How Long Till Images are Indexed?

[Kent Johnson]

Hi forum users. I'm new to alamy and have my first tranche of images approved. I notice some images seem to be searchable quite quickly, and others don't seem to show in search. Even with a direct string search eg - searching for the exact caption. Is anyone aware of the time it takes for approved and tagged images to show up for sale (some of mine there is only one page so they should be there..)

 

Also I am wondering if after updating image tags the picture is pulled for reassessment; then relaunched for sale? As I say, I'm knew here and i'm trying to judge the efficacy of my captions and keywording but there seems to be little information about how long it takes the pictures to propagate the stock library.

 

Thanks for any information you might have. 

[Kent Johnson]

1 hour ago, Sally R said:

Hi Kent, I find it usually takes about 24 hours approximately before they appear on sale. I think it can be up to 48 hours sometimes. I do not know whether the images get any additional assessment after captions and keywording. There will be people here with much more experience than me who may know about this.

 

But I think in contrast to some microstock sites, Alamy relies on contributors being more responsible for everything in the process, from ensuring the image quality is up to scratch to making sure keywords are accurate. I know with a microstock site that gets you to keyword beforehand, the system picks up spelling mistakes and also that reviewers can reject an image for captions or keywords considered inaccurate. I think here on Alamy the onus is more on the photographer to ensure that what they are doing is correct from the outset.

 

Hi Sally, thank you, that information if very useful. I must say I'm quite unused t all the waiting one must do here but I think it is good for me. I need to be very organised so as not to waste time. Thanks for your reply. Kent.

[DJ Myford]

Make sure you have completed all the mandatory fields, including IIRC an absolute minimum of five tags. The image will not go on sale if you supply less information. Check the images that are not showing: Alamy's Image Manager makes it easy to accidentally have more than one image selected at a time, and you may have inadvertently failed to supply all the required info.

[Avpics]

The database usually updates overnight UK time, but often takes much of the following day, again, UK time. There was a day this week - I think Wednesday - when it didn't complete until early evening so pretty much two days especially if you're in another time zone.

[Kent Johnson]

12 minutes ago, DJ Myford said:

Make sure you have completed all the mandatory fields, including IIRC an absolute minimum of five tags. The image will not go on sale if you supply less information. Check the images that are not showing: Alamy's Image Manager makes it easy to accidentally have more than one image selected at a time, and you may have inadvertently failed to supply all the required info.

 

4 minutes ago, Avpics said:

The database usually updates overnight UK time, but often takes much of the following day, again, UK time. There was a day this week - I think Wednesday - when it didn't complete until early evening so pretty much two days especially if you're in another time zone.

Thank you, I have all my pictures Green bar now 40+ tags and all the other info supplied. Had some tags and captions already on at upload but took me two days to complete! Some pictures live, most seem to be going page one for relevant search - just hope someones searching! I did notice late in the day there is a note in the tagging area that says changes to meta data could take 24 to 48 hours to show. Thanks for the feedback.

[Avpics]

A quick check is to click on the blue number under your name here on the forum which currently reads as 65. That will bring up all of your images which are currently 'live'. For some reason they aren't always in the same order as your images in AIM, but you should be able to see your latest ones on the first page. If there are any missing then they are images waiting for a database update.Do it again later in the day or the following day and then they should appear.

[spacecadet]

There's no further "assessment" after QC. As you're 11 hours ahead, the update will probably occur during your working day, so images that you're working on may well appear trickle onto sale as you annotate them.

[Kent Johnson]

6 minutes ago, Avpics said:

A quick check is to click on the blue number under your name here on the forum which currently reads as 65. That will bring up all of your images which are currently 'live'. For some reason they aren't always in the same order as your images in AIM, but you should be able to see your latest ones on the first page. If there are any missing then they are images waiting for a database update.Do it again later in the day or the following day and then they should appear.

65 is correct - another 40 hopefully coming through tomorrow; collating and editing this end, and trying not to forget to check for sky spots. I like a bit of camera shake too; so have to be careful to avoid that! Cheers.