/connected templates

What is Connected Data?

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Connected data is the engine behind connected templates—it’s what allows your site to pull in content dynamically from an external source or structured dataset, rather than adding it directly into the site. Whether you’re using internal collections or external databases, connected data makes it possible to create scalable, automated, and personalized websites without manually editing each section. It’s how you go from building one site at a time to deploying many, fast.


To really understand the value of connected data, it helps to contrast it with regular data. 

Regular data vs. Connected data

Regular Data is static—it lives directly inside the site and must be manually updated in each location where it appears. This works fine for small, one-off websites, but quickly becomes inefficient if you’re managing multiple clients or pages with similar content structures.

The example above shows a basic set up using regular data, where we’re manually updating a text widget. Just click into the widget, type your new content, and it’s saved instantly. This approach is perfect for static content that doesn’t need to be dynamic or reused across the site.

Connected Data, on the other hand, is dynamic. Instead of storing content directly in each widget, you connect them to a centralized data source. That source can be internal (like an internal collection) or external (like Google Sheets, Airtable, or your own database).* Once connected, updates to the data are automatically reflected on the site—no manual edits required.


Unlike regular data, which you edit directly within a widget, connected data must be updated at the source. Because the widget simply “listens” to the data, you can’t edit its content directly. Any change has to happen at the source itself—whether that’s in the Content Library, an external sheet, or a connected system.


This makes connected data a powerful solution for automating updates, scaling content across multiple sites, and delivering personalized experiences with ease.

In this example, we're using connected data—rather than updating the text manually, we're linking the widget to a dynamic content source. Any changes made to the source data will automatically update on the site. This is a key step in making your site reusable and scalable.

*External collections (like Google Sheets and Airtable) are available on Agency plans and above. Connecting to external databases requires a Custom Plan.