Metadata is the backbone of your DAM. Regular assessment of metadata is important to determine if it serves your users well or damages your searches.
Examine your metadata structure and ask the following questions:
Who are the users and what data is relevant to them?
How do various users search for assets? What terms do they use? Which features do they use, for example, quick search, dashboard messages, or categories?
How do users interact with DAM assets?
What content do they need to find?
Are there other systems integrated with the DAM that require specific data? Is there an opportunity to improve data consistency across systems?
Auditing metadata
A metadata audit must start with gathering user input on what information is most helpful for them to find the assets they need. As taxonomies change and evolve over time, your metadata may lag behind, and may not be current with the expectations of your end users. This section provides ways that you can do an audit of your metadata.
You can access this information in a number of ways:
Do a poll of your users to find out what keywords/search terms they utilize most.
Create a scavenger hunt within the DAM using only a thumbnail of your target asset and then ask your users after the exercise, “What terms did you search for to find that asset?”
Run a PDF export of some of your assets and ask users how they might search for them.
Use Insights to create reports of the most commonly used search terms and search terms that were used that returned zero results. For example, you can filter the reports by User Role to understand user-specific search habits. This could provide insight into gaps in your metadata.
Top search terms Insights report configuration
Use the following steps to configure an Insight report that displays top search terms:
In Report type, select the report type, Searches.
In Date range, select a date range.
For example, Last 12 months.
In Filters, select none.
In Group by, select Search terms.
In Chart type, select the type of chart in which you want to view the results.
For example, Bar.
In Showing, select the number of results that you want to view.
For example, Top 10.
The following is the example report that displays top 10 search terms based on your configuration:
Zero-results search terms
Use the following steps to configure an Insight report that displays zero-results search terms.
In Report type, select the report type, Searches.
In Date range, select a date range.
For example, Last 90 days.
In Filters, select Search result count = 0.
In Group by, select Search terms.
In Chart type, select the type of chart in which you want to view the results.
For example, Bar.
In Showing, select the number of results that you want to view.
For example, All.
The following is the example report that displays all search terms based on your configuration:
This exercise provides an overview of the metadata requirements of your users and other systems. Examine the metadata types to see how closely the current structure aligns with those requirements.
Metadata types
Metadata types are how you group and apply metadata fields to assets. They allow a DAM admin to apply metadata fields that are relevant, and exclude fields that may not contain data that is utilized by the asset. However, an overuse of Metadata Types can cause issues at scale and can be cumbersome to maintain.
Acquia recommends that your metadata types serve specific functional purposes. Avoid the use of new, separate metadata types for the sake of organization, as this is not best practice. A functional metadata type should not be used to signify that there are assets of a different type. Functional metadata types are composed mostly of different metadata fields that do not exist in other metadata types. Consider the following questions to identify ways that you might simplify your metadata types:
Is there a strong use case that drives the need for multiple metadata types?
Do these metadata types contain mostly the same, duplicate fields?
Can metadata field dependencies hide the irrelevant metadata fields within existing metadata types without a separate metadata type?
Most customers only use one to three metadata types. Multiple metadata types work well when you have assets that are very different from each other. For example, if your company sells televisions and also sells shoes, the metadata to describe those two products would be very different.
Each asset can only have one metadata type applied; you cannot use multiple metadata types on a single asset.
Metadata fields
Examine the assessment of what your end users expect, as well as what outside systems require. Compare your findings to what you currently provide in the DAM.
To receive an export of controlled metadata fields and the assets tagged with those fields, contact your Acquia account team to learn about a DAM Site Audit service.
Copy and paste the values from your open text fields into the first column of the Remove Duplicates from Keywords spreadsheet.
Column C displays all of the keywords that uploaders and editors have used to tag assets.
In your asset export file, use spreadsheet filters to identify which fields are being filled out and which fields are ignored.
Combine all of these values into a single table for a comprehensive view of your metadata values.
Assess the values to determine if they meet the needs of your users and integrations. Some questions to consider:
Do current metadata values match up with your needs?
