Announcing Optimizely Graph, enhancing our headless CMS

Kara AndersenKara Andersen
Jun 15, 2023

Brands are feeling the pressure to move to a headless CMS (or uncoupled CMS) from the traditional coupled architecture. Here’s what you need to know, and why Optimizely is leading the way for customer flexibility with its latest headless capabilities.

The headless CMS market has been experiencing significant growth and innovation in recent years. With the rise of omnichannel content delivery and the increasing demand for personalized user experiences, businesses are turning to headless CMS solutions to decouple their content management from their frontend presentation.  

This approach allows for greater flexibility and scalability, as content can be managed independently and delivered seamlessly across various devices and platforms.   

As headless continues to gain traction, more businesses are feeling the pressure to move to a headless CMS. But let’s be real: Is headless really the way to go? 

Headless vs. Coupled CMS

Previously, you’ve either been in the headless camp, or you haven’t been. And while a headless approach has its advantages over coupled, it comes with its own set of hurdles as well. In fact, both directions have pros and cons:  

Headless (Uncoupled) CMS
  • Pro: Content is easily repurposed for multiple channels including web, mobile app, kiosk, digital display, etc.
  • Con: Marketers and content editors are dependent on developers to control where and how content is displayed, potentially causing inefficiencies and frustration 
Coupled CMS
  • Pro: Ease-of-use for editors with features like on-page editing, easy previews, and drag-and-drop components
  • Con: It’s not always easy to repurpose content for other channels 

So how do you choose? 

Well, what if I told you you don’t have to? 

Optimizely’s model gives you the choice to deliver content headlessly, via a coupled approach, or through a combination of both! Our open, flexible platform enables brands to build the architecture that works for their specific requirements and use cases.  

This way, our customers benefit from marketer-friendly features like on-page editing, drag-and-drop components, and content previews that make content creation and editing easy; and they get the headless APIs and services that developers love to work with, supporting content delivery across channels. 

Headless capabilities in Optimizely’s CMS

Optimizely's headless content management capabilities are a set of features, services, and APIs, that transform the leading, best-in-class Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) to support headless content creation, delivery, and management. 

Historically, those have included: 

  • Content Definitions API – A REST API that lets you manage content and property definitions without deploying any code
  • Content Management API – Also a REST API, providing the ability to push new content (or content updates) into the Optimizely CMS
  • Multi-Channel Content Mode – An editing mode that provides a clean, content-first view of your content in the CMS. Easily create and edit folders, content blocks, and media to be used across all your channels
  • Multi-site Management – Mange an unlimited number of websites in a single web app for a single code base

Today, these capabilities are expanded to include the all-new Optimizely Graph, a multi-tenant SaaS service that allows you to search, query, and deliver content anywhere.

Optimizely Graph: How it works

Optimizely Graph is powered by GraphQL, a query language for APIs known for its powerful yet simple form of data fetching.  

Optimizely Graph serves as an on-demand content library that provides a more streamlined way to access content, so Optimizely customers can easily deliver dynamic digital experiences across all their marketing channels, devices, and platforms—at blazing-fast speeds.  

How? It’s served from the CDN rather than the CMS, so it’s a globally distributed application that runs on the edge.  

And the best part: It also does full-text indexing and search, so you can even use it to power your website’s search function!  

Check out the documentation.

Optimizely Graph is now available for all Optimizely customers on CMS 12. Reach out to your account rep for more information.  

Are you considering Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) for your content management and delivery needs? Book a demo to learn more.