Every term, A to Z
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167 terms
A
- A/B testingA way to compare two or more live variants with users, useful when the question is specific and the measure actually matters.Research and evidence
- AccessibilityMaking content and services usable by as many people as possible, including disabled people.Editorial craft
- Agentic AIAI that takes actions and works through multi-step tasks towards a goal, rather than only answering a question.AI and tooling
- AgileA way of working that delivers in small steps, learns from feedback and adapts its plans as understanding grows.Operations
- AI governanceHow an organisation oversees the risks, responsibilities and performance of the AI systems it develops, buys or uses.Governance
- AI slopLow-value AI-generated material produced with little care, often at speed and in large quantities.AI and tooling
- AI use policyThe rules for how people in an organisation may use AI, including approved tools, prohibited material, review and disclosure.Governance
- Alt textA short description attached to an image so people and systems that cannot see it still get the meaning.Editorial craft
- APIApplication programming interface: the agreed way one piece of software asks another for something, like a waiter between the diner and the kitchen.AI and tooling
- Atomic contentContent broken into small, structured, reusable pieces that get assembled into pages rather than copied between them.Structure and systems
- Attention economyAn economic system in which people's limited attention is competed for, captured and turned into commercial or social value.Foundations
- Audience segmentationDividing an audience into useful groups so content can meet different needs, behaviours or contexts.Research and evidence
- AudioContent people hear rather than read: podcasts, voice notes, interviews, narration, audio clips and spoken interfaces.Editorial craft
- Author experienceWhat it is like to create, edit, approve and maintain content inside an organisation’s systems.Operations
- Automated testingRepeatable checks that software runs automatically to flag defined problems in code or content.AI and tooling
B
- BackendEverything behind the scenes that stores, shapes and supplies the content people meet in a website, app or other channel.Structure and systems
- BranchA separate line of work for developing related changes before they're reviewed and brought into the main version or abandoned.Operations
- Business caseThe argument for why a piece of work is worth doing, including the value, cost, risk and expected outcome.Foundations
C
- Call to actionThe specific next step content invites the reader to take.Editorial craft
- Card sortingA research method where people group and label items to reveal how they think about them.Research and evidence
- Centralised governanceA governance model in which one central team plans, creates, approves and publishes most of an organisation's content.Governance
- Channel strategyA plan for where content should appear, what each channel is for and how the channels work together.Foundations
- CMSThe software used to store, organise and publish content.Structure and systems
- Competitor analysisA review of similar organisations and useful comparators to understand the field, find gaps and identify practices to emulate.Research and evidence
- ComponentA reusable part – of content, design or code – made once and used in many places.Structure and systems
- ContentThe words, images, numbers, sounds and interactions an organisation uses to communicate, in every format and on every channel, internal and external.Foundations
- Content auditA structured review of what content exists, how good it is and what should happen to it next.Operations
- Content briefThe document that tells a writer – human or machine – who a piece is for, what it's meant to do, what to draw on and how it should sound, before they start.Operations
- Content calendarA schedule showing what content is planned, when it will be created or published and who is responsible.Operations
- Content costsThe full cost of creating, reviewing, publishing, maintaining and retiring content over time.Operations
- Content debtThe future work created by publishing content without planning to maintain, reuse or retire it.Operations
- Content decayThe gradual loss of accuracy, relevance and usefulness as content ages.Operations
- Content designDesigning content around user needs, tasks and evidence.Editorial craft
- Content designerA role that uses evidence about people's needs to decide what content should exist and to design it so they can understand and act on it.Roles
- Content ecosystem mapA picture of where content lives and how it travels between those places.Research and evidence
- Content editorA role that edits, publishes and maintains an organisation's content so that each piece meets its standards and fits with the rest.Roles
- Content governanceThe ownership, rules and decision-making that keep content accurate, consistent and maintained over time.Governance
- Content health checkA recurring, criteria-based assessment of how well content serves its purpose and what needs attention.Research and evidence
- Content inventoryA structured list of the content you have and the basic facts about each item.Research and evidence
- Content lifecycleThe stages content passes through, from idea to retirement.Operations