Can these new values fit into a current metadata field or is a new field required to house this information?
If there are gaps in your data, are these gaps something that can be tagged accurately and consistently?
Metadata field best practices
Whenever possible, use controlled metadata fields (dropdown, checkbox, or palette) instead of a text box. This reduces spelling errors and tagging inconsistencies.
Consider replacing text fields with manually applied keyword tags to provide users a familiar tagging experience and improve metadata consistency. Use the keyword data from your All asset export for information about which tags you need to create. For more information, visit How do I use keyword tags?.
Most users do not fill in more than 10 fields on an asset or upload profile. If possible, use dependent fields and remove unnecessary fields.
Categories
Categories can be used as an organizational tool to provide an additional level of navigation and organization. Categories should not be used to duplicate metadata.
Here are some best practices to consider when you evaluate categories:
You only need enough parent categories to provide a starting point for your users to search.
Use controlled vocabulary fields in combination with asset categories to allow users to start with a category search and then refine the results with custom metadata filters.
Assign assets to parent categories that correlate to the unique traits of each asset, then use metadata for the attributes that can be applied to multiple assets regardless of their category.
If the majority of your users come from an internal network shared drive or other system that uses a folder structure, you can use the same or similar structure to ease the transition and build adoption.
Do not create overlaps of asset categories and metadata fields. Acquia recommends that you use controlled vocabulary fields to avoid redundancy.
Organize asset categories alphabetically or in order of importance.
Tagging metadata
This section provides information about the options for automating metadata tagging. Consider the following questions and use the linked resources for full instructions on each method:
Is this metadata consistently and routinely applied to the same asset types? Set up metadata defaults on an upload profile. For more information, visit How do I create upload profiles?.
Can this metadata be imported or extracted from your filename schema? Use the Filename to metadata mapping integration. The integration is included in all DAM subscriptions. For more information, visit What are the metadata import options?.
Does this new metadata cascade from other metadata tags (If A is tagged then B is always tagged)? Consider the Acquia DAM Task Automation integration that automates your repetitive, time-consuming tagging tasks. For more information, visit What is task automation native integration for asset management?.
Could AI effectively capture new metadata values? Turn on and administer the in-app AI Tags, facial recognition, and video transcript features. For more information, visit the following:
Use your new metadata configuration
Consider these options to ensure that you follow the best practices:
Create dashboard messages with advanced search URLs or a deep link to saved searches. Use the user search information that you gathered during your metadata audit and your optimized metadata configurations to create role-specific dashboard messages that lead users to the assets they need in three clicks or less. For more information, visit:
Use the refine search configuration page to place your most often used data at the top of the Refine Search section on your search results page. One of the most overlooked search configurations appears near the bottom of the Refine Search admin configuration (Admin > Search Settings > Refine Search). Use the Child Category Ordering and Metadata Ordering configurations to change how the Refine Search fields appear in the user interface. For more information, visit How do I configure the refine search?.
Build dynamic Portal galleries around search terms to auto-populate assets into the portals that you use to share content externally.
Contact Acquia Support to request the addition of critical metadata values to asset thumbnail views. Display the most important metadata values on thumbnails to help users understand how to use the assets returned in their search results.
Asset thumbnail text is currently available only in the DAM’s legacy search results view. Look for the addition of thumbnail text to the modern search experience in the near future. For more information, visit .
Robust and streamlined metadata is the ultimate goal. It should be accurate and relevant, and aid your users or systems connected to the DAM. If you find yourself wondering why a piece of metadata exists, then it is a good time to investigate to identify the group or system that it belongs to and evaluate if it is still relevant.
Metadata, dashboards, and automation for search optimization
Metadata is the backbone of your DAM. Regular assessment of metadata is important to determine if it serves your users well or damages your searches.
Examine your metadata structure and ask the following questions:
Who are the users and what data is relevant to them?
How do various users search for assets? What terms do they use? Which features do they use, for example, quick search, dashboard messages, or categories?
