A system and method for augmenting digital material with MPEG-7 content descriptions to enhance searching and selection of the digital material. Pursuant to the collection of content information about the digital material, either through receipt or content characterization, a set of MPEG-7 descriptor schemes and descriptors are created for constituent elements of the content. The MPEG-7 descriptions are structured as META tags, including predetermined opening and closing delimiters, which are inserted within the header field of the digital material. The MPEG-7 content description data may contain multiple content levels describing levels of associated embedded content. By way of example, use of MPEG-7 content descriptions within a web site (or internet transaction session) can improve the speed and accuracy of content selection.