---
title: What is a content type
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

## About this guide

> **Info:** This page is a part of the **Content modeling guide**, which you should follow sequentially from [beginning to end](https://docs.kentico.com/guides/architecture/content-modeling/content-modeling-guide.md).

## Best practices in Kbank demo site

Throughout this guide, you can use the [Kbank demo site](https://www.kentico.com/customers/educationcenter/training-website-requests) as a practical example to see content-modeling decisions in a real business scenario. To explore the website yourself, you can start the hosted instance of Xperience by Kentico's [Business Tutorial Kbank demo site](https://www.kentico.com/customers/educationcenter/training-website-requests).

## What are content types?

We've mentioned the term _content type_ several times in the [previous page](https://docs.kentico.com/guides/architecture/content-modeling/content-modeling-guide.md). What is a content type, and why do we talk about them?

Content types (and their relationships) are crucial elements of any content model. They are _blueprints_ for individual items. When an editor creates an item using this blueprint, the content type determines which data is stored and in what format.

> **Tip:** [Content type](https://enterprise-knowledge.com/what-is-a-content-type/) is not an Xperience-specific term. Rather, it’s a general term used in information architecture that defines a standardized data structure.

From a business perspective, content types need to represent **meaningful structures that both humans and machines understand**. The following images show an article with additional related content and how this data is translated into a _content type_.

The first image shows how the different parts of an article are organized in a meaningful structure.

![Breaking down the article structure into a content type](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/guides/what-is-a-content-type/content_type_basics_1.png "Breaking down the article structure into a content type")

The diagram shows how the fields of the _Article_ and _Asset_ content types map onto different parts of a webpage.

The webpage layout contains a _teaser image_, _featured items_, and a _full article page_. The _Article_ content type contains fields such as _title_, _teaser image_ (which references the _Asset_ content type), _summary_, _taxonomy_, _article text_, _related articles_, and _article publication date_.

The _Asset_ content type defines the structure for media items that this article references. The _Asset_ content type includes fields, such as _media title_, _media description_, _internal description_, _media file_ for the binary, and a _media category_.

The website screenshot illustrates how different fields are reused. For example, the article’s title, teaser image, and summary are reused in the article _Teaser_ and _Featured news_ blocks, and the full article page.

The second image shows the power of a content type. The _Article_ **content type** serves as a **blueprint** for all items built on it. Editors use the content type to create individual article items and input data into a predefined structure.

![Articles from Kbank demo site created with the same Article content type](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/guides/what-is-a-content-type/article_items_from_a_content_type.png "Articles from Kbank demo site created with the same Article content type")

The content type's _structure_ ensures that editors _enter all required data_ relevant to the article into objects of the same structure. Depending on their marketing goals, editors can then use [Page Builder](https://docs.kentico.com/documentation/developers-and-admins/development/builders/page-builder.md) to adjust what each article looks like or what other data the page contains when they display the articles on the website. You can find more about [modeling presentation components](https://docs.kentico.com/guides/architecture/content-modeling/model-website-presentation-components.md) in a dedicated series of guides.

## Summary

You learned about the role of content types in your digital marketing content. You know that content types serve as blueprints that define the structure and format of data. When editors work with these formally defined objects, they ensure their content is consistent and allows for customization through tools, such as the [Page Builder](https://docs.kentico.com/documentation/developers-and-admins/development/builders/page-builder.md). You also learned about the Kbank demo site we use to explain best practices and showcase different modeling approaches.

## What's next?

Next, you’ll compare [structured and unstructured](https://docs.kentico.com/guides/architecture/content-modeling/content-modeling-guide/structured-and-unstructured-content.md) content so you can choose the right format for every business need.