How do users interact with DAM assets?
What content do they need to find?
Are there other systems integrated with the DAM that require specific data? Is there an opportunity to improve data consistency across systems?
Auditing metadata
A metadata audit must start with gathering user input on what information is most helpful for them to find the assets they need. As taxonomies change and evolve over time, your metadata may lag behind, and may not be current with the expectations of your end users. This section provides ways that you can do an audit of your metadata.
You can access this information in a number of ways:
Do a poll of your users to find out what keywords/search terms they utilize most.
Create a scavenger hunt within the DAM using only a thumbnail of your target asset and then ask your users after the exercise, “What terms did you search for to find that asset?”
Run a PDF export of some of your assets and ask users how they might search for them.
Use Insights to create reports of the most commonly used search terms and search terms that were used that returned zero results. For example, you can filter the reports by User Role to understand user-specific search habits. This could provide insight into gaps in your metadata.
Top search terms Insights report configuration
Use the following steps to configure an Insight report that displays top search terms:
In Report type, select the report type, Searches.
In Date range, select a date range.
For example, Last 12 months.
In Filters, select none.
In Group by, select Search terms.
In Chart type, select the type of chart in which you want to view the results.
For example, Bar.
In Showing, select the number of results that you want to view.
For example, Top 10.
The following is the example report that displays top 10 search terms based on your configuration:
Zero-results search terms
Use the following steps to configure an Insight report that displays zero-results search terms.
In Report type, select the report type, Searches.
In Date range, select a date range.
For example, Last 90 days.
In Filters, select Search result count = 0.
In Group by, select Search terms.
In Chart type, select the type of chart in which you want to view the results.
For example, Bar.
In Showing, select the number of results that you want to view.
For example, All.
The following is the example report that displays all search terms based on your configuration:
This exercise provides an overview of the metadata requirements of your users and other systems. Examine the metadata types to see how closely the current structure aligns with those requirements.
Metadata types
Metadata types are how you group and apply metadata fields to assets. They allow a DAM admin to apply metadata fields that are relevant, and exclude fields that may not contain data that is utilized by the asset. However, an overuse of Metadata Types can cause issues at scale and can be cumbersome to maintain.
Acquia recommends that your metadata types serve specific functional purposes. Avoid the use of new, separate metadata types for the sake of organization, as this is not best practice. A functional metadata type should not be used to signify that there are assets of a different type. Functional metadata types are composed mostly of different metadata fields that do not exist in other metadata types. Consider the following questions to identify ways that you might simplify your metadata types:
Is there a strong use case that drives the need for multiple metadata types?
Do these metadata types contain mostly the same, duplicate fields?
Can metadata field dependencies hide the irrelevant metadata fields within existing metadata types without a separate metadata type?
Most customers only use one to three metadata types. Multiple metadata types work well when you have assets that are very different from each other. For example, if your company sells televisions and also sells shoes, the metadata to describe those two products would be very different.
Each asset can only have one metadata type applied; you cannot use multiple metadata types on a single asset.
Metadata fields
Examine the assessment of what your end users expect, as well as what outside systems require. Compare your findings to what you currently provide in the DAM.
To receive an export of controlled metadata fields and the assets tagged with those fields, contact your Acquia account team to learn about a DAM Site Audit service.
Copy and paste the values from your open text fields into the first column of the Remove Duplicates from Keywords spreadsheet.
Column C displays all of the keywords that uploaders and editors have used to tag assets.
In your asset export file, use spreadsheet filters to identify which fields are being filled out and which fields are ignored.
Combine all of these values into a single table for a comprehensive view of your metadata values.
Assess the values to determine if they meet the needs of your users and integrations. Some questions to consider:
Do current metadata values match up with your needs?
Can these new values fit into a current metadata field or is a new field required to house this information?
If there are gaps in your data, are these gaps something that can be tagged accurately and consistently?
