Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 (edited) Hi, all. I was just trying to analyse my discoverability ratings. I entered "Vertical Forest Milan" in the search box, which should match seven of my images. I got fifteen pages of results, but as far as I can see not a single one of my own images is in the results. What's going on, and how can I optimise so that my pictures show up? Thanks in advance for any help. Edited September 20, 2023 by Elliott Bignell Stupid mistake in my search terms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 (edited) There's 16 pages of results. Optimise? How does your CTR compare to the Alamy average? And how do your monthly sales figures for your portfolio size compare to other contributors? https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/17021-how-is-your-august/ Once you know how you're doing compared to everyone else and if you think you need to do better, then lots of advice here: https://discussion.alamy.com/forum/18-portfolio-critique/ Edited September 20, 2023 by Steve F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 Yes, sorry, I shot from the hip in posting. I now get 15 pages, but my own images are still not showing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 Update: If I add "Apartment Improvement" to the search, I get ONLY my own seven pictures. If I only add "Apartment", I get three pages without my own shots. Somehow the search is only returning a sub-set of the pictures that match the terms given, but according to what rules? I'm confused! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 (edited) 16 minutes ago, Steve F said: There's 16 pages of results. Optimise? How does your CTR compare to the Alamy average? And how do your monthly sales figures for your size compare to other contributors? https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/17021-how-is-your-august/ Once you know how you're doing compared to everyone else and if you think you need to do better, then lots of advice here: https://discussion.alamy.com/forum/18-portfolio-critique/ I've seen the term "CTR". but I'm not sure where to find it. Any tips? My monthly sales are mostly extremely poor - zero in most months with 17,000+ pics. I may have too many series, but before I invest a lot more work in curation I would like to know where I am going wrong. Edited September 20, 2023 by Elliott Bignell Correcting number Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Steve F said: There's 16 pages of results. Optimise? How does your CTR compare to the Alamy average? And how do your monthly sales figures for your size compare to other contributors? https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/17021-how-is-your-august/ Once you know how you're doing compared to everyone else and if you think you need to do better, then lots of advice here: https://discussion.alamy.com/forum/18-portfolio-critique/ Okay, found it. It's 0.32. Last month CTR on Alamy: 0.56 Edited September 20, 2023 by Elliott Bignell New information 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 Hi Elliott, Have a read of this post. Point 3 is particularly relevant to you, but it's all useful. https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/16969-ill-jump-in-no-matter-what-it-does-to-my-confidence/?do=findComment&comment=344671 Let me know if you have any more questions. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 16 minutes ago, Elliott Bignell said: Update: If I add "Apartment Improvement" to the search, I get ONLY my own seven pictures. If I only add "Apartment", I get three pages without my own shots. Somehow the search is only returning a sub-set of the pictures that match the terms given, but according to what rules? I'm confused! Are you searching from Alamy's home page with no filters applied? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 4 minutes ago, Steve F said: Hi Elliott, Have of this post. Point 3 is particularly relevant to you, but it's all useful. https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/16969-ill-jump-in-no-matter-what-it-does-to-my-confidence/?do=findComment&comment=344671 Let me know if you have any more questions. Steve Thanks. I'd actually already seen that point. The thing is, I didn't think my keywording was excessive. One of those tower pics has 18 keywords, for instance, and I regarded them all as fairly relevant. "Urban" could be a bit generic, for instance, but "Urban Improvement" would be a conceivable search. I'm certainly not putting "blue sky" on every picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 3 minutes ago, Steve F said: Are you searching from Alamy's home page with filters applied? Yes, and no filters as far as I am aware. Just keywords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 14 minutes ago, Steve F said: Hi Elliott, Have of this post. Point 3 is particularly relevant to you, but it's all useful. https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/16969-ill-jump-in-no-matter-what-it-does-to-my-confidence/?do=findComment&comment=344671 Let me know if you have any more questions. Steve Actually, point 2 may be the key. Some of my captions are pretty uninformative, looking in retrospect. I could add more about the location and context. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 Okay, I can work on my captioning. Lots of work, but it's easier when one can see the purpose. What I don't get is why my pictures are not showing up AT ALL when I enter some subsets of their keywords. Going to take a break now. Would appreciate any insights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 Might help to get some advice from other contributors here, but I have started to do more and more keyword stemming. E.g. 'milan sculpture' rather than 'milan' and 'sculpture' as separate keywords. To try and reduce the number of times my images appear in false search results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 5 minutes ago, Elliott Bignell said: Okay, I can work on my captioning. Lots of work, but it's easier when one can see the purpose. What I don't get is why my pictures are not showing up AT ALL when I enter some subsets of their keywords. Going to take a break now. Would appreciate any insights. Are you logged in to Alamy when you search? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 5 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said: Are you logged in to Alamy when you search? Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 2 minutes ago, Elliott Bignell said: Okay, I can work on my captioning. Lots of work, but it's easier when one can see the purpose. What I don't get is why my pictures are not showing up AT ALL when I enter some subsets of their keywords. Going to take a break now. Would appreciate any insights. Just had a quick look at your portfolio. Building in Milan - Image ID: 2RHWKJK Caption is too short as you have just discovered. Also, Alamy's clients are usually searching for specific things. E.g. a particular bird species in a particular location. Or a particular building in Milan. The above referenced image is probably going to be right at the bottom of any client search. You need to Google / research your images if you want to improve saleability. If you want advice on the technical quality of your photos, captions and keywords, then you can ask for a general portfolio review. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted September 20, 2023 Share Posted September 20, 2023 3 minutes ago, Elliott Bignell said: Yes. Thanks, yes I checked for myself, makes no difference. I get 1545 for "vertical forest Milan" and although I haven't waded through 15 pages if I filter that search result for contributor "Elliott Bignell" then your seven come up so I'm thinking that they must be amongst those 15 pages. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Bignell Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 8 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said: Thanks, yes I checked for myself, makes no difference. I get 1545 for "vertical forest Milan" and although I haven't waded through 15 pages if I filter that search result for contributor "Elliott Bignell" then your seven come up so I'm thinking that they must be amongst those 15 pages. You're right. Some photographer, I. Sorry. I need to learn to use the platform more effectively, apparently. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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