diff --git a/haystack/document_stores/search_engine.py b/haystack/document_stores/search_engine.py
index 6016237ab..878c31a4e 100644
--- a/haystack/document_stores/search_engine.py
+++ b/haystack/document_stores/search_engine.py
@@ -415,31 +415,14 @@ class SearchEngineDocumentStore(KeywordDocumentStore):
         )
         documents_to_index = []
         for doc in document_objects:
-            _doc = {
+            index_message: Dict[str, Any] = {
                 "_op_type": "index" if duplicate_documents == "overwrite" else "create",
                 "_index": index,
-                **doc.to_dict(field_map=self._create_document_field_map()),
-            }  # type: Dict[str, Any]
-
-            # cast embedding type as ES cannot deal with np.array
-            if _doc[self.embedding_field] is not None:
-                if type(_doc[self.embedding_field]) == np.ndarray:
-                    _doc[self.embedding_field] = _doc[self.embedding_field].tolist()
-
-            # rename id for elastic
-            _doc["_id"] = str(_doc.pop("id"))
-
-            # don't index query score and empty fields
-            _ = _doc.pop("score", None)
-            _doc = {k: v for k, v in _doc.items() if v is not None}
-
-            # In order to have a flat structure in elastic + similar behaviour to the other DocumentStores,
-            # we "unnest" all value within "meta"
-            if "meta" in _doc.keys():
-                for k, v in _doc["meta"].items():
-                    _doc[k] = v
-                _doc.pop("meta")
-            documents_to_index.append(_doc)
+                "_id": str(doc.id),
+                # use _source explicitly to avoid conflicts with automatic field detection by ES/OS clients (e.g. "version")
+                "_source": self._get_source(doc, field_map),
+            }
+            documents_to_index.append(index_message)
 
             # Pass batch_size number of documents to bulk
             if len(documents_to_index) % batch_size == 0:
@@ -449,6 +432,27 @@ class SearchEngineDocumentStore(KeywordDocumentStore):
         if documents_to_index:
             self._bulk(documents_to_index, refresh=self.refresh_type, headers=headers)
 
+    def _get_source(self, doc: Document, field_map: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        """Convert a Document object to a dictionary that can be used as the "_source" field in an ES/OS index message."""
+
+        _source: Dict[str, Any] = doc.to_dict(field_map=field_map)
+
+        # cast embedding type as ES/OS cannot deal with np.array
+        if isinstance(_source.get(self.embedding_field), np.ndarray):
+            _source[self.embedding_field] = _source[self.embedding_field].tolist()
+
+        # we already have the id in the index message
+        _source.pop("id", None)
+
+        # don't index query score and empty fields
+        _source.pop("score", None)
+        _source = {k: v for k, v in _source.items() if v is not None}
+
+        # In order to have a flat structure in ES/OS + similar behavior to the other DocumentStores,
+        # we "unnest" all value within "meta"
+        _source.update(_source.pop("meta", None) or {})
+        return _source
+
     def write_labels(
         self,
         labels: Union[List[Label], List[dict]],
@@ -481,24 +485,27 @@ class SearchEngineDocumentStore(KeywordDocumentStore):
         labels_to_index = []
         for label in label_list:
             # create timestamps if not available yet
-            if not label.created_at:  # type: ignore
-                label.created_at = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")  # type: ignore
-            if not label.updated_at:  # type: ignore
-                label.updated_at = label.created_at  # type: ignore
+            if not label.created_at:
+                label.created_at = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
+            if not label.updated_at:
+                label.updated_at = label.created_at
 
-            _label = {
+            index_message: Dict[str, Any] = {
                 "_op_type": "index"
                 if self.duplicate_documents == "overwrite" or label.id in duplicate_ids
-                else "create",  # type: ignore
+                else "create",
                 "_index": index,
-                **label.to_dict(),  # type: ignore
-            }  # type: Dict[str, Any]
+            }
 
-            # rename id for elastic
-            if label.id is not None:  # type: ignore
-                _label["_id"] = str(_label.pop("id"))  # type: ignore
+            _source = label.to_dict()
 
-            labels_to_index.append(_label)
+            # set id for elastic
+            if _source.get("id") is not None:
+                index_message["_id"] = str(_source.pop("id"))
+
+            # use _source explicitly to avoid conflicts with automatic field detection by ES/OS clients (e.g. "version")
+            index_message["_source"] = _source
+            labels_to_index.append(index_message)
 
             # Pass batch_size number of labels to bulk
             if len(labels_to_index) % batch_size == 0:
diff --git a/test/document_stores/test_search_engine.py b/test/document_stores/test_search_engine.py
index 5d8d3fadf..544d23df0 100644
--- a/test/document_stores/test_search_engine.py
+++ b/test/document_stores/test_search_engine.py
@@ -181,6 +181,30 @@ class SearchEngineDocumentStoreTestAbstract:
         mocked_document_store.query_by_embedding_batch([np.array([1, 2, 3])] * 3)
         assert mocked_document_store.client.msearch.call_count == 2
 
+    @pytest.mark.integration
+    def test_document_with_version_metadata(self, ds: SearchEngineDocumentStore):
+        ds.write_documents([{"content": "test", "meta": {"version": "2023.1"}}])
+        documents = ds.get_all_documents()
+        assert documents[0].meta["version"] == "2023.1"
+
+    @pytest.mark.integration
+    def test_label_with_version_metadata(self, ds: SearchEngineDocumentStore):
+        ds.write_labels(
+            [
+                {
+                    "query": "test",
+                    "document": {"content": "test"},
+                    "is_correct_answer": True,
+                    "is_correct_document": True,
+                    "origin": "gold-label",
+                    "meta": {"version": "2023.1"},
+                    "answer": None,
+                }
+            ]
+        )
+        labels = ds.get_all_labels()
+        assert labels[0].meta["version"] == "2023.1"
+
 
 @pytest.mark.document_store
 class TestSearchEngineDocumentStore: