Betty LaRue Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 As far as I'm concerned, if a change gave me the sales, I like it. Although these new sales for me are mostly recently added images, not old stuff dragged up from the depths. My recently added images (last 6 months) do well in the search, usually one or two of a set coming up on the first 3 pages, often the first page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Try a search for 'Nigel Farage' - can anyone explain the first result? Sorry, can't help you with this one. I'm not familiar with Mr. Farage, but he does look a bit stiff (wooden). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 And another thing: has nobody noticed that almost everywhere these pages and pages of illustrations have gone from the front of every result? They were there because they sold very very well. (As you will know if you are a contributor or follower of the have you found threads.) Maybe clients complained that Alamy looked like a clipping service of the 19-fifties? Anyway the tech department did something about it. But with the solution they drove other good sellers down the results as well. I am pretty sure there were other problems they tried to solve. Remember when Creative started that all those studio shots came up first for a search for London ? One of the stated objectives of the latest change was to improve search results. When we look at Washington White House at night and see that clump of US Capitol images, it's clear it has not succeeded completely yet. However we do not know if the overall result benefits. That may very well be the case. My concern is to find out, how I can get my images on the good side of the line (or clump). wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Its een a slow year on Alamy for me, it started for me just after the rerank of December. Fortunately within a couple of months I reckon for my business as a whole I'll be able to say its my best year ever. regards from a sunny Woodstock, Richard Wow, not everybody gets to make it to Woodstock! #greenwithenvy wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 And another thing: has nobody noticed that almost everywhere these pages and pages of illustrations have gone from the front of every result? They were there because they sold very very well. (As you will know if you are a contributor or follower of the have you found threads.) Maybe clients complained that Alamy looked like a clipping service of the 19-fifties? Anyway the tech department did something about it. But with the solution they drove other good sellers down the results as well. I am pretty sure there were other problems they tried to solve. Remember when Creative started that all those studio shots came up first for a search for London ? One of the stated objectives of the latest change was to improve search results. When we look at Washington White House at night and see that clump of US Capitol images, it's clear it has not succeeded completely yet. However we do not know if the overall result benefits. That may very well be the case. My concern is to find out, how I can get my images on the good side of the line (or clump). wim So Wim, are you saying that people who used to sell well are now likely to do badly and vice versa? That certainly seems to be my experience. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSnapper Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 it will be one of the unintended consequences km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 it will be one of the unintended consequences km Oh great. So those of us who helped Alamy get where it is are now being penalised. I guess I'll just have to favour another agency in future. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 And another thing: has nobody noticed that almost everywhere these pages and pages of illustrations have gone from the front of every result? They were there because they sold very very well. (As you will know if you are a contributor or follower of the have you found threads.) Maybe clients complained that Alamy looked like a clipping service of the 19-fifties? Anyway the tech department did something about it. But with the solution they drove other good sellers down the results as well. I am pretty sure there were other problems they tried to solve. Remember when Creative started that all those studio shots came up first for a search for London ? One of the stated objectives of the latest change was to improve search results. When we look at Washington White House at night and see that clump of US Capitol images, it's clear it has not succeeded completely yet. However we do not know if the overall result benefits. That may very well be the case. My concern is to find out, how I can get my images on the good side of the line (or clump). wim So Wim, are you saying that people who used to sell well are now likely to do badly and vice versa? That certainly seems to be my experience. Pearl Not per se, but it is clear that in some searches my better selling pseudo comes in behind the lesser selling pseudo, with the same keywords. Or even behind a pseudo that has not been selling at all for a long time. So there are some factors in the current algorithm that work against my previously best ranked pseudo. Which is still higher ranked on the BHZ scale. (If you listen close enough you will be able to hear someone in Oxfordshire saying: Told You So.) I seem to remember you have a few pseudos yourself, maybe you can test some of this with different images with the same keywords in different pseudos. Maybe some other contributors with more than one pseudo can do the same? Take different images with the same keywords. Put them in different pseudos and see where they land in relation to each other for different searches and see if you can understand or even outsmart the negative side effects of the current algorithm. If you only see positive effects of the current search algorithm: congratulations! What differences do you see now compared with results before April? wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultanpepa Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 My head hurts. I had no idea what a bellwether (I looked it up) was or indeed that I needed one. Now that I know I should have one I've no idea what good it gonna do to have it. Here's me thinking that all I needed to do was submit nice relevant images and Alamy would take care of the rest. No! Now it seems there's a secret algorithm change which results in me seeing less sales which in my book is OK if someone else is making the sale. But are they? If images are being sourced from the depths to sit at the top will that satisfy the needs of buyers? I dunno, it's becoming double double dutch (sorry