Element and attribute nodes are only found in document content. In the following document:

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<vendor type="wholesale">
    <name>TriCounty Produce</name>     
</vendor>

vendor and name are element nodes, while type is an attribute node.

Use the element node type to improve queries that test the value of an element node. Use the attribute node type to improve any query that examines an attribute or attribute value.

Metadata nodes are found only in a document's metadata content. These indices improve the performance of querying for documents based on metadata information. If you are declaring a metadata node, you cannot use a path type of edge.