What is a headless CMS?
To understand what a headless CMS is, it helps to understand the plain old CMS. Here’s how a traditional CMS works, and what makes the headless CMS variant different.
Traditional CMS
You’ve probably heard of a CMS. You may even use one – or several. A CMS (content management system) is basically a storage and management location for text and images that are published on a website. In practice, the CMS is also known as ‘the back end’ of a website. You fill in a kind of form with input fields for text, images, video and other elements that then appear on the ‘front end’ of the website. With a traditional CMS, the front and back ends are inextricably linked. Well-known CMS brands and players include WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Typo 3 and Umbraco. These are mainly used for content. Other CMSs, such as Woocommerce, Shopify and Magento, are used for e-commerce. With over 400 CMS brands, there is something for everyone.
How does a headless CMS differ from a traditional CMS?
The biggest difference? With a headless CMS, the back end of the website, where you add the content, is disconnected from the front end of the website. The focus here is much more on content creation and management. It’s the place where you enter, create and publish content. With a headless CMS, you don’t just publish on the website itself. A headless CMS makes it possible to work omnichannel. You can customize the content you enter in the CMS and publish it on various channels. For example, on a website, the associated app and social media channels such as LinkedIn and Instagram.
Everyone has their own online experience
The headless CMS, or the back-end, can then be linked to various systems that can offer a unique, optimal user experience at the front end. This is also called a DXP, a digital experience platform. Each visitor gets to see their own unique view based on, for example, the behaviour of the visitor on the website, their geo-location, and other data sources, such as past purchases or visits to other articles or product pages on the website or app.
Headless CMS in brief
In a headless CMS, just as in traditional CMS, you can enter and manage content in the back end; but in the headless version, you are not tied to just the front end of a website. That has been replaced by links and APIs, so that you can publish content from one CMS on multiple channels. The CMS no longer only focuses on a website, but can publish to other channels. Of course, you have to optimize that content per channel. This is partly automated, because the content in the headless CMS is structured content. It is already provided with the correct HTML structure suitable for publishing on online and offline channels – perfect for an omnichannel approach.