Keyword order

[Robert Mullan]

I plan to start uploading to Alamy after an eight-year hiatus. Just a couple of questions: keyword order, is it important? Tools for generating keywords, any use? Different pseudonyms, what is the point of using more than one? Thanks in anticipation.  

[vpics]

I tend to employ different pseudos for thematic purposes. Fashion, arts, theatre etc. Some of my pseudos are general, some are very much restricted. And I should probably get rid of some, too. 

[Robert Mullan]

Geoff, Many thanks for taking the time to reply, the info you shared was most helpful. It's been ages since I uploaded anything to Alamy and, as you'd expect, much has changed. I was, I believe, one of their first contributors when I joined way back in 2001. In those days they were only about a hundred or two of us submitting (no uploads, we 'burned' our stuff to CDs). By 2005 I managed to accumulate nearly $40,000 gross sales - yes, they were the good 'ol days and no mistake. However, after 2006 I was so busy with weddings and commercial work my submissions grew fewer and fewer. Thanks again for the helpful pointers - best of luck with your sales!

[Robert Mullan]

Vpics, Thanks for your reply!

[dov makabaw]

Hi Robert.

 

1) Keyword order - Not important, but proximity to another word is. Getting 2 words next to each other in the correct order can be troublesome though, so if you want 2 words together, put them both together in one tag.

 

2) Never use software or websites to generate keywords. They'll give you a lot of nonsense results and your images may appear in irrelevant search results, getting in the way of others that have gone to the effort to keyword properly and accurately themselves.

 

3) The only point in using different pseudos (which has changed from how it used to be) is for your own organisational purposes. Your pseudos are linked, although Alamy won't say in what way, only that they are. However, no matter the rank of a pseudo you use compared to the rank of another, the image appears in the same position in search results. I can only guess at the reason, which is that our ranking is now per account and not per pseudo like it used to be.

 

Hope this helps,

Geoff.

 

Geoff.

 

 

Hi Geoff

 

Not sure that I understand the implications of what you are saying. I have six pseudos for different categories of images. Using the BHZ search I find my main pseudo on page 3 and the rest on pages 9, 10 and 12. My page 9 was previously on page 5 and my page 12 was previously around page 20. That said, the format I have used explains the change, at least, in part. Therefore not sure that I can see the change attributable to any linking. Am I missing something?

 

dov

[dov makabaw]

 

 

Hi Robert.

 

1) Keyword order - Not important, but proximity to another word is. Getting 2 words next to each other in the correct order can be troublesome though, so if you want 2 words together, put them both together in one tag.

 

2) Never use software or websites to generate keywords. They'll give you a lot of nonsense results and your images may appear in irrelevant search results, getting in the way of others that have gone to the effort to keyword properly and accurately themselves.

 

3) The only point in using different pseudos (which has changed from how it used to be) is for your own organisational purposes. Your pseudos are linked, although Alamy won't say in what way, only that they are. However, no matter the rank of a pseudo you use compared to the rank of another, the image appears in the same position in search results. I can only guess at the reason, which is that our ranking is now per account and not per pseudo like it used to be.

 

Hope this helps,

Geoff.

 

Geoff.

 

 

Hi Geoff

 

Not sure that I understand the implications of what you are saying. I have six pseudos for different categories of images. Using the BHZ search I find my main pseudo on page 3 and the rest on pages 9, 10 and 12. My page 9 was previously on page 5 and my page 12 was previously around page 20. That said, the format I have used explains the change, at least, in part. Therefore not sure that I can see the change attributable to any linking. Am I missing something?

 

dov

 

 

I wish I had all the answers, but unfortunately there are too many oddities with how the search engine has changed in recent months. Since the changes, I have found that all my images in different pseudos for most searches appear on the same page, whether they're in a good or poor performing pseudo. I tried switching pseudos between my best and worst of 2 images with similar tags, yet their position in search results did not change. From memory, I think in one of my tests, it looked like the pseudos were not connected, just like they never used to be. In all the rest of my tests though, it seems like they are. I suspect that our rank is now calculated per account rather than per pseudo, but that's only my own speculation. I cannot explain why your images appear on different pages of a BHZ search, assuming you only have BHZ once as a supertag, and not duplicated or in the caption for some of the images?

 

I wrote to CR recently about this to clear up whether pseudos were connected or not, and this is the relevant part of the response I received....

 

--------------------------

Pseudonyms are linked for some things and aren’t for others but pseudonyms should really only be used to organise your collections into groups that make sense to you.

 

If at any point we want you to use pseudonyms to help our customers we’ll let you know.

 

We are sure you are after a bit more information than this but unfortunately this is all we can provide you with.

--------------------------

 

I have since deleted 2 of my newish pseudos, but kept 3 and I'm unsure how I'm going to use them as yet.

 

Geoff.

 

 

 

Thanks Geoff

 

Interesting. I shall run some more tests on it.

 

dov