How Can Metadata Help You Find Specific Data

Metadata is an effective automation tool that simplifies processing large amounts of information. According to Gartner, using it correctly can save up to 70% of time spent on routine mechanical work, giving you more time for creativity and critical decision-making.

Unlike artificial intelligence and augmented analytics, you can apply metadata here and now, without drastically changing business processes and significantly increasing the cost of maintaining your IT infrastructure. In this article, we'll explain how can metadata help you find specific data, what are the most common types of metadata, and in what scenarios you can use it. 

How Metadata Helps to Find Specific Data

Metadata is a structured, generalized description of certain information. Simply put, it's data about other data. It sounds complicated, but it's actually much simpler than it seems. Let's take the following image as an example and try to describe it briefly.

It's a photo of a single yellow banana on a uniform pink background that casts a long shadow due to bright artificial lighting. By composing this simple sentence, we got the following metadata about graphic content:

• File type — photo;
• Colors — yellow, pink;
• Number of objects in the image — one;
• background type — uniform;
• Lighting — artificial bright. 

Using this information, we can quickly select all photos among the files, separating them from images drawn in graphic editors. If you go further, you can find all the photos with yellow objects or pink backgrounds. Searching by metadata will take seconds as opposed to minutes of manually browsing files on a computer. This will help you save lots of time when, for example, selecting content for your website.

The funny part is how little space this actually takes. The metadata added here is about 150 bytes — roughly 1% of a typical digital photo. That’s basically nothing. But it changes the experience completely: the library goes from “scroll and guess” to “search and find.” So yes, storage use goes up a tiny bit — and the payoff is that retrieval can get dramatically faster.

Ways Metadata Improves Data Accessibility

1. Categorization

Metadata helps to categorize information into specific groups: by file type, purpose, format, or source. Such categorization allows you to create metadata filters to automatically distribute data between company departments within one digital storage, for instance, as well as between individual specialists or applications. This routing system increases the speed of data movement in flows, reducing unproductive time. 

2. Standardization

To simplify the exchange of information on a global scale, large companies and international organizations have created metadata standards. They contain specific rules for describing content. For example, metadata for a video can describe its content, duration, encoding method, and data about the date of the last modification. Standardization makes it possible to establish connections between databases, applications, cloud storage, etc.  

3. Relationship

Metadata describes how different sources of information are related to each other. It can refer to other arrays, storages, or services. Metadata allows you to build a pattern of relationship between all databases to simplify search, analysis, and data editing. 

4. Data lineage

Metadata often contains the entire history of information. It begins with the origin — the date of creation, source of receipt, original content, etc. It also includes information about when, by whom, and to what extent the data was changed. Sometimes, metadata also includes the history of information use, such as the date, unique device identifier, employee position, etc. This allows you to select relevant data, check its reliability, and detect intentional distortions in time. 

5. Search and visibility

Some applications can index metadata and use it to quickly provide links to complete sets of information. An example of this can be a well-known search engine like Google, which selects sites by relevance using keywords, backlinks, and other elements.  

With the help of a digital asset management (DAM) system, you can easily find the information you need using metadata.

6. Access and Security

Metadata can also set rules for access to the information within one software or file storage, allowing or prohibiting its disclosure to certain user groups. On the one hand, metadata helps to maintain the confidentiality of sensitive data, providing access only for authorized users. On the other hand, company employees can quickly find information available in their workplace or structural unit. 

Different Types of Metadata to Improve Information Retrieval

Metadata only helps if it’s not random. Different fields answer different questions — and once that’s clear, it’s easier to set up metadata in a way that supports real workflows.

1. Descriptive

Provides data about the content and the context of its use. Popular descriptive metadata includes title, summary, keywords, and information about the author and current owner. By viewing it, users can understand how they can apply certain data sets in their work. 

For instance, the title of an image may contain the keywords "advertising poster for stores." It provides the following information:

• Purpose — for printing;
• Responsible department — marketing;
• Place of use — in company's stores. 

2. Structural

Establishes the relationships between individual elements or data sets. It usually refers to the order in which individual modules are assembled into a finished product or their hierarchy. However, structural metadata can also contain links to arrays that include related information. 

For example, a designer created an infographic in ten parts for a future video. In the metadata, they specified the order in which each image would be used during editing. This will reduce the number of requests between company departments and help avoid critical errors. 

3. Administrative

Used for data management. This is the “paper trail” metadata. Who created the file, when it was created, what version it is, who can view it, who can edit it. It’s the stuff that makes collaboration possible without constant “is this the latest?” messages.

It’s also what helps people quickly judge whether they can even use a file. Finding an asset is one thing. Having permission to access or share it is another.

Let’s imagine that the seventh round of edits to a podcast received a low rating from the focus group. The person in charge decided to upload the previous version to the Internet. To do this, the manager needs to find the sixth version of the audio file in the cloud storage using administrative metadata. 

4. Technical

Allows you to assess the requirements for using information. Technical metadata is about the file as a file: format, encoding, size, where it’s stored, plus media-specific details. For video it could be frame rate. For photos — resolution, camera settings, focal length. For audio — bitrate, and so on.

