BHZ changed for the first time in years

[Steve Dorey]

Hi All

I don't know how many of you still use bhz to measure your position in searches.

I'm a bit of a bean-counter so I have measured my different pseudonyms on the 1st of every month since 2007.

(It's a bit sad really)!

Anyway, today I have noticed the first significant change in the position of some of my pseudonyms since 2017.

(Alamy used to update them every 100 days or so).

Has anyone else noticed a change?

 

[Michael Ventura]

5 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

Ditto. I added bhz to the caption of my main pseudo, in addition to supertag, and the image jumped from page 10 to page 1.

 

I agree, my test is over and I have removed bhz from caption as per rules.

 

Mine too! Added it to the caption and went from page 3 to page 1!

[NYCat]

It would be helpful if everyone only put it in supertags. I basically use it to test the effect of putting it in different fields. 

 

Paulette

[meanderingemu]

3 hours ago, NYCat said:

It would be helpful if everyone only put it in supertags. I basically use it to test the effect of putting it in different fields. 

 

Paulette

 

but then we would have missed what seems to a big algorithm change of value of Caption vs ST.  

[NYCat]

54 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

but then we would have missed what seems to a big algorithm change of value of Caption vs ST.  

 

I would have spotted it in a test by using caption only,,, then supertag only... then both. The regular position for me is to have only the supertag. That is not a good test of my overall ranking if some people are using a different configuration.

 

Paulette

[Marianne]

I haven't checked BHZ in years, but my main pseudo (with half of my images) is on page 2 - a file that's never sold though I think it has been zoomed a couple of times. I think the last time I checked a few years ago I was on page 6, so that's good news. Getting more Zooms the past few years, though sales are pretty flat, but hopefully this will help.  With 1,500 images total, I guess being on page 2 is pretty good. But more sales would be better 😎

[Marianne]

I believe that initially Live News photos are only searchable by caption for the first couple of days (I think?), which could account for the weight given to captions?

 

I neither have the time nor the patience to worry about algorithm changes in terms of re-working past photos, though I try to incorporate what I've learned as I upload new work. I use many fewer keywords than when I started out, and am guessing that while this (and the constant growth of the Alamy library) has led to fewer views on my small portfolio, it has seemed to help my CTR. (I also hope that my photos have gotten better with time, though I'm often uploading newly processed old images too (my processing skills have definitely greatly  improved).

 

[M.Chapman]

On 03/05/2022 at 20:34, M.Chapman said:

Mmm... my test image (with BHZ as Supertag only) has moved from page 11 to page 3. I'd like to think that's good news, but I've not noticed an increase in overall views yet... Maybe the change has only just happened? However, I rechecked placements of a coupe of my other images with "real world" searches, and they haven't moved significantly. Not sure what's going on. 

 

Mark

OK, looking back at last week (1st - 7th May) I did see a significant increase in views suggesting the improvement in my BHZ position is perhaps being reflected in more views in customer searches. In 2022 I’ve been averaging 633 views/week with a max of 765 and min of 458. Last week I had 1,512 views in spite of one day being a Bank Holiday. But, I can see that 500 of those views came from searches on a specific location that I have covered extensively, so that has distorted the results. However, even if I take those out, it’s 1,000 views from a week with a Bank Holiday. It’s too early to be certain but it does look like a rerank or some change to the search algorithm may have happened.

 

Is anyone else who saw a significant change in their BHZ position also seeing changes in their number of views?

 

Mark

Edited May 9, 2022 by M.Chapman

[Jansos]

On 02/05/2022 at 14:22, Steve Dorey said:

Hi All

I don't know how many of you still use bhz to measure your position in searches.

I'm a bit of a bean-counter so I have measured my different pseudonyms on the 1st of every month since 2007.

(It's a bit sad really)!

Anyway, today I have noticed the first significant change in the position of some of my pseudonyms since 2017.

(Alamy used to update them every 100 days or so).

Has anyone else noticed a change?

 

I'm coming late to this party! Is the idea that you put BHZ in your tags for your various pseudos and that this helps identify your position and search ranking? I need a BHZ for Dummies!

