Techniques related to publishable metadata for content management are described that enable selective invocation of new components in a web content management system. Metadata that is published in connection with corresponding content can be configured to include tags or other identifiers that cause a content management system to selectively direct content processing between existing and new components. Switches implemented by the content management system can operate to examine the metadata to determine which processing components are selected for particular content and direct the content to corresponding components. Switches can also be placed in websites to direct page requests from clients to existing or new rendering controls based upon publishable metadata that is associated with a requested page. Thus, the metadata and switches can be employed to perform testing of and load balancing between new and existing components in a live environment.