What this is
167 terms from content strategy, editorial practice, content operations, research, governance and the AI tooling now tangled up with all of it. Each one gets a single line and a page: what it means, why it matters, how AI changes it, and the questions people ask about it.
Why it exists
Having a shared understanding about the concepts and the terms of the content practice is a great foundation to any project. Shared definitions do not settle every argument, but they hopefully should move discussions on to the parts worth arguing about.
We’ve included some things here that aren’t yet part of common content parlance. We think that they will be in the coming years; understanding them now will put you ahead of the game.
How entries are written
Every entry starts with one line that a person new to content could repeat back. Longer entries add why it matters, how AI changes the picture, common questions, and a few places to read more. Terms link to each other on first mention, because almost nothing here makes sense alone.
We’ve worked collaboratively with AI to draft, cross-check and find gaps. Every entry is edited and signed off by a human before being published. Where we know a definition is contested, we’ve said so.
The rules we try to hold ourselves to
- One line first. If we cannot explain it in a sentence, we do not understand it well enough ourselves yet.
- No jargon used to define jargon. We strive to make the complex simple and the opaque clear.
- Say where the field disagrees, and who disagrees with whom.
- Date everything. Things change, and we'll endeavour to keep up with the times.
- Be open to different interpretations.
Who makes it
The Lexicon is made by Contentious, a content strategy practice that works with UK and international organisations. The list has grown out of more than ten years of client workshops, strategy documents and style guides. And, occasionally, passionately held beliefs. We’ve tried to be fair and even-handed but we make no apologies for being opinionated now and again. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always correct, or without gaps. If you disagree with anything, or spot something we’ve missed, please do let us know.
The Content Lexicon sits alongside Content Maturity, the Content Health Check and Voice, Tone & Style. We hope you find it useful.
Quote it, use it to fight the good fight
Free to read, free to quote, free to use in a heated exchange of views. The text of every entry is published under CC BY 4.0, so you can share and adapt it too, as long as you credit us: the term, “from the Content Lexicon by Contentious” and a link to the entry will do. The drawings stay ours, though. Machines are welcome too: there is a plain-text summary of every entry for language models, and a feed of what has changed.
Teach your AI the concepts
AI assistants have read a great deal about content, much of it written to rank rather than to be useful. Give yours the Lexicon and it can do more than define terms. It can name what’s really going on in your organisation’s content, see how the pieces connect and tell you how AI changes the picture. It takes about five minutes.
There are two ways in, depending on your tool:
- If it takes files (a Claude Project, a custom GPT or a Gemini Gem, say), download every entry in one file and add it as knowledge. The Lexicon is growing, so fetch a fresh copy now and then, or follow the feed of what has changed.
- If it can read the web, point it at the map of the Lexicon. Every page is also published as Markdown at the same address with .md on the end, and there is every term as data, so it can look a term up as it needs one, or the whole Lexicon as data if it would rather have everything at once.
Then tell it what to do with it. Something like this, in its instructions:
“You’re advising me on how our content operation works. Use the Content Lexicon (contentlexicon.com) for the concepts: when I describe a problem, name the ideas behind it, show how they connect and explain how AI changes the picture, linking to each entry you draw on. Where the Lexicon says the field disagrees, tell me. Where it has nothing to say, bring your own knowledge without pointing out the gap, and never put words in its mouth.”
The Lexicon gives it the concepts. To advise on your organisation rather than organisations in general, it needs to know how your content ecosystem works day to day: who owns what, how things get signed off, your platforms and content model, your teams and where they meet, and what you’re planning for AI. And if it ever tells you we’ve got something wrong, pass it on.