Creating and editing web content

This guide is for anyone creating  and editing web content for publication on a NIHR website.

When creating content, you need to write from the perspective of what your users want to know and how they will find your content. You also need to consider the information already on the website and how this will complement it.

It is important to get the point of your content across as concisely as possible.  Use the guidance below to help you.

Focus on user needs

Develop content based on user and organisation needs. 

Ideally, you should:

• consult with the people who are going to use your content

• design and test your content to make sure it meets their needs

• improve your content based on user feedback

• involve colleagues and other key stakeholders in developing the content and ensuring it is accurate

Make your content easy to use

Make sure your content and design are simple and clear. Use concise, plain English so your content is easy to understand.  Aim for readability grade 9-10 on the Hemmingway editor.

Follow the NIHR style guide for language, tone and formatting consistency.

Readability

• Formatting: have you used bullet points, lists, and short paragraphs to break up large blocks of text?

• Visuals: Add images, videos, or other multimedia to enhance engagement but ensure they are accessible

• Quotes and stats: Consider using these components. But be careful not to make them too long and ensure they don’t detract from the page

• Content cards: Use these to add links with images and to help break up lists of links

Structure

Think about the structure of your content and how you can help users find what they need quickly and easily. Some tips include:

• Compelling headline or title: does the headline or title accurately reflect the content and grab the reader's attention?  Is it shorter than 65 characters? Does it use the words your users would type into a search engine to find the content?

• Engaging opening: does the first paragraph summarise the key message and entice the reader to continue?

• Follow the inverted pyramid: is the most important information presented first, followed by supporting details? Find out more about Inverted Pyramid: Writing for Comprehension

• Clear call to action: does the content include a clear call to action or next step, if relevant? For example, should the reader ‘visit this page to learn more about the trial’,  ‘contact us to learn more’ or ‘sign up to our newsletter’

• Page URL: is the URL concise and relevant to the content?

• Cross-promotion: are there links to other relevant NIHR resources or webpages? What should the reader look at next?

Make your content accessible

Make your content accessible to everyone who needs it. Main things to consider:

• Write in plain English

• Ensure your page is optimised for search engines. Each page should have a unique primary keyword and approximately 5-10 secondary keywords.

• Use a logical heading structure to organise your content and aid navigation (heading 2 to introduce a topic or section, followed by heading 3 to introduce a sub-topic)

• Use descriptive link text that indicates the destination of a link, it's best to use the title of the page you are linking to as the link text

• Add alternative text for images if they are not decorative.  Graphics and diagrams which impart information should also provide a text alternative

• Add a transcript when you add a video from YouTube

Find out more about website accessibility

Titles and META descriptions

Good titles

The title of your page or post is clearly very important. It sets the tone for your piece of content and entices users to click and read more.

A good title should include a keyword and reflect the language people are using on the web about your subject.

Titles should aim to be 60-65 characters.

Titles above this limit tend to get cut off on search results pages.

Overly long titles also create overly long URLs.

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/nihrs-research-for-social-care-call-to-run-twice-per-year-with-expanded-remit-to-include-children-and-young-peoples-social-care

Don’t feel the need to tell the whole story in the title. Give users enough information to be interested and keen to read your content. 

META description

The META description is the piece of text which appears in search results to describe a page.

It is an important factor to consider as it will influence whether users click through to your page or not. It is your opportunity to advertise your content to searchers. The searcher then decides whether the content is likely to contain the information they're seeking.

Writing the META description

A good META description should summarise the content of the page in an enticing way.

Top tips:

• Use a keyword. Search engines often bold keywords from the user’s query in the description display, which draws the eye of the searcher. Consider the words the searcher will use for your page and include them in your META description.

• Keep it under 160 characters, going over the character limit means it will likely get cut off on the search results page. Use a META length checker tool or google docs’ word count tool to check your character limit.

• Make sure that your description isn’t too difficult to understand. People need to know what they can expect to find on your page.

• Try not to just repeat the title as the description will always appear alongside the title. Some of the words will inevitably be the same, but this is your chance to sell the page further.

• Ask Gemini to help you.

Example

Newsletters | NIHR

Stay informed with NIHR newsletters. Sign up for weekly funding alerts, the latest research news, global health updates or public involvement opportunities.

This description ticks the box for length – none is cut off. It summarises that page well and encourages the reader to take an action and contains the keywords ‘news' and 'funding alert'.

More information

You can access guidance on using the Drupal CMS once you have logged in to the website, under 'NIHR documentation'.

How Little Do Users Read?  Article by Jakob Nielsen

Writing for the Web Articles and Videos

UX writing: Study guide

Writing for gov.uk guidance