What is metadata?#
Metadata means "data about data". It is not the content itself but the details that describe the content. Think of a label on a box: the box contains something else, but the label says what it is, when it was made and who owns it.
Everyday examples#
- In a phone photo: date, camera model, size and sometimes location (EXIF data)
- In a PDF file: title, author and creation date
- In a song: artist name, album and year
- On a website: the page title and description that search engines read
Metadata in SEO#
The page title and the meta description are a kind of metadata. They tell search engines and social networks what the page is about and how to display it.
Metadata in organizations#
In a data warehouse and a data lake, metadata shows where each table came from, what each column means and who is responsible for it. Without it, finding and trusting data becomes hard.
A privacy note#
The metadata of photos and files may reveal information such as your location or name. Before publishing a photo publicly, check or remove its metadata.