Edited May 10, 2022 by Jansos
typo

[Ed Rooney]

Hey, John -- I'm a dummy so maybe I can help? Or maybe not.

 

It's been a good while since I looked at DMZ. I see Wim is still in position one on Page One. I seem to have moved from Page One down to Page Two . . . and I have two images there. 

[meanderingemu]

1 hour ago, Jansos said:

I'm coming late to this party! Is the idea that you but BHZ in your tags for your various pseudos and that this helps identify your position and search ranking? I need a BHZ for Dummies!

 

Doesn't have to be various Pseudo, this is just a side validation of BHZ.

 

The goal is to see where a search for BHZ would put your image, and then monitor the movement of the image compared to other over time to see where your ranking evolves.  So it's more a long run tracking indicator. General feeling was that there had been little impact in recent years. 

 

Remember that your own ranking is not the only impact on image position, more on that soon i hope. 

[Gorilla Dave]

6 hours ago, Jansos said:

I'm coming late to this party! Is the idea that you but BHZ in your tags for your various pseudos and that this helps identify your position and search ranking? I need a BHZ for Dummies!

BHZ FOR DUMMIES

 I think you get the general gist of the game.

BHZ was chosen as a random meaningless ‘keyword’ by the person who ‘invented’ the game – can’t remember who that was.
‘BHZ’ were the letters from the reg’ plate of a car once owned by that person.

I seem to remember that Alamy did once chip-in to the discussion about BHZ and at the time seemed to be saying that the method we were using was unlikely to give a clear indication of our individual ranking since other factors were involved.

A lot of people stopped playing the BHZ game round about then I think.

But I guess it remains a sort of vague guide as to how well a pseudo is performing.

I’ve lost track of the precise ‘rules’ of the game – whether BHZ should be in the caption, in the tags, in the supertags or whatever.

It might be an idea to start a new game with clear rules and a new ‘meaningless’ tag so that those who are interested can have a go and see how their pseudos fare.

GD

 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Gorilla Dave
.

[NYCat]

Since the days when we started having "supertags" I think the rule has been to put it only in the supertag but, of course, many people are not doing that. If everyone was consistent the ranking would be more reliable. I use BHZ to test which field is strongest. 

 

Paulette

[geogphotos]

48 minutes ago, Gorilla Dave said:

BHZ FOR DUMMIES

 I think you get the general gist of the game.

BHZ was chosen as a random meaningless ‘keyword’ by the person who ‘invented’ the game – can’t remember who that was.

 

 

Tony Collins. 

[DJ Myford]

21 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

 

Is anyone else who saw a significant change in their BHZ position also seeing changes in their number of views?

 

Mark

Yes. My views (rolling total) have been less than half what they used to be, but now they are back over half. Also, having said that I've had no zooms or sales this year, I've now had both. Whether that is cause, effect, or unrelated, I can't say.

[Chexy]

23 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

OK, looking back at last week (1st - 7th May) I did see a significant increase in views suggesting the improvement in my BHZ position is perhaps being reflected in more views in customer searches. In 2022 I’ve been averaging 633 views/week with a max of 765 and min of 458. Last week I had 1,512 views in spite of one day being a Bank Holiday. But, I can see that 500 of those views came from searches on a specific location that I have covered extensively, so that has distorted the results. However, even if I take those out, it’s 1,000 views from a week with a Bank Holiday. It’s too early to be certain but it does look like a rerank or some change to the search algorithm may have happened.

 

Is anyone else who saw a significant change in their BHZ position also seeing changes in their number of views?

 

Mark

As I mentioned earlier in this thread my views and 'sales' are way down since the search engine algorithm changed at the end of last month. This 'demotion' comes after 3 months of record 'sales' for myself. 

 

Hopefully Alamy has diagnostics in place to evaluate the costs and benefits of the changes. It is early days but I see no incentive to continue uploading if my current rate of returns continues. I don't have to worry about slipping to 20% royalty anytime soon but I was not happy with the change to 40%. Regular 'sales' at least made that adjustment more palatable. 

