This is part three of a four-part series on web governance. A strategy fueled by people, process, and technology. See part two titled People: The Foundation of Web Governance.
A sustainable web governance program follows a content lifecycle model built on assigned ownership, planning and creation, regular content reviews and approval processes, defined editing workflows, and criteria for archiving or retiring content.
If you’re asking yourself, What’s the difference between content strategy and web governance? The answer is
Content strategy focuses on what content to create and why. It defines the goals, audiences, and messaging that guide content development. Content governance, on the other hand, focuses on how that content is managed. It ensures that the strategy can be executed consistently and maintained over time. ~ What Is Content Governance? A Guide to Website Content Governance
Defining Your Content Workflow
Structured workflows guide content through ideation to final publishing. A typical content workflow includes four core activities:
- ideation and initial draft creation,
- editorial review,
- compliance or legal review,
- and publishing.
Not every change, however, requires every stage. A low-risk update, such as correcting a typo, doesn't warrant the same level of review as preparing to publish a new policy or organizational legal content.
Your workflow definition document should clearly identify which types of changes require the full workflow and which can follow an abbreviated path, including the specific steps for each. It should also define how published content is maintained over time, including update procedures, ongoing accuracy reviews, and the criteria and process for archiving or retiring content.
Applying Standards and Guidelines
Beyond regulatory requirements such as privacy and data protection (HIPAA, FERPA, GDPR, CCPA, and others), accessibility, and information security, an effective web governance program should also incorporate the organizational standards to ensure content is consistent, discoverable, and aligned with your brand. These may include:
- Copyright and intellectual property policies
- Metadata and taxonomy standards
- SEO standards and best practices
- Style guides and editorial standards (voice, tone, brand, and writing style)
- AI governance policies, if your organization uses generative AI to create or edit content
These are just a few examples. Your web governance program should reflect the policies, standards, and requirements that are unique to your organization.
For some real-world examples of web governance in action, see the University of Washington’s Web Governance Model and Appalachian State University’s Web Governance.
Manage the Content
The day-to-day commitment of content management is often the most extensive and labor-intensive part of web governance. It’s also the point where everything comes together. Your policies, processes, documentation, schedules, all show up in practice. It’s where your strategy turns into action and where the organization’s digital presence is actually shaped and maintained. And it begins with content reviews and audits.
Content Audits
Effective web governance should treat every review as an opportunity to ensure content continues to deliver value to both your users and the organization.
Reviewers should ask these five questions for each content type reviewed:
- Is it still needed?
- Is it accessible?
- Is the content still accurate?
- Is it still within brand guidelines?
- Is it achieving its intended purpose?
To answer these questions, reviewers should
- verify factual accuracy,
- test for accessibility issues,
- check for broken links,
- remove outdated screenshots or documents,
- confirm SEO and metadata are current,
- evaluate analytics and user behavior,
- and ensure the content follows plain language and organizational style guidelines.
Establish an Audit Cadence
Rather than conducting a single annual review for all your content, create review cadences based on content type.
For example:
- Content type: Emergency information, admissions, tuition, regulations, compliance
Review schedule: Immediately after changes and at least quarterly - Content type: Policies, services, academic programs, forms
Review schedule: Every 6 months - Content type: Evergreen informational pages
Review schedule: Every 12 months
Trigger-Based Audits
Not all content should wait for a scheduled review. Some events, such as changes to laws or policies or the introduction of new products or services, should automatically trigger a rapid review of all related content to ensure it remains accurate and relevant.
Other trigger events include:
- accessibility standards change
- analytics show declining usefulness
- users report inaccurate information
- organizational restructuring occurs
- changes to organizational grounds, buildings, or locations
Pro Tip: Using an automated tool like DubBot can significantly reduce the person-power required to review large amounts of content. With DubBot, you can create custom policies that scan for specific dates, names, policy titles, and more, making it easier to locate outdated or high-risk content instead of searching manually.
Criteria for Updating, Archiving, or Retiring Content
When your content is no longer accurate or relevant, or no longer meets organizational standards, web editors or managers should update it, combine it with other content, or retire it altogether.
Archive or retire your content when it is:
- obsolete
- duplicated elsewhere
- no longer supports organizational goals
- legally expired
- consistently unused
- replaced by newer content
Designers and developers should remove archived content from the navigation and the search when appropriate, while still keeping version history for records management, if required. When possible, they should also redirect users to newer information so they can quickly find the most current resource.
Pro Tip: Deleting content should be the exception rather than the default, especially for organizations with records retention requirements.
While managing web content is a detailed, ongoing process, it’s where web governance proves its value. Effective content management creates clarity, reduces risk, and elevates user experience while keeping content trusted and useful over time. From updating pages to coordinating reviews, it’s the operational core of web governance.
This is part three of a four-part series on web governance. A strategy fueled by people, process, and technology. See part two titled People: The Foundation of Web Governance.
Resources
- Website Governance Template: Roles, Policies & Workflows
- Content Governance Is a Must for a Successful Content Strategy
- What Is Content Governance? A Guide to Website Content Governance
- Document Workflows Like a Pro: Tips, Tools, and Real-World Examples
A human author creates the DubBlog posts. The AI tools Gemini and ChatGPT are sometimes used to brainstorm subject ideas, generate blog post outlines, and rephrase specific sections of content. Our marketing team carefully reviews all final drafts for accuracy and authenticity. The opinions and perspectives expressed remain the sole responsibility of the human author.