- Content maintenanceThe ongoing work of keeping content accurate, relevant and healthy after publication.Operations
- Content managerA role responsible for the day-to-day running of an organisation's content, from planning and production to quality and upkeep.Roles
- Content marketingCreating and sharing content to build an audience relationship in support of marketing goals.Foundations
- Content maturityHow capable an organisation is at making, managing and improving content.Foundations
- Content modelA structured definition of the content types an organisation has and the fields, parts and rules that make each one work.Structure and systems
- Content operating modelThe whole system of people, processes, tools, rules and foundations that makes content work.Foundations
- Content operationsThe day-to-day running of content work: how it is planned, produced, approved, published and maintained.Operations
- Content operations managerA role responsible for running and improving how an organisation's content work happens: its workflows, tools, standards and routines.Roles
- Content ownerThe named person responsible for a piece of content being accurate, current and still worth having.Governance
- Content patternA proven, recognisable approach to something content needs to do again and again, adapted each time it is used.Structure and systems
- Content planA working plan that shows what needs to happen to each piece of content, who owns it and what comes next.Operations
- Content policyThe organisation's rules for what may be published, where, by whom and under what conditions.Governance
- Content principlesA short set of shared commitments that guide content decisions.Foundations
- Content standardsThe requirements used to judge content quality before publication and throughout its life.Governance
- Content strategistA role responsible for deciding what an organisation's content is for and designing how it is planned, structured, made and looked after.Roles
- Content strategyDeciding why content exists, whom it serves and how it’s made, organised and looked after.Foundations
- Content teamThe group of people and roles responsible for planning, creating, governing and maintaining content.Roles
- Content typeA category of content with a defined purpose and structure, such as a case study or an event.Structure and systems
- Context engineeringDesigning the instructions, examples, source material and surrounding information an AI system needs to do useful work.AI and tooling
- Context windowThe amount of information an AI system can consider at once when generating a response.AI and tooling
- Continuous integrationA practice where changes are regularly checked and merged so problems surface early.AI and tooling
- Conversational designDesigning how an interaction unfolds in language, especially in chat, voice and other back-and-forth interfaces.Editorial craft
- Copy editingEditing a draft for clarity, consistency and correctness within an agreed scope.Editorial craft
- Copyright and licensingThe rights that decide who owns content, what other people may do with it and the conditions attached to reuse.Governance
- CopywritingWriting persuasive messages that help people understand an offer and decide whether to act.Editorial craft
- Core content strategyA short statement of what content must do for the organisation and its users.Foundations
- Create once, publish everywhereThe idea that content should be created once in a structured form and reused across channels instead of rewritten each time.Structure and systems
D
- DatabaseA structured place to store information so it can be queried, related and reused.Structure and systems
- Decentralised governanceA governance model in which separate parts of an organisation plan, create and publish their own content, with little central control.Governance
- Decision modelsAn AI model built to decide rather than write: it picks from answers you've defined and says how likely each one is.AI and tooling
- Design systemA shared, maintained collection of components, patterns and guidance that teams use to design and build digital products and services.Structure and systems
- Design thinkingA problem-solving approach that uses empathy, exploration, prototyping and testing to create better services, products or content.Research and evidence
- DevopsShared practices that bring software development and operations together to deliver and maintain systems reliably.AI and tooling
- Domain modelA representation of the important concepts, relationships and rules in a defined area of knowledge or activity.Structure and systems
- DRY“Don’t repeat yourself”: keep one reliable source of truth instead of many drifting copies.Structure and systems
E
- EditingImproving a draft or published piece so that it says what it needs to, clearly and correctly, for its intended reader.Editorial craft
- Editorial boardA group drawn from across an organisation that shapes content ideas into priorities, upholds standards and settles decisions that cut across teams.Governance
- EmailA channel for correspondence, publications and service messages, delivered to a recipient's inbox.Operations
- Evergreen contentContent whose core value remains useful over time, with review and maintenance when needed.Operations
F
- Feature flagA software-controlled switch that determines whether a feature or content variant is available, and to whom.AI and tooling