[geogphotos]

There seems to be an assumption that Alamy wants to reward those who are doing well. But consider the opposite that Alamy wants to encourage those who feel that they are not doing well. By pulling those two potentially opposing forces  into the middle Alamy ends up maintaining the maximum number of active contributors.

 

BHZ is not worth playing in my opinion - too many variables and combinations of factors.  Alamy have made that absolutely clear.

Edited May 10, 2022 by geogphotos

[John Mitchell]

Don't know if this is BHZ-related, but my CTR graph has taken a serious trip south this month. Only four zooms reported as well. Not panicking, though, as this has happened before, and the patient has made a full recovery. 👨‍⚕️

[Reimar]

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

Don't know if this is BHZ-related, but my CTR graph has taken a serious trip south this month. Only four zooms reported as well. Not panicking, though, as this has happened before, and the patient has made a full recovery. 👨‍⚕️

Yeah, mine too.  The last three months have been: 0.59, 0.54, 0.41, and so far this month 0.24

My CTR has never been great, and I don't watch or worry about it.

[meanderingemu]

1 hour ago, Reimar said:

Yeah, mine too.  The last three months have been: 0.59, 0.54, 0.41, and so far this month 0.24

My CTR has never been great, and I don't watch or worry about it.

 

mine has been all over 0.35, 0.73, 0.08 (yikes), 1.17 and  0.91 so far this month

 

 

 

by the way system is having issues this week, 0 zoom total on AoA since Sunday. 

[Ognyan Yosifov]

... and no update yesterday at all ....

[meanderingemu]

Just did a some BHZ test, and will share results.  All image with BHZ as a ST only.  

 

 

mid Page 2.  Recent image that was licenced twice within weeks of being uploaded

mid page 4. 2+ year image, with no zoom, that was licenced through the China distributor boom from last year

end of page 4  images, zero activity,

Page 25!    2+ year, no zoom, no download, based on subject extremely likely to have gotten seen with "false positive" search 

 

 

added: as pointed out by Reimar, the last one has a different Pseudo with as a CTR slightly lower over last year.  I'll test impact of movement.  All other images are same Pseudo/

Edited May 12, 2022 by meanderingemu

[Reimar]

5 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

Just did a some BHZ test, and will share results.  All image with BHZ as a ST only.  

 

 

mid Page 2.  Recent image that was licenced twice within weeks of being uploaded

mid page 4. 2+ year image, with no zoom, that was licenced through the China distributor boom from last year

end of page 4  images, zero activity,

Page 25!    2+ year, no zoom, no download, based on subject extremely likely to have gotten seen with "false positive" search 

Are you saying each of these images are in the same pseudo?  Then that would indicate ranking follows individual images.   That would be new.

[meanderingemu]

17 minutes ago, Reimar said:

Are you saying each of these images are in the same pseudo?  Then that would indicate ranking follows individual images.   That would be new.

 

let me check

[meanderingemu]

22 minutes ago, Reimar said:

Are you saying each of these images are in the same pseudo?  Then that would indicate ranking follows individual images.   That would be new.

 

i actually don't use pseudo for ranking purposes, and both have similar CTR.  However yes the lowest ranked image has an old Pseudo with is a bit lower, all other in same.  Not sure that explains the variations, but i'll change it to see.  i'll add a note

Edited May 12, 2022 by meanderingemu

[M.Chapman]

On 10/05/2022 at 16:09, geogphotos said:

There seems to be an assumption that Alamy wants to reward those who are doing well. But consider the opposite that Alamy wants to encourage those who feel that they are not doing well. By pulling those two potentially opposing forces  into the middle Alamy ends up maintaining the maximum number of active contributors.

Obviously Alamy can do whatever they want. But it's hardly a sound basis for long term collaboration if a contributor can steadily build a collection of images that are selling well, only to find Alamy then change their rank so that their images are less likely to be seen.... Alamy's lack of transparency on the contributor ranking system has always been a concern for me as it means that they could suddenly change my ranking and hence income, without any consultation or explanation.

 

Mark