4.2       Benefits of using metadata

Metadata can be used for the purposes of:
                        •     making it easier to find content from among a large number of agents (portals, aggregators,                               search engines)
                        •     allowing aggregators to promote material
                        •     increasing the visibility and awareness of one’s available resources
                        •     allowing potential users to determine the relevance of resources before accessing them
                        •     facilitating production of interoperable services
                        •     improving the visibility of one’s content in search engines such as Google, Google Scholar, Yahoo                                etc.
                        •     increasing web site traffic and business
                        •     exposing resources to new markets allowing intelligent user agents to perform inferences and make better use of resources.

The advantages of using metadata are equally valid for content providers that provide resources free of charge and for providers of commercial and restricted-access content

Exposing metadata can enhance the visibility of content:

Source: http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/perx/advocacy/exposingmetadata.htm