Organise and group GOV.UK content
Content on GOV.UK is grouped with other similar content to help users explore particular topics or tasks.
Topic tagging
Most GOV.UK content needs to be tagged to a topic. You’ll do this when creating or updating content.
Topics are organised in a hierarchical taxonomy. This means topics can have subtopics, those subtopics can have subtopics and so on. Topics get more specific the further down the hierarchy you go.
Education, training and skills is an example of a high level topic. Subtopics for this topic include:
- School and academy financial management and assurance
- Further and higher education, skills and vocational training
- Inspections and performance of education providers
We explain how to tag your content in the guidance on creating and updating pages.
If you want to request a new topic, or changes to an existing topic, [contact the Government Digital Service (GDS)](link tbc).
Document collections
You can group content into a collection. Unlike topic tagging, you should only use document collections to group content items together if:
- there’s a genuine user need to view that set of content in one place
- it’s a need that cannot be met by one of the other formats (for example, a detailed guide)
Do not use a document collection to:
- group parts of a single document - instead, put all the attachments on a single publication page
- guide users through a task - convert the documents into a detailed guide instead
- group long complex documents that specialist users need to do their job - think about using a manual instead
Read more about creating and updating document collections.
Mainstream browse pages
Mainstream browse pages group content into topic areas. These topics are shown in the ‘services and information’ menu on the GOV.UK homepage and sitewide navigation bar.
Mainstream browse has 2 levels:
- level 1 – the main topic, for example ‘Environment and countryside’
- level 2 – subtopics, for example ‘Boats and waterways’
Some subtopics list the content alphabetically and some are arranged under headings.
Most content in mainstream browse is ‘mainstream’ content - content published by GDS content designers rather than by departments. You can ask to add other content to a mainstream browse page if:
- it gives users information about how to complete a task or use a government service
- it’s a detailed guide or certain types of publication - guidance, statutory guidance or form
To ask to add content to a mainstream browse page, [contact GDS](link tbc).
Step by step pages
If the task users need to do is part of a much broader process with multiple steps, like learning to drive, content can be grouped into a step by step navigation.
If you’ve published content that you think should be added to an existing step by step navigation, or a new one should be created, [contact GDS](link tbc).