- FindabilityThe ease with which people and systems can locate content they know or suspect exists.Structure and systems
- Front-loadingPutting the information readers need most at the start of a sentence, section or page.Editorial craft
- FrontendThe part of a website, app or other channel that people see, hear and interact with.Structure and systems
G
- Gap analysisA comparison between what exists now and what should exist, so the missing parts can be found.Research and evidence
- GEOImproving the likelihood that content is selected, accurately represented and cited in AI-generated answers.AI and tooling
- GitA version control system for managing change, collaboration, review and release across files over time.AI and tooling
- GlossaryA set of definitions for terms used in a particular subject, organisation or body of content.Editorial craft
- GrammarThe patterns and conventions that govern how words form meaningful sentences.Editorial craft
- Graph engineeringDesigning an AI system as an explicit map of steps and routes, so work moves between models, tools, agents and people in controlled ways.AI and tooling
- GuardrailsLimits and checks intended to keep AI-assisted work within defined bounds.AI and tooling
H
- HallucinationAn AI-generated claim that is fabricated, factually wrong or unsupported by the source it purports to describe.AI and tooling
- Head of contentA senior role responsible for all the content an organisation publishes, and for the people, standards and systems that produce and look after it.Roles
- Headless CMSA content management system that stores content separately from the places where that content is presented.Structure and systems
- Hub and spokeA federated governance model in which a central content team sets shared standards while local teams create and manage content.Governance
- Human in the loopA workflow where a person reviews, decides or approves part of an AI-assisted process instead of leaving it fully automated.Operations
I
J
K
- Knowledge baseA structured collection of useful knowledge that people and systems can search, link, maintain and learn from.Structure and systems
- Knowledge graphA network of connected concepts, entities and relationships.AI and tooling
- KPIsKey performance indicators: the measures used to judge whether content is achieving what it needs to achieve.Research and evidence
L
- LintingChecking text automatically against a set of written rules and flagging every place that breaks one.AI and tooling
- LLMLarge language model: an AI system trained to predict and generate language, used for tasks such as drafting, summarising and answering questions.AI and tooling
- LocalisationAdapting content and experience for another language, region or culture.Operations
- LongformContent that takes as long as it needs to – essays, features, reports, deep dives – as opposed to the soundbite and the listicle.Editorial craft
- Lorem ipsumScrambled Latin used as placeholder text, so that a layout can be judged before the real words exist.Editorial craft
M
- Machine-readableRepresented in a form software can parse and process.AI and tooling
- MarkdownA lightweight way to write structured plain text using simple marks for headings, links, lists and emphasis.AI and tooling
- MCPAn open protocol for connecting AI applications to sources of information and tools.AI and tooling
- Merge conflictA clash between changes that the version-control system cannot combine automatically.AI and tooling
- Message architectureA short, prioritised list of the qualities and ideas an organisation wants its content to convey.Foundations
- MetadataInformation about content that helps it be found, filtered, understood, reused and managed.Structure and systems
- MicrocopyThe short pieces of interface text, such as labels, hints and error messages, that help people complete tasks.Editorial craft
- MicrositeA small, focused website or section created for a campaign, product, audience or specific purpose.Structure and systems
P
- Paddle, swim, diveA way to organise one topic at different, useful depths, so people can get an overview, more detail or the full evidence without being sorted into fixed audience segments.Structure and systems
- Pair writingTwo people writing together, usually combining subject knowledge with content craft.Editorial craft
- PDFA fixed-layout document format often used for reports, forms and downloads – useful sometimes, overused often.Structure and systems
- PersonaA research-based representation of a group of people with shared goals, behaviour or needs.Research and evidence
- Plain languageWriting that helps people understand what they need quickly and clearly, the first time they read it.Editorial craft
- PromptAn instruction or request given to an AI system.AI and tooling
- ProofreadingThe final check for typos, formatting mistakes and small errors before publication.Editorial craft
- Pull requestA proposal to merge changes, keeping the differences, discussion and checks together for review.AI and tooling
- PunctuationMarks that help show sentence structure, relationships and emphasis.Editorial craft
R
- RACIA responsibility matrix that identifies who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed for each task or decision.Governance
- RAGAn approach in which an AI system retrieves relevant material and uses it as context when generating an answer.AI and tooling
