At DrupalSouth Melbourne 2025, Naveen Valecha demonstrated how GovCMS personalisation can be achieved through tools like Custom Meta Tags and Convivial Profiler. These approaches help deliver more relevant content and better citizen experiences while maintaining privacy, accessibility, and compliance with Australian Government standards.
Watch the presentation:
Why personalisation matters for GovCMS
Government websites aren’t just information hubs—they're service portals for citizens from all walks of life. These users come with different needs, goals, and backgrounds.
The challenge? Delivering the right content to the right person at the right time.
Personalisation is the key to meeting this challenge. It allows websites to dynamically adapt and show content that matters most to each visitor. For GovCMS, this means more relevant content, better engagement, and improved user trust.
Understanding meta tags and why they matter
Meta tags are small pieces of HTML code that provide metadata about your webpage. These are essential for:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
- Social media previews
- Improving accessibility
- Enabling personalisation features
The most common meta tags include titles, descriptions, Open Graph tags (used by Facebook and LinkedIn), and, more recently, custom meta tags tailored for personalisation.
The evolution of the Custom Meta module
Originally, Custom Meta was a standalone module. It gave site builders the power to create their own meta tags. However, as needs evolved, so did the module. Today, it lives as Metatag: Custom Tags, a submodule within the Metatag module itself.
Benefits of this integration:
- Easier to manage
- Streamlined for GovCMS
- Enables dynamic metadata based on user interactions
Introducing Convivial Profiler: Privacy-first personalisation
Convivial Profiler is a lightweight JavaScript library that tracks user interactions and builds a user profile, without ever storing Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
Key features:
- Tracks clicks, scrolls, and pages visited
- Stores data locally in the browser
- Complies with privacy and accessibility standards
This privacy-first approach is ideal for government use where compliance is non-negotiable.
Integrating Convivial Profiler with GovCMS
Getting started with Convivial Profiler on GovCMS is straightforward.
- Add the JavaScript library to your theme.
- Configure it to track specific behaviours (e.g. clicks on menu items or page categories).
- Use Convivial Profiler Builder to define personalisation rules and logic.
- Tie it all together with Custom Meta Tags for dynamic content delivery.
Explore it at builder.convivial.io or check out the GovCMS demo site.
Real-world scenarios: What personalisation looks like
Here’s how this setup can improve your site:
- A user who frequently visits “Business Support” pages sees featured content related to grants and licensing.
- Someone browsing environmental policy topics gets custom metadata suggesting relevant articles or events.
- Visitors from a specific region are shown tailored announcements or updates.
It’s all dynamic. It’s all driven by local user behaviour. And it’s all done without tracking personal data.
Implementation considerations
To use these tools effectively:
- Ensure your theme supports JavaScript integration.
- Use Drupal 10 or 11 for compatibility.
- Be mindful of GDPR and WCAG accessibility standards.
- Define your personalisation goals early.
- Test with real users when possible.
The tools are ready—what matters is how we apply them thoughtfully.
Final thoughts: Building smarter GovCMS experiences
Personalisation isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore—it’s a necessity. Citizens expect fast, relevant, and accessible content. With tools like Metatag: Custom Tags and Convivial Profiler, GovCMS teams can start delivering this today.
Let’s make government digital services smarter, more engaging, and more human.
Resources:
- Metatag Module: drupal.org/project/metatag
- Convivial Profiler: GitHub Repo
- Profiler Builder: builder.convivial.io
- Convivial Docs: docs.morpht.com
