Overview
Redesigned the content taxonomy and metadata architecture for a global paints and chemicals manufacturer, improving content findability and management across product, solution and market content. Delivered a structured controlled vocabulary, metadata schema, CMS implementation, and governance model for sustained classification quality at scale.
Who This Is For
Global manufacturers, chemicals companies and B2B enterprises with complex product portfolios. This case is most useful if:
- your content is tagged inconsistently, or not at all
- different teams use different terms for the same products
- search, personalisation or AI tools struggle to surface the right content
- your content estate is growing faster than anyone can classify it
The Challenge
The organisation held a large volume of product and solution content across multiple markets and customer segments, but findability was poor. Content was tagged inconsistently or not at all, and different teams used different terminology for the same products and solutions.
The content existed. It simply could not be surfaced: invisible to search, invisible to AI, and invisible to personalisation engines.
Our Approach
We treated findability as a classification problem and worked on it from audit through to governance.
- Taxonomy audit: existing classification, tagging and metadata assessed across product, solution and market content, identifying inconsistencies and findability failures.
- Taxonomy design: a controlled vocabulary and faceted classification aligned to how customers navigate product and solution content.
- Metadata framework: a schema of mandatory and optional fields, controlled values and tagging guidelines for each content type.
- CMS implementation: taxonomy and metadata configured in the CMS, with tagging workflows, quality checks and governance controls.
- Governance model: editorial standards and review cycles to keep classification quality up as the estate grows.
Impact
Customers find the right product. Customers and channel partners locate the right product and solution content accurately and efficiently.
Content AI can use. Structured, tagged product content that AI systems can retrieve, rank and surface reliably.
Personalisation becomes possible. Metadata lets the right product content reach the right audience at the right moment.
One vocabulary across markets. Shared classification standards remove duplicate effort and conflicting terminology across global teams.
Search, personalisation and AI all depend on the same thing: content that says what it is. Taxonomy is the unglamorous work that makes them possible.
Delivered while employed at Making Waves (later NoA Ignite). Any public information referenced here is used for identification and does not imply endorsement.
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