Taxonomy

Taxonomy

In a university web ecosystem, content must be grouped logically so visitors can find related information across departments and colleges. Taxonomy is Drupal’s classification system—organized through vocabularies and terms.

You do not need to build taxonomy yourself to edit the site, but understanding tagging explains why correct metadata on News, Events, and People profiles matters for automated listings.

The components of taxonomy

Taxonomy works like a structured folder system with two levels:

Vocabularies

A vocabulary is the category set—it defines what kind of classification you are using. Examples on our sites include:

  • News and event tags

  • Directory department/division

  • Directory discipline

  • Directory classification

Terms

A term is a specific label inside a vocabulary. Inside the Discipline vocabulary you might have Chemistry, Mechanical engineering, History, and Biological sciences.

How taxonomy drives the website

Taxonomy is not only for internal organization—it controls where content appears on the public site.

Automated content aggregation

When you tag a News node with Research, you instruct Views to include that article in feeds that filter on that term. The same story might appear on your department site, a college homepage, and a research landing page—all from one tag.

Facilitating search and filters

Large directories often provide dropdown filters. If a new faculty profile lacks the correct departmental term, it may not appear when a student filters by that department.

Best practices for editors

Apply tags judiciously

Do not tag content with every available term to maximize visibility. Over-tagging clutters feeds and confuses visitors. Use terms that genuinely describe the subject.

Understand fixed vocabularies

Many vocabularies are controlled by administrators to prevent duplicate categories (for example, both “Bio” and “Biology”). Select from the provided list or autocomplete rather than inventing new terms unless your site allows it.

Check tags before publishing

Incorrect tagging can place content on another unit’s pages or hide it from your own. Review taxonomy fields in the sidebar before you save.

Related guides: Views and Content Overview.