- ReadabilityHow easy content is to read and process for its intended audience.Editorial craft
- RefactoringRestructuring something without changing what it does or says, so the next change is easier.AI and tooling
- Retention and archivingThe rules for how long content is kept and how material is preserved, retired from current use or deleted.Governance
- Review dateThe point by which a named owner must check that a piece of content remains accurate, useful and fit to stay live.Governance
- RollbackRestoring a selected earlier state to recover from a harmful change.AI and tooling
- ROT contentMaterial that is redundant because it does not support the content strategy, out of date or too trivial to justify keeping.Governance
S
- SchemaA definition of what information something contains and how it is structured.Structure and systems
- Senior content editorA senior editorial role accountable for what gets covered, how it is commissioned and the standard it meets.Roles
- Sentence caseCapitalising only the first word and any proper nouns in a heading or label.Editorial craft
- SEOImproving how content is discovered and presented in search engines.Structure and systems
- Separation of concernsA design principle for dividing a system into parts that each deal with one kind of decision, so each can be understood and changed without disturbing the others.AI and tooling
- Sign-offThe formal approval required before content is published, changed or released to its audience.Governance
- SiloA team, system or channel that keeps its content to itself, so the same content gets made twice, disagrees with itself and can’t be found.Operations
- Single source of truthThe one agreed place where a piece of information is maintained, which every other copy or use defers to.Governance
- SkillA reusable AI capability or instruction set designed to help an assistant perform a specific kind of task consistently.AI and tooling
- Slow contentMaking digital content with care: quality over quantity, depth over breadth, the citizen over the consumer.Foundations
- Social mediaDigital platforms where individuals and organisations publish, respond, distribute content and take part in public or semi-public conversations.Operations
- StagingA production-like environment for reviewing and testing changes before release.AI and tooling
- Stakeholder mappingIdentifying the people and groups who affect, approve, use or care about a piece of content work.Research and evidence
- StorytellingConveying ideas or experience through an account of particular people and events unfolding over time, shaped so that an audience can follow, imagine and care about what happens.Editorial craft
- Structured contentContent broken into meaningful parts so it can be managed, reused and presented in different ways.Structure and systems
- Style guideA shared record of how an organisation writes: voice, tone, style rules and the practical guidance people need to make consistent choices.Governance
- Subject matter expertA person with deep topic knowledge who helps make content accurate and credible.Governance
- System promptThe standing instructions an AI system receives before the user's request, shaping how it behaves and responds.AI and tooling
- Systems thinkingLooking at how parts connect and influence one another, rather than treating each content problem in isolation.Foundations
T
- TaxonomyA controlled set of categories or labels, usually arranged from broad to narrow, used to classify content consistently.Structure and systems
- Technical debtThe future cost or risk created by shortcuts, structural weaknesses or deferred improvements.Operations
- ToneHow an organisation's voice adjusts to suit the audience, context and moment.Editorial craft
- TypographyThe design of text on a page: typeface, size, spacing, hierarchy and the other choices that shape how readable content feels.Editorial craft
U
- Ubiquitous languageA shared, precise vocabulary used across conversations, documentation and systems within a defined area of work.Structure and systems
- User needsWhat people need to know, do or understand, established through evidence and used to decide what content should exist.Research and evidence
- User testingWatching or listening to real users try to use content or a service, so the team can learn what works and what fails.Research and evidence
- UXUser experience: how someone experiences using a service, product, website or piece of content.Foundations
- UX writerA writer specialising in clear interface words that help people complete tasks.Roles
V
W
- WCAGThe Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: the main international standard for accessible digital content.Editorial craft
- WebsiteThe part of the web an organisation owns outright, where its content can inform, educate, persuade and support, and where anything said about it elsewhere can be checked.Operations
- WireframeA sketch of the structure of a page or screen before the final design is made.Structure and systems
- Word listA record of an organisation's decisions on how to spell, capitalise, hyphenate and use particular words and terms.Editorial craft
- WorkflowThe route content takes from idea through drafting, review, publication and ongoing maintenance.Operations
- WriterA role that researches and writes content for an organisation, shaped by its audience, voice and purpose.Roles
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