Metadata field best practices
Whenever possible, use controlled metadata fields (dropdown, checkbox, or palette) instead of a text box. This reduces spelling errors and tagging inconsistencies.
Consider replacing text fields with manually applied keyword tags to provide users a familiar tagging experience and improve metadata consistency. Use the keyword data from your All asset export for information about which tags you need to create. For more information, visit How do I use keyword tags?.
Most users do not fill in more than 10 fields on an asset or upload profile. If possible, use dependent fields and remove unnecessary fields.
Categories
Categories can be used as an organizational tool to provide an additional level of navigation and organization. Categories should not be used to duplicate metadata.
Here are some best practices to consider when you evaluate categories:
You only need enough parent categories to provide a starting point for your users to search.
Use controlled vocabulary fields in combination with asset categories to allow users to start with a category search and then refine the results with custom metadata filters.
Assign assets to parent categories that correlate to the unique traits of each asset, then use metadata for the attributes that can be applied to multiple assets regardless of their category.
If the majority of your users come from an internal network shared drive or other system that uses a folder structure, you can use the same or similar structure to ease the transition and build adoption.
Do not create overlaps of asset categories and metadata fields. Acquia recommends that you use controlled vocabulary fields to avoid redundancy.
Organize asset categories alphabetically or in order of importance.
Tagging metadata
This section provides information about the options for automating metadata tagging. Consider the following questions and use the linked resources for full instructions on each method:
Is this metadata consistently and routinely applied to the same asset types? Set up metadata defaults on an upload profile. For more information, visit How do I create upload profiles?.
Can this metadata be imported or extracted from your filename schema? Use the Filename to metadata mapping integration. The integration is included in all DAM subscriptions. For more information, visit What are the metadata import options?.
Does this new metadata cascade from other metadata tags (If A is tagged then B is always tagged)? Consider the Acquia DAM Task Automation integration that automates your repetitive, time-consuming tagging tasks. For more information, visit What is task automation native integration for asset management?.
Could AI effectively capture new metadata values? Turn on and administer the in-app AI Tags, facial recognition, and video transcript features. For more information, visit the following:
Use your new metadata configuration
Consider these options to ensure that you follow the best practices:
Create dashboard messages with advanced search URLs or a deep link to saved searches. Use the user search information that you gathered during your metadata audit and your optimized metadata configurations to create role-specific dashboard messages that lead users to the assets they need in three clicks or less. For more information, visit:
Use the refine search configuration page to place your most often used data at the top of the Refine Search section on your search results page. One of the most overlooked search configurations appears near the bottom of the Refine Search admin configuration (Admin > Search Settings > Refine Search). Use the Child Category Ordering and Metadata Ordering configurations to change how the Refine Search fields appear in the user interface. For more information, visit How do I configure the refine search?.
Build dynamic Portal galleries around search terms to auto-populate assets into the portals that you use to share content externally.
Contact Acquia Support to request the addition of critical metadata values to asset thumbnail views. Display the most important metadata values on thumbnails to help users understand how to use the assets returned in their search results.
Asset thumbnail text is currently available only in the DAM’s legacy search results view. Look for the addition of thumbnail text to the modern search experience in the near future. For more information, visit .
Robust and streamlined metadata is the ultimate goal. It should be accurate and relevant, and aid your users or systems connected to the DAM. If you find yourself wondering why a piece of metadata exists, then it is a good time to investigate to identify the group or system that it belongs to and evaluate if it is still relevant.
Assess how your new metadata values can be pulled from upstream systems and pushed to downstream systems. Include this new data in current integrations and new integrations to create a seamless asset lifecycle across your technology.
Did not find what you were looking for?
If this content did not answer your questions, try searching or contacting our support team for further assistance.
Assess how your new metadata values can be pulled from upstream systems and pushed to downstream systems. Include this new data in current integrations and new integrations to create a seamless asset lifecycle across your technology.
Did not find what you were looking for?
If this content did not answer your questions, try searching or contacting our support team for further assistance.
Acquia DAM (Widen)