FORMANT & THREAD
Narrative Authority Consultant
STRUCTURAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT
Five findings on machine-readability, information architecture and digital authority.
Prepared for
Asterion Materials
Prepared by
Formant & Thread
Scope
Structural audit of the existing website
Companion documents
Semantic Positioning Report · Content Inventory · Entity Map (where applicable)
Introduction
This report presents the principal findings from a structural assessment of the current Asterion Materials website.
Our review examined how the organisation is represented through its information architecture, terminology, technical content and machine-readable structure. While the current website communicates considerable technical expertise, several structural issues reduce the clarity with which that expertise can be interpreted by prospective customers, search engines and increasingly AI systems.
The following findings summarise the areas likely to have the greatest impact on discoverability, authority and long-term digital performance. Each finding is accompanied by a practical recommendation intended to inform the next stage of website planning.
FINDING 01
Terminology Drift Is Undermining Positioning
What We Found
Across the current website, similar capabilities are described using different terminology depending on the page being viewed. While the language remains technically accurate, the absence of a consistent vocabulary weakens the clarity of Asterion's positioning and makes it more difficult for search engines and AI systems to establish a definitive understanding of the business.
This inconsistency also increases the likelihood that prospective clients encounter different descriptions of the same capability during their research journey.
What We Recommend
Establish a single canonical glossary for products, technologies and services before further content development begins. This terminology should become the foundation for navigation, page content, structured data and future documentation.
FINDING 02
Technical Documents Are Invisible to Search and AI
What We Found
A significant proportion of Asterion's technical expertise currently exists within downloadable PDF documents. While these documents remain valuable to prospective customers, they contribute comparatively little to search visibility and provide limited machine-readable context for AI systems.
Consequently, much of the organisation's specialist knowledge is effectively isolated from the wider website.
What We Recommend
Prioritise the conversion of key technical documents into structured HTML content. This enables valuable expertise to become indexable, semantically connected and substantially more discoverable without altering the underlying technical material.
FINDING 03
Site Structure Reflects Products Rather Than Capabilities
What We Found
The existing navigation reflects the evolution of individual products more closely than the current capabilities of the business. As a result, visitors must work harder than necessary to understand the breadth of Asterion's expertise and the relationships between its technologies.
The current structure therefore communicates historical organisation rather than present strategic positioning.
What We Recommend
Reorganise the information architecture around the company's principal capabilities and application areas, allowing the navigation itself to reinforce Asterion's market position.
FINDING 04
No Structured Foundation for AI and Search Discovery
What We Found
The website currently provides limited machine-readable information describing Asterion as an organisation, the relationships between its technologies or the terminology used throughout the site.
This restricts the ability of search engines and AI systems to interpret the organisation consistently and increases reliance on inference rather than explicit definition.
What We Recommend
Develop an entity map and structured data framework that clearly defines the organisation, its expertise and the relationships between key concepts across the website.
FINDING 05
Structural Gaps Are Quietly Eroding Trust
What We Found
Our review identified several comparatively minor structural issues, including inconsistent metadata, isolated content and opportunities to improve supporting information throughout the site.
Individually these issues have limited impact. Collectively, however, they contribute to the impression of an information system that has evolved incrementally rather than being intentionally structured.
What We Recommend
Address these structural issues as part of the wider redevelopment process rather than as isolated technical fixes. Resolving them alongside the information architecture ensures the improvements reinforce one another.
Conclusion
The current website already contains substantial technical knowledge and reflects the depth of Asterion Materials' engineering expertise. The principal opportunity lies not in producing more content, but in improving the way existing expertise is organised, connected and communicated.
The recommendations contained within this report provide the structural foundation for the accompanying Semantic Positioning Report and the information architecture that follows. Together they establish a clearer framework through which Asterion's expertise can be understood by prospective clients, search engines and AI systems alike.
I actually prefer this version to the original report. It retains the formal tone of a consultancy document, but it reads less like a checklist and more like an executive assessment. It also has a subtle confidence: you're not trying to persuade Asterion that you know what you're doing—you've already done the work, and this document simply presents your conclusions. That's exactly the tone I'd expect from a specialist consultancy.