Content Insights Blog

During recent interviews for Phase 2 of our Content & Credibility Study, we have been asking people what web content they find credible and why. As part of that process, I have observed many people’s opinions of search results listings and what makes a result click-worthy. It’s made me think about the importance of a certain content element – the meta description. During our testing, I’ve seen just how important this information is in the decision-making process as users scan search results.

What Is a Meta Description?

The all-important search results listing, or “snippet” in Google speak, is made up of roughly 155 characters of descriptive text that tells users what content is on a page and how it meets their search query. The information displayed in the results listing is created to best match the user’s search terms and can be pulled from a variety of sources, including the meta description. (Other sources could be the Open Directory Project or content from the page itself.) Here's an example of a search result for Content Science. The meta description is displayed under the URL and file format information.   Read More >

If you work in interactive, you might think content strategy isn't your job. Have you ever thought about any questions like these?

• How often should you Tweet?
• What is our message?
• Would a video tell our story more effectively?
• For our redesign, what content should we keep and what content should we delete?
• What voice is best and what tone is appropriate when?
• Which CMS is best for our needs?
• Who is going to update our content and when? 

If so, then I have to break this to you. Content strategy is part of your job. What to do? Read Content Strategy at Work: Real-world Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project. Margot Bloomstein guides us through the lifecycle and mindset for content strategy. The process begins with defining what you really need to say. It ends with a solid plan, and long-term commitment, for maintaining that content. To illustrate this lifecycle, Bloomstein provides not only approaches from her personal experience but also a range of case studies from non-profits, healthcare, auto, apparel, higher education and many more. That’s a wide variety of budgets, team sizes, and goals. Chances are you'll find many instances in this book that make you say, “Their situation is exactly like ours!”  Read More >

Recently, I reviewed the article “Highway to Health” about Ford's experimentation with addressing the very different needs of their older and younger customers. So, I was eager to read the New York Times article “As Young Lose Interest in Cars, G.M. Turns to MTV for Help” that discusses similar concerns at General Motors (G.M.) for Chevrolet. Here's the essence of the article and what it means for content.

What I Liked

The article startled me with statistics like these:  Read More >

Content isn't just text. It's visual assets such as photos, graphics, and video, too. When developing your content strategy, consider how to best use your visual assets. 

What do I mean? Well, let's look at a few examples from our recent work with Equifax.  Read More >

Our recent Content + Credibility Study focuses on the perception of web content. Being a designer, I was very curious about the outcome of the study because we all know design is the most important and influential part of any communication, right? (Well, not really, but we designers like to think so!) Also, I knew visual design would play a part in the depiction and acceptance of the study itself. So, as I became involved in the study, I thought, how would I take numbers and make them interesting to look at while still seeming credible...and do justice to all the smart thinking and hard work that went into this study? I was off and running…

The Hurdle

As the report designer, I had to focus on visually giving this study credibility in and of itself. The rigorous testing and analysis were all there, but I then needed to execute the physical representation of our report with the same veracity used in the methodology of the study.  Read More >