This article explores foundational best practices and practical tips establishing metadata in AEM Assets. Metadata is crucial for managing digital assets as it makes content searchable, manageable, and reusable by providing context and categorization. It drives search, automation, personalization, and workflow efficiencies in a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system.
Getting started with metadata
In simple terms, metadata is data about your digital assets.
It describes, categorizes, and provides context to make your content searchable, manageable, and reusable. Think of metadata as the label on a physical file folder or the description tag on a video. Without it, content becomes just another file which is lost in the system.
Metadata define properties of a digital asset such as title, created date, creator, copyright information, expiration date, and more.
A previous article touched on folder structures. Folder structures answer “Where is it?” in terms of where the digital asset is stored. Metadata extends that and answers questions like - "What is this asset?" and "Who is it for?" and "Where should it be used?" and "When does it expire?"
In AEM Assets, metadata is not just informational, it's operational as well. It derives search, automation, personalization and various other aspects of running a DAM, and even drives workflow efficiencies. Because it derives search, automation, personalization, various aspects, even workflow efficiency, metadata is pivotal. Saying that metadata is the backbone of structured content, we mean it quite literally. It's what gives content both purpose and power in a scalable ecosystem.
What we really need to find and reuse content is content that is smart, scalable and structured. Applying metadata and a taxonomy aren't just a best practice. They are mandatory - essential to scaling content operations. Without structured metadata and an intelligence system in place, what you get is content chaos.
Metadata gives your content a meaning, a context, and searchability. It is what makes content discoverable.
Metadata categories
Metadata can fall into different categories such as:
- Business metadata - which may include properties such as Campaign Name (e.g. Spring_2025_Collection), Marketing Channel (e.g. Social media, Print, Email), Product ID/SKU (e.g. PROD-56789), Target Audience (e.g. Gen Z, New Parents, Prospects), Call-to-Action (e.g. Learn More, Show now)
- Technical metadata - which may include properties such as Asset Type (e.g. image/jpg, image/png, application/pdf, video/mp4), dimensions (e.g. the height and width of an image in pixels), the file size (e.g. the size in kilobytes or megabytes), resolution (the image's level of detail in pixels per inch), color more/space (e.g. RGB or CMYK), duration (e.g. length in minutes for a video or audio file), codec (the compression/decompression format used)
- Operational metadata - which may include properties such as status (such as In Review, Approved, In Production, Archived), last modified date, last modified by (the user who last modified it), expiration date, copyright, usage rights, intended use (e.g. Campaign A, Promotion B), version
Best practices for metadata
- Assets should always include metadata.
- Tag assets with structured metadata - to both facilitate fast discoverability and also to drive personalized delivery.
- Define a clear content strategy - incorporating metadata, tagging and taxonomy. before uploading assets and releasing them to the organization.
- Determine what metadata should be required - this helps surface the appropriate assets on search (for example, include Title, Description, Language, Geo and other attributes that are meaningful in your organization.)
- Use controlled vocabularies – meaning a list of approved, standardized terms and phrases for describing and organizing information to improve information retrieval – such as using dropdown options rather than a free text box via taxonomy and tagging (see the next article).
- Apply metadata in bulk via CSV import/export to save time - for example, 1,000 product photos can get an updated “launch date” metadata in one bulk upload instead of editing each individually.
- Review your metadata on a scheduled cadence - to ensure that keywords which users are searching on is discoverable, as well as to further classify even older assets, such as when archiving assets.
“Organizations should agree on which metadata fields are optional and which are required. Setting a metadata schema and profile with required fields makes it easier for your authors to find assets.”
- Greg Dimeris, Product Owner, Web Content at T. Rowe Price and AEM Champion
Examples of metadata
Organizing metadata is done through the features of metadata schemas and metadata profiles in AEM Assets.
Not all metadata properties are applicable to all assets, so it makes sense that having a way to define what metadata applies to what types of assets is a helpful construct.
Metadata schemas
A metadata schema defines both the metadata properties and the page layout of the asset Properties page for assets in folders which use that metadata schema. The schemas define the interface where users view and interact with asset metadata in AEM. Metadata schemas can be applied to folders and inherited by subfolders to reduce complexity.
Metadata properties are important because the can also be used as filters in Search to drive content discoverability. If you have two metadata schemas, you can have the specific properties of interest in the search index to be surfaced in Search.
