BETA This playbook is in BETA, we think it’s good enough to be useful right now, but there are gaps that need filling – your feedback will help us to improve it.

Introduction

Information architecture means organising and labelling content, so the website is easy to use and understand. We group similar content together to help people find what they need.

We do this by:

  • Linking to related pages clearly
  • Putting pages in the right place in menus
  • Showing a map of our services
  • Making sure people can find their way around, even if they come from a search engine or a direct link

Our menus

Menus are split into two types:

  • Main categories – These are the big service areas we offer.
  • Sub categories – These are pages with more detail, listed under the main headings.

Sometimes we split content into separate pages so it is not too much to read at once. We might also put a page in more than one menu if it fits into different service areas. This helps people find it more easily.

Our page layout

Each page has:

  • A title and description
  • An introduction or overview
  • Section headings – to split up the content into easy to read chunks.
  • A side menu to jump to the different section headings
  • Related pages – other Somerset Council pages that might help
  • Other information – links to other websites with useful information

Why good website structure matters

  • It helps people get to the right page quickly, with fewer clicks.
  • It makes the website easy to use.
  • It improves the user experience – how people feel when they use the site.
  • It improves the user interface – how people interact with online services.
  • It helps us decide where menus should go and how they should look.
  • It gives people a map of the site so they can find their way around.

How we plan and improve website content

We learn what people need and how they use the website. This helps us:

  • Understand who our users are
  • See how they move through the site (user flow)
  • Check and update old content
  • Spot any new content we need to create

We use card sorting to group similar content together so it is easier to find.

Then we:

  • Make a list of what content we need
  • Remove pages we don’t need anymore
  • Update old information
  • Change how pages are laid out to make them easier to read

important

Content is never finished. We keep checking, testing and improving it all the time.

How we use card sorting to plan website content

We use card sorting to help organise the website.

Here is how it works:

  • We look at the topics and themes from the research and current content.
  • These help us make a new list of content.
  • We then group the content into new headings for the site.
  • We use tools like Miro or Planner to do this.
  • Each piece of content becomes a card.
  • We put the cards under the right headings.
  • We add notes to each card to make sure all the important information is included on the page.

This helps us:

  • Decide what pages we need
  • Remove pages we don’t need
  • Update old information
  • Make sure pages are easy to read and well organised

Last reviewed: August 15, 2025 by Jennifer

Next review due: February 15, 2026

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