Metadata

What is metadata?

Metadata is information that describes other data. Think of it as "data about data."

Brands use metadata, in the form of labels and tags, to structure detailed information about their locations, hours, products, services, images, videos, FAQs, and more. But metadata isn't just a technical, behind-the-scenes detail that's nice to have — it's a must-have data layer for discoverability in this new era of search.

Why? Metadata gives the machines that power traditional search engines, AI search, and other third-party platforms the detailed information they need to answer keyword and conversational search queries.

As the shift to AI search continues, and as customers continue to use third-party platforms to search for answers, metadata plays a crucial role in structured discovery, generative answer optimization (GEO), and voice search.

How are structured data, schema, and metadata related?

Structured data is a format (a literal structure) for organizing metadata (descriptive information) in schema markup (a universal language that machines can read and understand).

Imagine you're a multi-location restaurant brand like Caribou Coffee:

You can think of structured data as a map for containing and connecting your brand data. For example, the most competitive brands structure their data in a knowledge graph.

Schema, or schema markup, is the labels that help machines see what's on the map. For example, every coffee shop location should have its own local landing page built in schema markup. The schema on each page might include content thats labelled for machines to read, like CafeOrCoffeeShop or LocalBusiness and image.

Metadata is the information held in the schema and structure. For example, an image tag might contain a descriptive, keyword-rich file name like nitro-pumpkin-latte-omaha.jpg or MenuItem schema with the product name, description, image, and price.

How does metadata impact visibility in search?

Metadata in traditional search and SEO

Well-written metadata has always been a boon for brands looking to rank higher in keyword SERPs and for driving clicks to brand and local landing pages. In traditional search, metadata like meta titles and descriptions signal search engines (like Google) so they can better match keyword queries with keywords in metadata (not just H1s and on-page content).

Metadata for discoverability in AI Search, AEO, and GEO

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), sometimes called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), goes beyond traditional SEO by packaging data so it's easy for AI to find, interpret, and use when answering customer questions. Think of metadata as the connective tissue between your brand and how it's represented — or misrepresented — across platforms. Incomplete or inconsistent metadata means your brand will suffer from lower visibility and struggle to build trust with both AI bots and the customers using them.

As AI platforms reshape how customers discover brands, brands can't expect to drive visibility with links filled with keywords. Brands must use metadata as a way to signal relevance, authority, and trust. Metadata, when combined with schema-rich, structured data, is one of the best tools brands have to control what information customers (and AI models) can see — and trust.

AI search engines and answer engines (like Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and voice assistants) look for clear, structured metadata, question-based content, and clear, focused, direct answers to those questions.

Metadata for discoverability on third-party platforms

Metadata doesn't just power discoverability in search engines. Metadata helps brands raise their profile on other public-facing platforms. This includes marketplaces like Maps, TripAdvisor, and Zocdoc, and video streaming services like YouTube and TikTok.

If you want customers to find your brand's content, products, services, providers, and other descriptive data sets on these platforms — and trust us, you do — clean, complete, consistent metadata (like tags, categories, descriptions, and technical specs) is a must.

Good metadata makes your content more likely to show up in recommendations, filters, and category searches — even if a customer isn't searching for you directly.

The best kind of metadata

The best metadata to help brands outperform the competition and improve discoverability everywhere that customers are searching is built on three principles:

1. Create metadata that's complete and consistent – because AI can't guess to fill in what's missing or correct information that isn't up to date.

2. Structure metadata so it's always AI-readable — because structured formats (like schema markup) and knowledge graph organization fuel smarter results.

3. Automate metadata management to continuously update your metadata — because real-time accuracy drives relevance, and you have to be relevant everywhere customers search.

How can you find places to improve your metadata, so your brand is more discoverable?

Most SEO tools aren't built to help brands get granular visibility into local SEO performance, let alone AEO performance. That's why many brands find it hard to unlock the black box of AI search data and figure out why competitors appear more often than they do in AI or local search.

So how do you find out the answers to questions like:

• How is our brand performing in both traditional and AI search?

• How are individual locations performing?

• How do we compare to the competition?

• How do we stay ahead of sentiment shifts?

• Where are our brand visibility and reputation gaps in direct answers?

• And what do we need to do to improve?

Turn data into action with Yext Scout

Yext Scout gives marketers a clear, actionable view of brand performance at a high level, and location by location across both traditional and AI-driven search platforms like Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

One of the most powerful Scout tools? Scout's Competitor Report shows brands how their locations rank in traditional and AI search — and why. Then, Scout breaks down key visibility drivers, including listings coverage, reviews, posts, and photos, to help marketers take specific action and outperform local competitors. Brands can address everything from metadata improvements to social media content and review management.

See how your brand stacks up against local competitors by analyzing visibility across AI and traditional search. Run a visibility scan with Scout.