The crucial role of metadata in SPO

Metadata is simply data about data or additional data that we can use to describe something in greater detail. In SharePoint, lists and libraries use metadata to describe content. For lists and libraries, the columns of data used to describe an item are metadata. Created, Created By, Modified, and Modified By are out-of-the-box metadata, but we can add any number of additional columns as well. Effective metadata enables better organization, searching, and classification.

While you can search for items and documents by keyword within the content, we are missing out if we don’t take the time to plan effective metadata, which can give you additional ways to organize data and aids in both viewing and searching. Additionally, we can attach extra functionality—such as retention, disposition, classification, and sensitivity—to metadata as well.

Here’s a simple example. Let’s assume your favorite book is stored as...