Overview

Audacy operated a complex digital ecosystem spanning 220+ digital properties, 47 U.S. media markets, and more than 100M URLs across news, sports, music, entertainment, and audio content.

I led the search and information architecture strategy supporting a multi-year enterprise platform transformation that consolidated fragmented properties, modernized taxonomy and CMS architecture, and established scalable governance across the organization.

The transformation rationalized the indexable footprint from approximately 20M to 6M URLs, delivered an immediate 7% increase in organic traffic, and drove gains reaching 10% over time.
 

The Challenge

Audacy’s digital ecosystem had evolved organically across hundreds of independent domains, subdomains, publishing environments, and editorial teams. While this structure supported strong local brand autonomy, it also created significant complexity at enterprise scale.

Key challenges included:

• Fragmented platform architecture: Hundreds of properties across multiple CMS environments created inconsistent technical standards and limited scalability.
• Crawl and indexation inefficiency: Large volumes of redundant, duplicate, and low-value URLs competed with high-value editorial content for search visibility.
• Duplicate and syndicated content: Shared content across station properties introduced canonicalization and content-ownership challenges.
• Inconsistent taxonomy and navigation: Disconnected tagging, categorization, and navigation systems reduced both user discovery and content reuse.
• Uneven technical standards: Structured data, metadata, templates, and publisher signals varied significantly across properties.
• Operational complexity: Enterprise standards had to be introduced without disrupting live publishing or limiting the editorial flexibility required by local brands.

The challenge was therefore larger than a website migration. Audacy needed a scalable platform, content architecture, and governance model that could support hundreds of brands as a unified digital ecosystem while preserving local editorial autonomy.

The Approach 

A phased platform transformation was executed, integrating migration strategy, information architecture, and governance into a unified enterprise framework.

The transformation centered on four coordinated workstreams spanning platform architecture, search governance, content systems, and publishing operations.

1. Platform Consolidation & Architecture

• Consolidated hundreds of independent properties into a more unified, scalable domain and platform structure
• Designed information architecture supporting local, regional, and national content
• Established repeatable migration, redirect, canonicalization, and QA frameworks
• Strengthened navigation and contextual internal linking across the ecosystem

2. Indexation & Search Governance

• Rationalized the indexable footprint from approximately 20M to 6M URLs
• Consolidated redundant, duplicate, and non-strategic URL patterns
• Refined sitemap, robots, canonicalization, and indexation standards
• Prioritized high-value editorial content for more efficient crawling and discovery

3. Taxonomy & Content Governance

• Designed a centralized taxonomy framework for categorization, tagging, and navigation
• Standardized metadata and content relationships across properties
• Improved content reuse and discovery while preserving local editorial flexibility
• Established governance standards that could scale across hundreds of brands

4. CMS, Publishing & Discoverability

• Consolidated publishing environments and introduced scalable templates aligned with taxonomy and information architecture
• Embedded search and discoverability requirements directly into CMS workflows
• Standardized structured data, publisher signals, and content-type conventions
• Scaled governance, QA, and publishing standards across 35+ editorial teams and 150+ editors

Results & Impact

 1. Search Performance

• Delivered an immediate 7% increase in organic traffic following migration, with gains reaching approximately 10% over time
• Rationalized the indexable footprint from approximately 20M to 6M URLs, improving crawl efficiency and concentrating search signals around higher-value content
• Reduced duplication, canonical conflicts, and competing URL signals across syndicated content

2. Platform & Operational Scale

• Unified hundreds of fragmented digital properties within a more scalable enterprise platform
• Established repeatable governance and migration frameworks across 220+ digital properties
• Reduced platform and CMS complexity while improving consistency across publishing workflows

3. Content Discovery & Editorial Operations

• Created a more consistent taxonomy, navigation, and internal discovery framework
• Improved content organization and reuse across local, regional, and national properties
• Scaled governance, QA, and publishing standards across 35+ editorial teams and 150+ editors

4. Publisher & Distribution Visibility

• Strengthened visibility and consistency across Google News and Apple News
• Standardized publisher, author, and content signals across the ecosystem
• Expanded the platform’s ability to surface and distribute content across search and news discovery environments

Why This Matters

This transformation moved Audacy from a fragmented collection of digital properties toward a more unified, governed, and scalable media ecosystem. By aligning platform architecture, taxonomy, search governance, and publishing operations, the organization reduced structural complexity while improving discoverability, operational consistency, and long-term scalability.