What is Metadata?

Metadata elements are pieces of information about an app. Users can find these elements on the app’s product page in the app stores.

The Purpose of Metadata Elements

Metadata elements are marketing tools. Their purpose is to inform users about an app. They explain how it works and how it helps users. Additionally, they show how the app looks.

Categories

Metadata can be categorized by four different dimensions.

Type: Text Elements vs. Visual Elements

It can be either text elements or visual elements. Text elements contain only alphanumeric characters. In contrast, visuals can be static pictures or videos.

Editability: On-Page vs. Off-Page

App owners can manipulate some elements via iTunes Connect dashboard or the Google Play Console. Thus, these elements are called on-page metadata.

Other elements are not editable by the app owner. Instead, the store mechanics or the store’s editorial teams compose these elements. For this reason, app marketers call them off-page metadata.

Visibility for Users

Users can see most metadata in the stores. But some elements are hidden. That means that only the app owner can see them on the store dashboards.

Relevance for App Store Optimization

An essential characteristic of the product pages’ elements is their relevance regarding the sub-goals of App Store Optimization.

The app stores’ algorithm indexes some elements. So if they contain a keyword that users look for in a search query, the algorithm will rank the app in the SERP for this term. These indexed elements impact the app’s visibility.

In contrast, other elements have no impact for the search algorithm. So they do not affect search results. But they help to convince product page visitors to download the app. That means they can contribute to increasing the conversion rate.

Finally, some elements have the potential to affect both visibility and conversion.