, we start with the foundation: content modeling.

Best,

David Anderson

PS. Let me know what you think of the newsletter and what you want to learn about. I want it useful for everyone, from beginner to advanced practitioner; your feedback is critical.

From Pages to Systems: Why Content Modeling Matters Now

Picture this common scenario: A content strategist presents their migration plan to a room of developers. For 20 minutes, they discuss voice, tone, and user journeys. The engineers listen politely. Then someone asks: “But how will the content actually work in the new CMS?”

Silence.

This type of situation plays out regularly across organizations attempting digital transformation. Content strategists who can’t speak the language of content systems often find themselves sidelined during the most critical discussions about their work.

Content modeling changes this dynamic completely.

When you can articulate not just what content should say, but how it should be structured, related, and reused across systems, you become indispensable to technical implementation. You’re no longer the person who writes the words—you’re the architect who designs how those words work.

What Content Modeling Actually Is (And Isn’t)

Content modeling isn’t about creating the perfect template in your CMS. It’s the systematic approach to defining content structures that work independently of any specific technology.

Think of it as the blueprint stage of content architecture. Before you build the house (implement in a CMS), you need plans that show how rooms connect, where the plumbing goes, and how the electrical system will work.

The Three Layers of Content Models

1. Conceptual Layer: What content types exist?

• Blog posts, product pages, case studies, author profiles

• The “what” without worrying about implementation

2. Logical Layer: How do content types relate?

• Authors write blog posts

• Products belong to categories

• Case studies feature products

• The relationships that create content ecosystems

3. Physical Layer: How will this work in real systems?

• Field specifications, validation rules, editorial workflows

• The bridge between strategy and implementation

Most content strategists stop at the conceptual layer. As a content systems architect, you’ll master all three.

Content Modeling in Practice: A Realistic Scenario

To illustrate how content modeling transforms content operations, consider this situation:

The Challenge: Imagine a B2B software company whose marketing site has grown organically over five years. They’ve accumulated dozens of “solution” pages, each built as custom templates. Marketing can’t update content without developer support. Sales teams need product information that exists somewhere on the site but isn’t structured for easy access. A rebrand project has stalled because no one understands what content actually exists or how it connects.

The Content Modeling Approach:

Instead of auditing page by page, a content modeling approach would:

1. Identify core content types: Solutions, Features, Benefits, Use Cases, Customer Stories

2. Map relationships: Solutions contain Features, Features deliver Benefits, Benefits address Use Cases, Use Cases are proven by Customer Stories

3. Define reusable components: Each Feature could appear across multiple Solutions, Use Cases could connect to multiple Benefits

The Potential Result: Those dozens of solution pages could become a handful of solution templates powered by structured, reusable content components. Marketing could launch new solutions by assembling existing components. Sales could access automatically updated product information. The rebrand could become a data migration project instead of content recreation.

This scenario illustrates the power of thinking in systems instead of pages, a fundamental shift that content modeling makes possible.

Your Content Modeling Methodology

Here’s the step-by-step approach I use for content modeling projects:

Phase 1: Discovery (Week 1-2)

• Audit existing content types (not individual pages—types)

• Interview content creators about their actual workflows

• Map content relationships users expect to find

• Identify content reuse patterns across channels

Key Question: “What content do we create repeatedly with slight variations?”

Phase 2: Modeling (Week 3-4)

• Define content types with clear purposes and boundaries

• Establish relationships between content types

• Specify required and optional fields for each type

• Document content rules (validation, governance, workflows)

Key Question: “How can we structure this content to maximize reuse and minimize maintenance?”

Phase 3: Validation (Week 5-6)

• Test models with real content from your existing inventory

• Verify technical feasibility with your development team

• Confirm editorial usability with content creators

• Adjust models based on feedback

Key Question: “Does this model actually solve our content problems?”

Phase 4: Implementation Planning (Week 7-8)

• Create migration roadmap for existing content

• Design editorial workflows for the new model

• Establish governance processes to maintain model integrity

• Plan rollout schedule by content type priority

Key Question: “How do we transition from our current state to this new model?”

Even though this is structured across 8 weeks, you can go faster (or slower), depending on how much time you have and your project deadlines. Try to avoid cutting too many corners: each step is important to the overall success of the methodology.

Common Content Modeling Pitfalls (And How to Avoid Them)

Pitfall #1: Modeling the current mess

• Problem: Creating a content model that perfectly reflects an existing, problematic content structure

• Solution: Model the content system your client needs, not the one they have

Pitfall #2: Over-engineering

• Problem: Creating incredibly detailed models that are too complex to implement or maintain

• Solution: Start with core content types and relationships, then iterate

Pitfall #3: Ignoring content creation realities

• Problem: Designing beautiful models that are painful for editors to actually use

• Solution: Include your content creators in every phase of the modeling process

Pitfall #4: Technology-specific modeling

• Problem: Building content models that only work in one CMS

• Solution: Model concepts first, then adapt to technology constraints

Communicating Content Models to Technical Teams

The most elegant content model means nothing if you can’t explain it to the people who’ll build it. Here’s how to translate content strategy thinking into language that resonates with developers:

Speak Their Language

• Instead of: “This content needs to feel cohesive across touchpoints”

• Say: “These content types share common fields that should inherit from a base template”

• Instead of: “Users expect related content suggestions”

• Say: “We need many-to-many relationships between Articles and Topics to enable dynamic related content queries”

Show System Benefits

Developers, and your clients, care about maintainability, performance, and scalability. Frame your content models in these terms:

