Search engines evaluate meta tags to help decide a web page's relevance. This information is usually expressed in the form of meta tags. This metadata is often displayed in search results by search engines, meaning its accuracy and details could influence whether or not a user decides to visit a site. The metadata contains descriptions of the page's contents, as well as keywords linked to the content. The use of metadata on web pages can be very important. In addition to document files, metadata is used for: Having the ability to search for a particular element (or elements) of that metadata makes it much easier for someone to locate a specific document. Meta is a prefix that - in most information technology usages - means 'an underlying definition or description.' Metadata summarizes basic information about data, which can make it easier to find, use and reuse particular instances of data.įor example, author, date created, date modified and file size are examples of very basic document file metadata. Warren describes metadata as 'both a universe and DNA.'

In Zen and the Art of Metadata Maintenance, John W.

Often referred to as data that describes other data, metadata is structured reference data that helps to sort and identify attributes of the information it describes.

Metadata viewer online