Information Portal Development
An information portal is a content platform aggregating materials on a specific topic: articles, directories, ratings, catalogs. Differs from news portal by lower update frequency and emphasis on evergreen content. Typical examples: industry portals, city/region guides, encyclopedic resources.
Information portal structure
| Section | Content type |
|---|---|
| Articles and analysis | Long-form, SEO-oriented |
| Directory | Structured object cards |
| Ratings and collections | Thematic lists with descriptions |
| Section news | Short news items |
| Database | Searchable catalog (companies, products, places) |
Architecture for multi-type content
Different content types have different field structures. Solutions:
Single-table inheritance (STI): one content_items table with type field and JSON column for specific fields. Simple but hard to index.
Polymorphic tables: separate tables for each content type with contentable_type / contentable_id link. Flexible but complex queries.
Headless CMS (Strapi, Contentful): content types with custom fields via UI. Suits many editors when developer shouldn't add new types.
Directory with geolocation
For portal with place catalog (restaurants, organizations, tourist sites) geolocation functionality is needed:
- PostgreSQL extension PostGIS for storing coordinates and geoqueries
- Search "near me" within N km radius
- Map with marker clustering (Leaflet.js or Mapbox GL)
-- Find restaurants within 2 km
SELECT name, ST_Distance(
location::geography,
ST_MakePoint(37.6176, 55.7558)::geography
) AS distance_m
FROM restaurants
WHERE ST_DWithin(
location::geography,
ST_MakePoint(37.6176, 55.7558)::geography,
2000
)
ORDER BY distance_m;
SEO as traffic foundation
Information portal lives on organic traffic. Requirements:
- SSR or SSG (not CSR) — each page renders as HTML
- Breadcrumbs with BreadcrumbList JSON-LD
- HowTo and FAQ schema for information articles
- Internal linking by topic: 3–5 related material links at article end
- Real-time sitemap updates
User-generated content
For portals with UGC (ratings, reviews, additions):
- Moderation (pre-moderation or post-moderation)
- Spam filters (akismet API or self-hosted model)
- Author reputation system
Timeline
MVP (articles, sections, search, SEO, RSS): 6–8 weeks. Portal with directory, geosearch, user reviews and analytics: 3–5 months.