• Maintainability: “This model eliminates duplicate content entry across 12 current templates”

• Performance: “Structured content enables aggressive caching strategies”

• Scalability: “This relationship structure supports unlimited content growth without template changes"

Use Visual Documentation

Create diagrams that show content type relationships using familiar technical concepts:

• Entity relationship diagrams for content type connections

• Data flow diagrams for content publishing workflows

• Component architecture diagrams for template hierarchies

Content Modeling in Practice: Your Next 30 Days

Here’s how to apply content modeling thinking to your current work:

Week 1: Content Type Audit

• List every type of content your organization (or client) creates

• Group similar content types together

• Identify which types share common elements

• Note which types always appear together

Week 2: Relationship Mapping

• Draw connections between your content types

• Identify one-to-many relationships (one author, many articles)

• Find many-to-many relationships (articles can have multiple topics, topics can have multiple articles)

• Look for hierarchical relationships (parent/child categories)

Week 3: Field Analysis

• For your top 3 content types, list every piece of information they contain

• Categorize fields as: always required, sometimes required, optional, system-generated

• Identify fields that appear across multiple content types

• Note fields that could be standardized across types

Week 4: Model Testing

• Take 5 pieces of existing content and see if they fit your proposed model

• Identify gaps or complications in your model

• Refine your content type definitions

• Test one content relationship by creating sample connected content

AI and Python: Your Content Modeling Power Tools

AI and Python can accelerate and improve your content modeling work in ways that were impossible just a few years ago. Here’s how to leverage these technologies practically:

AI for Content Pattern Recognition

Content Type Discovery: Instead of manually categorizing thousands of pages, use AI to identify content patterns. Upload your content inventory to ChatGPT or Claude and ask: “Analyze this content list and suggest logical content types based on recurring patterns, shared attributes, and functional similarities.”

Relationship Mapping: AI excels at identifying connections you might miss. For complex content ecosystems, describe your content to AI and ask it to suggest potential relationships: “Given these content types [list], what relationships might exist between them that would be valuable for users?”

Field Definition: When defining content types, AI can suggest comprehensive field lists. Try: “For a [content type] in a [industry] context, what fields would be essential, optional, and never needed? Consider both editorial and technical requirements.”

Python for Content Analysis at Scale

Content Auditing: You can use AI to write simple Python scripts to analyze your existing content systematically:

• Extract all headings, meta descriptions, and content structures

• Identify which pages share similar patterns

• Count field usage across your current content

• Map existing content relationships automatically

Field Pattern Analysis: Python can help you understand how content is actually structured by analyzing HTML, extracting metadata, and identifying which elements appear together consistently across your site.

Migration Planning: Use Python to map existing content to your new content model, identify content that doesn’t fit, and create detailed migration reports that show exactly what needs to be restructured.

Getting Started Without Programming Experience

Even if you’ve never coded, you can start using these tools:

AI Prompts for Content Modeling:

• “Help me identify content types from this site map”

• “Suggest fields for a [specific content type] based on [context]”

• “Analyze these content examples and recommend a content model structure”

Python with AI Assistance: Use AI to write Python scripts for you. Describe what you want to analyze about your content, and AI can generate the code. Start with simple tasks like counting page types or extracting titles from a content export.

The key is starting small: use AI for brainstorming and Python for simple analysis tasks, then build your skills over time.

Traditional Tools That Support Content Modeling

Beyond AI and Python, you don’t need expensive software to start content modeling. These foundational tools cover most content modeling needs:

For Visual Modeling:

• Lucidchart or Draw.io: Create entity relationship diagrams

• Miro or Figma: Design content type relationships and workflows

• Even spreadsheets: Document content types, fields, and rules

For Content Inventory:

• Airtable: Organize content types with relationship fields

• Google Sheets: Track content by type with filtering and pivot tables

• Screaming Frog: Automatically inventory existing page types and structures

For Collaboration:

• Notion: Document models with embedded diagrams and stakeholder comments

• Confluence: Create living documentation that technical teams can reference

• Google Docs: Enable real-time collaboration on model definitions

• The tool matters less than the thinking. Start with what you have.

Learn More: Essential Content Modeling Resources

Want to dive deeper into content modeling? These resources will expand your knowledge and skills.

Foundational Reading

• “Content Modeling: A Master Skill” by Rachel Lovinger (A List Apart) - Classic article on content modeling fundamentals

• Sanity.io Content Modeling Guide - Comprehensive handbook with practical frameworks and examples

Technical Deep Dives

• Contentful’s Content Modeling Documentation - Detailed guides on implementing content models in headless CMS

• “Designing Connected Content” by Carrie Hane and Mike Atherton - Advanced book on content architecture and systems thinking

• Hygraph Content Modeling Best Practices - Real-world implementation strategies and patterns

What’s Coming Next Month

Issue #2 will focus on Information Architecture for Content Systems: how to organize your modeled content in ways that serve both user mental models and technical requirements. We’ll explore card sorting for content systems, navigation architecture that scales, and the intersection of IA and content governance.

Plus, we’ll introduce the Content Systems Diagnostic: a framework for evaluating the health of any organization’s content infrastructure.

Download This Issue’s Resources

Each issue of Beyond Content Strategy includes practical templates you can use immediately:

• Content Modeling Canvas - Visual framework for planning content models

• Content Type Definition Template - Standardized format for documenting content types

• Content Model Evaluation Checklist - Quality assurance for your models

• Stakeholder Communication Kit - Explain content modeling to technical and business teams

Download the files