Content 101: Identifying and Understanding Content

Are you wondering: What kind of content do I need for my website, and what will it be used for?

We're here to answer those questions based on what we do at Soka AI with our own clients and our own work. This article outlines the types of content you'll want to collect for your site, and what content is typically used for. There will be content many different purposes, for layout, structure, visibility, trust, search performance, chatbot training, and more, so it's important not to let it get overwhelming. Which brings us to our first point:

Quality is Better Quantity

Now that anyone can all use ChatGPT to create hundreds of pages of content per hour, the name of the game is curation, and quality. Now businesses are in danger of creating so much content that it costs extra money to sift through it, process or edit it, and figure out what to use.

The age of content overload

What Counts as Content

When we say “content,” we’re talking about everything your website needs in order to function, communicate, and represent you clearly. It includes both the obvious and the overlooked.

Here’s what counts:

• Text: Headlines, body copy, introductions, service descriptions, bios, contact info, product details, FAQs. Anything someone needs to read and understand on your site.

• Images: Photos of your work, your team, your products, your space. Logos, icons, illustrations. These define your brand visually and help convey your message at a glance.

• Documents and media: PDFs, videos, downloadable forms, audio clips, slide decks—anything you want your site visitors to access, reference, or download.

• Metadata and structural labels: Page titles, meta descriptions, alt text, headings, button labels, links. These are often invisible, but they’re used for SEO, accessibility, and usability.

• Supporting information: Testimonials, third-party reviews, affiliations, certifications, awards, or anything else that builds trust.

  
  

All of this is content. Some of it will be visible on the screen. Some of it works behind the scenes to help people find, navigate, and trust your site.

What the Content Is For

Your content must be useful to your ideal user. There has to be a meaningful match between the audience you're trying to reach and the information you're offering. If you're selling products, useful content might include detailed product descriptions. But it can also go deeper: if you think seriously about the materials, design, or philosophy behind what you make, that kind of content has real value. It shows expertise, it builds trust, and it helps your work stand out.

Here’s how content functions across your site:

• Informs your audienceIt explains what you do, what you offer, and what matters to you—clearly and directly.

• Defines your site’s structureThe content determines what pages your site needs, how it’s organized, and how users will move through it.

• Supports search visibilitySearch engines rely on content to understand what your site is about. The clearer and more structured it is, the better your site performs.

• Establishes trust and accuracyEvery detail matters. If your content is outdated or vague, people—and AI—notice. We help you refine it so it reflects the truth of what you do.

• Expresses your expertise and contributionYour content doesn’t just tell your story—it reflects your thinking. We help you surface the value in what you already know.

• Trains your AI agent—intentionallyWe use your content to train your chatbot, but we do it with care. We structure its responses so it reflects your tone, answers questions accurately, and stays on track.

• Extends your voiceOnce your content is clear, it becomes a reusable asset—for social media, email, automation, and future tools.

Content That Often Gets Overlooked

Some of the most important content on a website might seem ordinary, because it's so ubiquitous—but those little things we see everyday play a meaningful role in how users experience will your site, and in how trustworthy, complete, and useful it feels to them.

• Staff bios or founder story: People want to know who they’re dealing with. Even a short introduction builds trust and human connection. We can interview you and write this up, but if you’d like to spend time on it in advance, that’s a great use of your time.

  
  

• Testimonials or third-party quotes: Social proof matters. A few words from past clients or collaborators can give your visitors the reassurance they need to move forward. It can feel awkward to ask, but testimonials don’t have to be formal. If someone says something great in conversation, ask if you can jot it down or record it. Capture those moments—they’re gold.

  
  

• Image descriptions (for accessibility and SEO): These help users who rely on screen readers, and they also give search engines more context about what’s on your site. If you want to create these, we will show you how. If we create these descriptions, their quality will still depend on the context you give us, so it really helps to write down some notes about each image. No need to write perfectly—just tell us what's happening, and we’ll take it from there.

  
  

• Calls to action: Also known as a CTA—these are bits of content, that nudge or invite site users along their journey through your site. Physically, they are typically buttons, but you can think of them as signposts to the content or activity that it your goal. Why does your site exist? What does a successful user experience look like to you? Will a satisfied site user buy something, book a call, sign up, or donate? The call to action gives your site momentum, and it connects you to your audience. This is where systems thinking meets creative flow. There’s rarely one “correct” answer, but how users move through your site is part of the content itself—and shaping that path is part of the fun.

  
  

• Internal knowledge that could help users: Think about the questions you answer again and again. Policies, timelines, processes. These foundational pieces of content that save you time and build user confidence. An example from our own website at Soka AI would be this article you are reading, and certain parts of our FAQ about how we approach website development. This content helps us demonstrate our experience, expertise, trust, and authority—the four pillars of helpful website content, as far as Google is concerned. But it wasn't written for SEO purposes, this content on our website truly helps people, and it reliably makes our lives easier when clients show up informed, prepared, and with their content ready. Great website content tends to be a win-win.

  
  

Real Content is Better than Perfect

You can start with notes, lists, rough drafts—even voice memos. We can help you shape, organize, and edit what you’ve got. But we do need something to work with.

The earlier you begin gathering content, the smoother the project will be. You don’t have to be a writer. That’s part of what we do. We’ve worked with technical documentation, product descriptions, blog posts, team bios, and all kinds of story-driven content—for industries ranging from aerospace and hospitality to education and the arts.

When we say we can help with content, we don’t mean we’ll just polish your spelling. We help you figure out what matters and how to say it clearly. Content that reflects your work, your thinking, and your voice. That’s what makes a site useful—and lasting.

Next Steps

This post explains what you’ll need to gather: the types of content that power a well-structured, trustworthy website—and how that content will be used.

The next article in this series explains how to prepare your website content. That covers how what formats work best, which free tools can help, and how to organize everything so it’s easy to hand off..