Is it a best practice to create multiple metadata schemas?
It depends on your organization and what type of data you need to store for your assets to make them findable and reusable. Different asset folders of asset file types may require different metadata schemas to support their unique content types or specific metadata properties that may only be relevant, or required, for certain assets.
Examples
An organization may use one metadata schema for product images that captures fields like Product ID, Color, and Usage Rights. Use another schema for marketing campaign assets that include Campaign Name, Region, and End Date. Use a third schema for corporate documents with fields such as Department, Version, and Approval Date. Each schema is tailored so users only see the metadata that is relevant to their asset type, improving both findability and governance.
“Don’t overcomplicate the metadata and schemas. Keep it simple - try to keep mandatory metadata properties to a minimum, visible on one tab.”
- Deepak Khetawat, Principal Software Engineer at Palo Alto Networks and AEM Champion
Metadata profiles
A metadata profile is powerful. It lets you apply default metadata to all assets within a folder. Different asset folders may require different metadata schemas to support their unique content types or important data to apply to the assets in a folder.
For instance, a folder containing files for a program "Summer Campaign 2025" could have a metadata profile that automatically applies default fields like Campaign = “Summer 2025” and Region = “North America” and Season = “Summer” to every asset uploaded, saving users from entering the same values repeatedly.
What is the main benefit of using Metadata Schemas and Profiles?
Once you create a Metadata Profile and apply it to a folder, any asset that you subsequently upload to the folder inherits the default metadata that was configured in the Metadata Profile.
"If you applied a Metadata Profile after asset(s) were already uploaded to the folder, reprocess the asset(s). This is powerful way to apply updated workflows, metadata, or renditions without reuploading assets. If there are multiple assets that need metadata updates, utilize the import and export metadata features in AEM."
- Melanie Bartlett, Partner Development Director at MRM and AEM Champion
Metadata-driven permissions
Metadata-driven permissions is a feature of AEM as a Cloud service used to allow access control decisions to be based on asset content or metadata properties rather than folder structure. With this capability, you can define access control policies that evaluate attributes such as asset status, type, or any custom property you define. See the Metadata-driven permissions article in the resources section below for more information.
Try it
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Metadata schemas can be applied to folders. They are maintained using the Metadata Form editor. Navigate to Assets > Metadata Forms and then click Create to create a metadata form.
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Metadata profiles can be applied to folders too. To create a metadata profile, navigate to Tools > Assets > Metadata Profiles, and then click Create.
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Use the Assets > Folder editor to assign a metadata schema to a folder
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To edit a specific assets, do one of the following and remember to click Save when done
- Select the asset and click View Properties from the toolbar.
- From the asset thumbnail, select the View Properties quick action.
- From the asset page, click View Properties from the toolbars.
Additional Learning Resources
Learnings for The Adobe Experience Makers: The Skill Exchange sessions
- For a deep dive into create metadata schemas, watch the Smart, Scalable, and Structured: Building a Future-Ready Content Framework by Ritesh Mittal, Lead Architect at IBM and and Adobe AEM Champion and Adobe Community Advisor Captain.
- For a deeper guiding to metadata best practices, watch Taxonomy & Structure: AEM’s Secret to Scalable Asset Management featuring AEM Champions Melanie Bartlett and Katie June.
In addition, the resources below are helpful in establishing metadata, metadata profiles, metadata schemas and metadata-based premissions.
- Understand assets metadata in AEM Assets (video playlist, all versions)
- Manage metadata of your digital assets (AEM as a Cloud Service documentation)
- Metadata concepts and understanding (AEM 6.5 documentation)
- Manage metadata of your digital assets (AEM 6.5 documentation)
- Metadata import and export in Experience Manager Assets (AEM 6.5 and AEM as a Cloud Service documentation)
- Metadata-driven Permissions (AEM as a Cloud Service documentation)
- Tags, taxonomy, and metadata best practices: high-level summary (AEM as a Cloud Service documentation)
What's next?
This article on best practices for metadata is part of a series of articles including foundational guidance, best practices and Adobe Champion tips for getting started with Adobe Experience Manager Assets. To continue in the series, the focus of the next article is taxonomy and tagging.
To explore all articles in this AEM Assets foundational series, see: