Great intranet content fuels engagement, knowledge sharing, and a positive digital workplace. Yet many organizations struggle to keep their intranet effective and clutter-free. If your intranet is overflowing with outdated pages, hard-to-find resources, and inconsistent writing styles, it’s time to rethink your approach.
In this article, we cover all aspects of a developing intranet content strategy such as:
- Pro tips for empowering your content authors
- Smart ways to keep your intranet clutter-free
- Making navigation and labeling intuitive
- Spotlight: Keeping content findable in search
- Trending topic: AI-generated content – helpful or harmful?
Here’s how to help your team master intranet content and keep your platform working for employees, not against them.
Top 3 intranet content tips for content authors
Even the best intranet software can’t succeed without good content practices. Start here to set your authors up for success.
1. Train for consistency, not perfection
Most intranet contributors are subject-matter experts, not professional writers. Expecting flawless prose is unrealistic. Instead, focus on consistency.
Offer quick training sessions or short reference guides that outline your intranet’s tone, voice, and formatting standards. Even a simple checklist helps ensure your intranet reads like a unified resource rather than a patchwork of styles.
Consider creating:
- A writing style guide with voice and tone examples
- A formatting checklist covering headings, bullet lists, and hyperlinks
- Quick reference tips for writing scannable, employee-friendly content
Small efforts here pay off in a big way across your entire intranet.
2. Avoid content sprawl with ownership rules
A common intranet problem is great content being created…and then forgotten. Over time, outdated pages pile up, confusing users and cluttering search results.
Assign every intranet page an owner. Then set a regular review schedule—quarterly is a good starting point—where owners check their pages for:
- Accuracy and relevance
- Broken links or outdated references
- Opportunities to consolidate or remove content
Content governance isn’t just about cleaning house. It supports compliance, improves search results, and ensures employees can trust the information they find.
3. Support the user journey with clear navigation
Your intranet users don’t want to hunt for information—they want to find it quickly. Overly complex menus, unclear labels, or organization-specific jargon can frustrate employees and reduce intranet adoption.
Improve usability by:
- Using words employees actually say, not internal terminology
- Testing common search queries and mapping them to relevant pages
- Simplifying navigation to keep menus manageable
If employees consistently search for a term, but the intranet calls it something else, adjust your labels, metadata, or page titles accordingly.
Looking to build a scalable intranet content plan? Our hands-on Intranet Content Strategy Workshop equips your team with frameworks, templates, and real-life use cases to tame intranet chaos and create a sustainable content model.
How to keep intranet content searchable and clutter-free
A beautiful intranet means little if employees can’t locate what they need. Good intranet search performance relies on smart content practices:
- Apply consistent metadata and tags to pages and documents
- Use clear, keyword-rich titles that match what employees search for
- Avoid duplicating pages with similar content
Intranet Search Optimization Tip: Consider running periodic tests by entering common employee queries into your intranet search and see what comes up. If key pages aren’t appearing, refine titles, tags, or page placement.
How to use AI-generated content for your intranet
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity are changing how organizations produce content on employee experience platforms. AI can be a powerful co-author, helping create drafts, summaries, FAQs, and more. But it’s not a replacement for human expertise.
AI can help intranet content authors:
- Draft news posts quickly
- Create initial outlines for policies, guides or even intranet homepage layouts
- Summarize lengthy documents into employee-friendly versions
However, human oversight is essential. Always review AI-generated intranet content for:
- Accuracy and factual correctness
- Alignment with your brand voice and tone
- Relevance to your specific organization
AI is best used as a content assistant—not as an unsupervised publisher.
Content maturity means culture change
Content mastery on your intranet isn’t just about tools or processes, it’s about culture. Successful organizations treat content as a shared responsibility, rooted in ownership, intentionality, and empathy for end users.
Encourage an intranet content culture where:
- Authors understand their role in keeping content fresh
- Teams respect the importance of clarity and usability
- Content creation is seen as a core part of employee experience
A healthy content culture helps your intranet stay useful, relevant, and trusted.
Ready to level up your intranet content?
If you’re looking for practical ways to build a sustainable intranet content strategy, we’re here to help.
At Social Edge Consulting, we provide intranet consulting services to help organizations create modern intranet experiences that connect, engage, and inform employees, no matter where or how they work. From platform selection and migration to governance, content strategy, and employee experience design, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.
Planning a new intranet or need support with your intranet strategy? Book an intranet discovery session with our intranet content experts.
