Checking in from rainy Minneapolis. Thank you for subscribing! I appreciate you always, content strategist. This content-first issue comprises two long videos about a subject I'm passionate about: knowledge graphs.
But as for a long essay this week, I admit: I am exhausted. While I could technically go long about the knowledge graph in text, I'm going to take some time away from my screen this afternoon. So chew on these videos and peep this extremely awesome new course (yep, another one!), launching June 30.
–DC
What's in your knowledge graph?
This week I hosted a webinar dedicated to demystifying the Knowledge Graph, a broad term that describes how AI systems read and remember content. You can check out most of the preso below:
It's especially of interest if you're working on brand visibility and curious about how generative AI will impact your brand perception.
During the presentation, I also announced The Content Technologist's newest course, to be delivered at the end of Q2.
Launching June 30: Your Content Is Your Marketing - An SEO course for people who love readers and hate SEO
Our new Q2 course—Your Content Is Your Marketing—covers the structural optimization approach that has worked consistently for my clients for the past 10+ years of content optimization and management—throughout all algorithmic quakes and resets. It will help you turn your ephemeral newsy content into a well-organized, crawlable web archive that compels readers to dive deep into new work and old.
So how do you build or redesign a well-organized website that’s search-optimized but not spammy?
It has nothing to do with building more content. Your content is probably fine as it is.
And it has nothing to do with the interface design of the website itself—although I love a beautiful website, algorithms love basic websites too.
Building a great website has more to do with…
- … not hiding your best content in a “blog” or "resources" feed where great ideas go to die
- … understanding the internal and external structures in a website that make content discoverable
- … knowing how to echo your reader’s needs in your navigation
- … breaking with some principles that have led to the web’s sea of sameness
- … never ever focusing on the modifier “best” as an optimization target
- ...producing consistent quality content on a website designed for people, not algorithms
If you are already investing significantly effort in regularly creating original content—and not just regurgitating what’s already available online— netting a bigger audience is often a matter of structuring your content for discoverability. Especially if you’re creating content more than once a week, it’s likely your archives can be optimized for a better experience to find more readers.
Learn how with Your Content Is Your Marketing: Content-driven growth for brand-builders, publishers, newsletters, and algorithm skeptics.
Your Content Is Your Marketing course outline
I. Content discovery and the knowledge graph
Familiarize yourself with the knowledge graph, benchmark your content, and throw out those stale misconceptions about search optimization.
II. Information architecture and navigation
Assess how to structure your website for organic discovery. Understand the architectures that support strong content.
III. Taxonomy, tagging, aggregation, and curation
To tag or to categorize? To aggregate or to curate? This section dives deep into when to use dynamic content filters and when you should add your human touch.
IV. On-page structure
Yes, you need headings. No, they don't need to align with People Also Ask and Autocomplete suggestions. Learn how to build content-focused pages so algorithms and audiences notice your work.
V. Strategies for keeping up with optimization
While strong web optimization is less work than pumping out new original social posts daily, it's still not set-it-and-forget-it. Learn strategies to manage ongoing optimization tasks.
VI. **Bonus** for Ghost users: How to do all of the above using Ghost's software
Ghost is an amazing platform for hosting a web-based newsletter. Learn to optimize your Ghost website and newsletter from an experienced Ghost user.
This course of all new material and practical takeaways is launching June 30 and is available for preorder now with 40% off preorder pricing — limited to the first 30 orders.
And readers of The Content Technologist can snag an extra $50 off before May 31 for either More than (key)Words or Your Content Is Your Marketing with the code: MAY24YCIYM
If you're looking to learn more about how AI will impact your brand or just to improve your website's visibility online, take a leap of faith in good content and preorder today.
More thoughts on the Knowledge Graph
Last week, I also appeared on Content Strategy Insights with Larry Swanson, chatting about how my college major (English!) directly influences my work in understanding how computers process content.
If you liked scanning poetry as much as I did, this episode should resonate.
Click here for the full transcript. And I'll see you next week.
The Content Technologist is a newsletter and consultancy based in Minneapolis, working with clients and collaborators around the world. The entire newsletter is written and edited by Deborah Carver, independent content strategy consultant, speaker, and educator.
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Cultural recommendations / personal social: Spotify | Instagram | Letterboxd | PI.FYI
Did you read? is the assorted content at the very bottom of the email. Cultural recommendations, off-kilter thoughts, and quotes from foundational works of media theory we first read in college—all fair game for this section.
I remain mum on large, ongoing global conflicts because I am not an expert, and I'll save my opinions for private conversation. But both my alma maters (almas mater?) have arrested student protestors in the past two weeks. The University of Minnesota has closed much of campus for students and faculty because of a relatively small protest encampment. The situation is getting much closer to home. I am an advocate of freedom of expression, and I support the students protesting on campus.
As of now, the situation only looks to be getting more policetastic, and I have to say: why are university leaders so frightened of peaceful protests? What scares them about legitimate dissent? Why is minor property damage to a single building of the largest landowner in New York City treated as mass criminal violence? Why are these enormously wealthy and powerful institutions so quick to speed-dial law enforcement? Isn't the reason we go to college so we can learn to question our norms? What does "safety" actually mean when it comes to protests?
It's disheartening to see such a rush to quell freedom of expression, especially when in most situations there is an extremely minimal threat of actual violence. Even though I'm no longer the protesting type, this is my expression of solidarity with all protestors.