Metadata is a combination of two words – ‘meta’ meaning ‘about’ or ‘describing’, and ‘data’ meaning ‘information’. When the two are put together, they can be thought of as ‘data about data’.
In marketing, metadata is the information that describes the characteristics of digital files. It helps to make sense of information that exists in various formats and helps to make it easily accessible. It is also used to organise data and to simplify the process of finding information that is relevant to the user.
Metadata helps to organise content more effectively and make it easily searchable, so it is an important tool in marketing. It helps to categorise and filter data, making it easier for search engine algorithms to find the content people are searching for. It also serves to provide additional context or information about content, making it easier for readers to understand the content and determine if it is relevant to their needs.
Metadata can be organised in a variety of ways and structured according to predetermined conventions or standards. Some of the most common ways to structure metadata are to use a taxonomy to categorise content, tagging, and creation of custom metadata fields.
Taxonomies generally refer to how content is organised into categories and subcategories. Tags are custom labels that can be used to further clarify and describe the content, and custom metadata fields are custom data fields that can be used to store additional information about content.
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Metadata is also used to add search engine optimisation (SEO) value to content. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as by including relevant keywords in the title and description tags and also in the content itself. This allows the content to be more easily found by search engines and increases its ranking in organic search engine results.
It is important to ensure that the metadata is accurate, effective, and up to date, as it will affect how easily the content is found and whether it is relevant to the user. Unstructured or inaccurate metadata can result in a poor user experience, which is something that should be avoided.
Best practices when creating and editing metadata include following established conventions, such as using a standard structure for metadata fields; using consistent and accurate data and terminology; and performing quality control to ensure that all data is accurate and up to date.
It is also recommended to use automated tools to facilitate the creation and editing of metadata. These tools can help to ensure that the right data is included and can also be used to automate the tagging process.