A practical example: a high-res RAW photo might be 60–70 MB. If a platform only accepts uploads up to 50 MB, something has to happen — either the file is stored somewhere else, or it gets converted, or it’s blocked. If the system checks technical metadata up front, it can route the file correctly instead of letting people upload blindly and lose the original later.

5. Quality

Displays the reliability of information and its value for use in certain scenarios. This is the “can this be trusted?” layer. Quality metadata helps signal how reliable and usable the information is: is it current, complete, accurate, and relevant.

Think about spreadsheets: if a report was modified yesterday by someone else, that’s a cue to re-check numbers before using them in a decision. Or if customer data was typed in manually instead of coming from a CRM, it’s a hint that mistakes might be hiding there. Quality metadata doesn’t prove anything — but it gives people warning signs.

6. Data provenance

Demonstrates the changes that have occurred to the information from the beginning until the current moment. It contains the date and time of creation of the digital asset, as well as history of its transformation and updating. This section of metadata is very important in terms of data integrity and reliability. 

When an analyst sees that a spreadsheet has been recently modified by another employee, this serves as a signal for additional data verification. If customer information was filled in manually and not retrieved from the CRM, it may indicate that the data is distorted. 

7. Data usage

Shows all episodes of data use since its creation. From this section, you can find out who accessed certain data, when, and by what means. Metadata also often contains permissions and prohibitions for certain groups of users. 

When a manager wants to optimize image processing before uploading them to a website, they learn that designers prefer to use application A, while alternative solution B is faster, from metadata By changing the standard protocol, they increase the department's productivity. 

Why Metadata Is Important for Efficient Data Discovery

Here’s how this plays out in real life.

Example 1: Searching for Images to Use in Ad Campaign

The company has tens of thousands of photos that demonstrate all the products in its catalog. From them, you need to select those that show 1200W computer power supplies.

In such a scenario, it's wise to use a digital asset management system like Pics.io. It will help you organize your files and significantly increase your work efficiency. You can use different types of metadata as follows:

Descriptive metadata is what gets the team to the right assets quickly. Searching “PSU” + “1200W” pulls up the right product content. Adding tags like “over 1000W” or “for RTX 4090” helps narrow it down without manually opening twenty files.

Then structural metadata keeps the work from falling apart after the search is done. Notes can be added for the marketing manager. Assets can be linked to a specific campaign. The “why this image matters” context stays attached to the file instead of living in someone’s chat history.

And there’s one more piece people forget: confidence in the data. If a file has been edited many times, there’s always a chance something drifted — a spec changed, a label became outdated, an old version got reused. Metadata that shows ownership, version, and edit history makes it easier to catch that before the wrong asset goes live.

Administrative. Another way to make your search easier is to find photos that were saved in a specific company department and are available to its employees. Metadata will help you select files by author and usage rights. 

Technical. Only Full HD pictures (1920x1080) will be used in the ad campaign. The digital asset management system will help you set a filter by resolution. 

Qualitative. Specialists who shot the photos leave notes on their quality. You can only select files that have a 5/5 rating. 

About data origin. Only photos that have been pre-processed, including color correction and noise removal, are suitable for editing. So, you won't be interested in the first versions of the files. 

About data use. Metadata shows you that these photos are usually uploaded to a website for publication in product cards. Such materials are also suitable for promotions. 

Example 2: Determining Interest Rate on a Loan

A bank manager has to service VIP clients who receive personalized loan terms. By raising the loan rate, they can expect a bonus at the end of the period but risk receiving a refusal from a client. The employee's task is to find the "golden mean." For this purpose, digital asset management systems or other applications can be used. To make this process more efficient and reduce errors, leveraging RPA in lending can help the bank manager track client interactions, monitor loan terms, and optimize decision-making for each VIP client. Metadata is used as follows:

• Descriptive. Search by the name of the client's company will allow you to get their complete dossier, especially useful when evaluating whether the client may later apply for a loan with revised terms. 
• Structural. By studying this section, you can see all related documents, such as financial reports and details regarding loans provided to the client. 
• Administrative. This metadata will help you identify materials that contain essential data and are available only to people in charge. 
• Technical. If a manager is interested in numbers, they should look for spreadsheets in XLSX format, ignoring constituent documents in PDF. 
• Qualitative. After compiling a list of reports, it will be useful to review comments — some of them may have been withdrawn due to errors. 
• About data origin. It is very important to know that the information is true. If it has been edited many times, some values may be accidentally or intentionally distorted. 
• About data use. The manager can see that the financial analysis department uses the documents most often — these materials fall within their area of interest.

Conclusion

By understanding the role of metadata, you can facilitate search for information and save time spent on finding the necessary files and information. To use metadata effectively, you will need appropriate software solutions. One of them can be a digital asset management system like Pics.io. It allows you to categorize and sort multiple files, set up sharing rules, and add custom tags among others.

Did you enjoy this article? Give Pics.io a try — or book a demo with us, and we'll be happy to answer any of your questions.