wim) if there is such a thing. Two aspirins and bed for me I think. Think I'll just cross my fingers for a May sale like I do for every other month. Come what may! (excuse the pun) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 I'm still batting zero for May. Sales have been on the decline this year, but I usually have a few by this point in the month. On a positive note, I'm noticing zooms of images that have never been zoomed before, if that means anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 And another thing: has nobody noticed that almost everywhere these pages and pages of illustrations have gone from the front of every result? They were there because they sold very very well. (As you will know if you are a contributor or follower of the have you found threads.) Maybe clients complained that Alamy looked like a clipping service of the 19-fifties? Anyway the tech department did something about it. But with the solution they drove other good sellers down the results as well. I am pretty sure there were other problems they tried to solve. Remember when Creative started that all those studio shots came up first for a search for London ? One of the stated objectives of the latest change was to improve search results. When we look at Washington White House at night and see that clump of US Capitol images, it's clear it has not succeeded completely yet. However we do not know if the overall result benefits. That may very well be the case. My concern is to find out, how I can get my images on the good side of the line (or clump). wim So Wim, are you saying that people who used to sell well are now likely to do badly and vice versa? That certainly seems to be my experience. Pearl Not per se, but it is clear that in some searches my better selling pseudo comes in behind the lesser selling pseudo, with the same keywords. Or even behind a pseudo that has not been selling at all for a long time. So there are some factors in the current algorithm that work against my previously best ranked pseudo. Which is still higher ranked on the BHZ scale. (If you listen close enough you will be able to hear someone in Oxfordshire saying: Told You So.) I seem to remember you have a few pseudos yourself, maybe you can test some of this with different images with the same keywords in different pseudos. Maybe some other contributors with more than one pseudo can do the same? Take different images with the same keywords. Put them in different pseudos and see where they land in relation to each other for different searches and see if you can understand or even outsmart the negative side effects of the current algorithm. If you only see positive effects of the current search algorithm: congratulations! What differences do you see now compared with results before April? wim Yes Wim, I do have several pseudos of different BHZ rankings and I have been doing lots of testing since we have discussed this elsewhere. However I haven't been able to draw any particular conclusions that help me. An added complication is that more recent images are strongly favoured in the search results. I am travelling at the moment so have limited internet access for doing searches until I return home. I just have to hope for a late surge in sales. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpics Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 One of my pictures recently sold with another agency. Really cracking shot, obviously, ;-), and last night I looked where it was on Alamy. It is with my largest pseudonym that has been in the doledrums for a while. Now, out of 50 pages of images, my picture, the only one I had posted of this location, came up on page 13. I changed it to my best pseudo and this morning I found it on page 1. Result! I'm also worried about the clustering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Clemson Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If there has been a change in the search algorithm it doesn't seem to have made any difference in the murky lower depths of search rankings which I inhabit. My views have remained at a consistent 50 or so per month on 2000+ images since late last year, with below average zooms and sales to boot. If there has been a seismic change in search it seems to me to only affect the upper reaches of rankings and search results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSnapper Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 "If there has been a seismic change in search it seems to me to only affect the upper reaches of rankings and search results." which is where the impact really is being felt... the changes to the algorithm, as they stand, are looking as if they're going to cost me several thousand pounds a year in lost income i'm not overjoyed at the prospect km Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If images are being sourced from the depths to sit at the top will that satisfy the needs of buyers? May not satisfy the needs of buyers, but it should finally satisfy those here (and examples abound) who complain about their images being way back in the depths . . . My conclusions as a result of watching my searches (not BHZ I hasten to add) are a tad more confusing (so far) than Wim and Keith's, but there are certainly some differences. I'm still trying to establish the presumably consistent logic at play here . . . (and I've countered the coward-dummy-spit red arrows handed out to Keith earlier) dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultanpepa Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If images are being sourced from the depths to sit at the top will that satisfy the needs of buyers? May not satisfy the needs of buyers, but it should finally satisfy those here (and examples abound) who complain about their images being way back in the depths . . . My conclusions as a result of watching my searches (not BHZ I hasten to add) are a tad more confusing (so far) than Wim and Keith's, but there are certainly some differences. I'm still trying to establish the presumably consistent logic at play here . . . (and I've countered the coward-dummy-spit red arrows handed out to Keith earlier) dd Just for the record, I have never issued a single red arrow to anyone nor for that matter a green one. I don't agree with them. Each to their own opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Interesting. A few up, a few the same, one or two down, but definitely more mixed-up than the used to be, and probably, because I don't follow them, quite a few more first- and second-pagers than there used to be. No discernible effect on sales yet but the odd possible extra zoom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreign Export Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Firstly not a good month for me Secondly under some of my pseudos my images have moved up the pages on searches The algorithm does seem to produce many inappropriate images on page 1 that aren't relevant to the search term I'm also still puzzled how I could have 12 separate searches in February- by Alamy ref, and none have appeared as a sale ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webby Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 After just one sale this year in March, I've got 4 this month, all >$40. Hoping things are looking up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If images are being sourced from the depths to sit at the top will that satisfy the needs of buyers? May not satisfy the needs of buyers, but it should finally satisfy those here (and examples abound) who complain about their images being way back in the depths . . . My conclusions as a result of watching my searches (not BHZ I hasten to add) are a tad more confusing (so far) than Wim and Keith's, but there are certainly some differences. I'm still trying to establish the presumably consistent logic at play here . . . (and I've countered the coward-dummy-spit red arrows handed out to Keith earlier) dd Just for the record, I have never issued a single red arrow to anyone nor for that matter a green one. I don't agree with them. Each to their own opinion. Doug, never meant for my post to insinuate it was you who did the red-arrow thingy, I just added that sentence as an afterthought, unrelated to the rest. Sorry if that's what you thought, rest assured definitely not my belief or intention. dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultanpepa Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If images are being sourced from the depths to sit at the top will that satisfy the needs of buyers? May not satisfy the needs of buyers, but it should finally satisfy those here (and examples abound) who complain about their images being way back in the depths . . . My conclusions as a result of watching my searches (not BHZ I hasten to add) are a tad more confusing (so far) than Wim and Keith's, but there are certainly some differences. I'm still trying to establish the presumably consistent logic at play here . . . (and I've countered the coward-dummy-spit red arrows handed out to Keith earlier) dd Just for the record, I have never issued a single red arrow to anyone nor for that matter a green one. I don't agree with them. Each to their own opinion. Doug, never meant for my post to insinuate it was you who did the red-arrow thingy, I just added that sentence as an afterthought, unrelated to the rest. Sorry if that's what you thought, rest assured definitely not my belief or intention. dd Not a problem. As I said, it was just to clarify. No harm done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I just checked my sales history, and I've had two months tied for this month in numbers of sales. I only began averaging about 2 sales a month in the last quarter of 2014. I have really concentrated on adding images the past couple of months, so that may have a bearing on my rank. I will say, though, that 2 of this months sales were of older images, for paltry amounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDP Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 If there has been a change in the search algorithm it doesn't seem to have made any difference in the murky lower depths of search rankings which I inhabit. My views have remained at a consistent 50 or so per month on 2000+ images since late last year, with below average zooms and sales to boot. If there has been a seismic change in search it seems to me to only affect the upper reaches of rankings and search results. Alamy have stated in the past that they're constantly updating their algorithm and I presume this was just a further step in that development. There were a couple of fundamental changes but those didn't seem to affect the vast majority of images - although they may have had a serious impact on some contributors who weren't as diligent as they could be over keywording and image annotation. Apart from this, there have always been some anomolies in searches and I think it's just that some people have been looking a lot harder on this occasion. The fact that it wasn't commented on in this forum until Keith Morris's cryptic comments lends some credence to this. On the subject of ongoing development, what I have been told by Alamy (after I discovered that some of my images weren't appearing in searches) was this: "As part of our continual improvements to the search engine, we are looking at ways to change the way we deal with compound search terms (terms made up of more than one word) in the search results. For instance, we want to improve the search results for the UK City of "Leicester" by not showing images for "Leicester Square" in London. We are in the early stages of this project so it’s an evolving work in progress, however we’ve already seen some very positive results. The benefit for you as a photographer is that we hope over the coming weeks and months that your images will stop appearing for searches where they are not relevant Please note: you cannot directly influence the way compound keywords are being dealt with at this stage, keyword with a comprehensive set of relevant terms and our system will do the rest." The images I had problems with were of the Angel of the North sculpture by Antony Gormley. They were old images, all correctly keyworded, but they simply didn't appear in any search for Angel of the North, Antony Gormley or even Angel or Gormley. For some reason, virtually all my keywords were being ignored. I'm sure these weren't the only problem images but they were ones I stumbled upon by chance. Whatever the back room boys are tweaking, it would appear that there are unintended consequences. On doing a bit of testing, I found that the only way I could get an image to appear in a search result was to put "Angel of the North" in quotes. However, this still doesn't explain why single word searches such as Angel and Gormley didn't produce results. Interestingly, there were still thousands of other contributors' images appearing in the searches. The search engine team have now resolved this but haven't yet told me what the problem was. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of faith in the beta testing of software changes at Alamy! Ian D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arno Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I just sold my first this month, for a whopping 1,19 after 30% Alamy commission and 40% distributor commision.WOOHOO!!I think I'm going to use it to buy an umm... wait... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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