John Mitchell Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Lately I've discovered that the keywords of many of my images uploaded a few years ago are a real mess. Consequently, I'm spending much more time reworking keywords and captions than uploading new images. Any thoughts on this? After reaching a certain number of images on sale, is time better spent refining keywords, etc. than uploading new work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Improving keywords? Uploading new pix?? Or spend time on the forum??? Hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kuta Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 If your keyword mess is the kind of stuff that can cause erroneous search hits (or none at all), then I'd go for the re-keywording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Improving keywords? Uploading new pix?? Or spend time on the forum??? Hmmm... Yes, well, that wasn't my question. But thanks for the advice, Sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpole Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I pick a page at random and check keywords and improve where necessary 188 views yesterday which a lot for me though no zooms or reported sales Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 If your keyword mess is the kind of stuff that can cause erroneous search hits (or none at all), then I'd go for the re-keywording. I might have been overstating things a bit when I said "real mess." However, I tend to agree. Given that only a small percentage of images (see recent thread on this topic) of uploaded images actually lease, submitting new images isn't always as productive as reworking ones that are already on sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbertSnapper Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Another option..... upload new of your old ! I have however been going thru my old images and checking keywords, amazing what obvious words were originally left out ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaJ Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I'm certainly no expert, but IMHO, if it's a good sellable image, then I think it makes sense to improve the keywords that may be lacking. You've already invested the time to get it through the original submission and keywording processes, so an additional bit of keyword tweaking seems worth it to increase chance of benefitting from that investment. However - I'm often adding new keywords I find customers are using, but the more images I get, the more time consuming it is. And I'm only at 840! I don't know how those of you with thousands of images manage to take the time to add new keywords to a so many images. So I think I understand your dilemma John. Or perhaps by the time you get 1000s of images in your port, you've already done a lot of additions to most of them? Maria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I constantly rework old images through my results in measures. Looking at what has come up compared to what I think should have come up for a particular search term is a good starting point. A bit of time spent each day (well most) is not too onerous. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 New material comes higher up in searches. For a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynn Palmer Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Does adding and reworking keywords qualify as new material? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Ah, I hadn't thought of that. I had assumed it was based on the date taken, but thinking back to a few of my recent examples, they were taken last summer (yes, that's what a run of bad QC luck does for you) so it must be the upload date. So I think the answer is yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Improving keywords? Uploading new pix?? Or spend time on the forum??? Hmmm... To paraphrase: do we put out the fire, deal with the crazy guy with the axe or sit down and talk about the best choice? As the production arm of this stock agency, we contributors have to find viable subjects, capture them with a savvy eye, polish them up and correct all ills in PP, and write meanings, sensible captions and keywords. We need to do all that. Instead we spend a lot of time discussing how Alamy should run their end of the business. I suspect we all have a second (or third) look at our keywords from time to time; I know I do. If we can improve things, that's good. But personally I never aim at perfection. My target is "very good." I try to be better than "good enough." But . . . should we, or John, be doing do-overs or moving forward. To quote Lord Byron: "Make journeys, attempt them. There's nothing else." Dramatic, eh? Edo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 If your keyword mess is the kind of stuff that can cause erroneous search hits (or none at all), then I'd go for the re-keywording. I might have been overstating things a bit when I said "real mess." However, I tend to agree. Given that only a small percentage of images (see recent thread on this topic) of uploaded images actually lease, submitting new images isn't always as productive as reworking ones that are already on sale. And by the way, John -- how bad could your keywords be if you recently said that you are one of the 500 Alamy best selling contributors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 If your keyword mess is the kind of stuff that can cause erroneous search hits (or none at all), then I'd go for the re-keywording. I might have been overstating things a bit when I said "real mess." However, I tend to agree. Given that only a small percentage of images (see recent thread on this topic) of uploaded images actually lease, submitting new images isn't always as productive as reworking ones that are already on sale. It's probably just me, but the logic of that last sentence totally escapes me. Given that only a small percentage of images actually lease, and given that tens of thousands of images are added daily, and given that new work shows up higher under its own little "new" button, then surely NOT uploading new work will simply, arithmetically, decrease your chances of having images licensed when compared to contributors uploading new material. Of course, if I had thousands of images and none were ever licensed, I'd definitely be looking at the quality of the images, subject matter etc AND the quality of the keywords, but I find it hard to imagine any reasonably experienced contributors would have such "bad" keywords that their time would be "better spent refining keywords, etc. than uploading new work" . . . So my answer to OP's question is NO, with the qualification as above. dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 With the recent changes in the search algorithm some reworking of keywords in older images is a good idea but not at the expense of uploading new images. Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 If your keyword mess is the kind of stuff that can cause erroneous search hits (or none at all), then I'd go for the re-keywording. I might have been overstating things a bit when I said "real mess." However, I tend to agree. Given that only a small percentage of images (see recent thread on this topic) of uploaded images actually lease, submitting new images isn't always as productive as reworking ones that are already on sale. And by the way, John -- how bad could your keywords be if you recently said that you are one of the 500 Alamy best selling contributors? Perhaps not as bad as I think. An image that I thought needed a major keyword and caption overhaul licensed for over $200 yesterday. I guess it's a matter of finding a balance between uploading new material and rejuvenating old images before they slip into total obscurity. Yes, last year I made the "Top 500" list three times. But that, like everything else, was fleeting. BTW, does the "Top 500" honour roll still exist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I ... what was the question? By what jiggery-pokery my I improve revenue? Simple: I submit to another agency who then send it along to here, and up to 100 other places too. There is then no question of changing keywords, or spending a lot of time in trying to climb another half-rung on the ranking ladder. If they have a bad month here, they will almost certainly have a good month in a few other places, and the revenue from one image will be the equivalent to that from a bunch of images subbed directly. So what about those that don't get past an editor? I keep those in reserve to possibly improve on, otherwise I bin them. This system seems so superior to me that I find it hard to believe that others aren't doing the same - well I am sure some are and keeping quiet about it. Alamy gains not only the productive work of individual photographers but that of professional editors too. And it will be one of the main suppliers of that material to the local (UK) market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 With the recent changes in the search algorithm some reworking of keywords in older images is a good idea but not at the expense of uploading new images. Pearl Speaking of "jiggery-pokery," do you have any reworking ideas (in light of the recent changes) to share, Pearl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearl Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 With the recent changes in the search algorithm some reworking of keywords in older images is a good idea but not at the expense of uploading new images. Pearl Speaking of "jiggery-pokery," do you have any reworking ideas (in light of the recent changes) to share, Pearl? I am still trying to work it out myself John Pearl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 With the recent changes in the search algorithm some reworking of keywords in older images is a good idea but not at the expense of uploading new images. Pearl Speaking of "jiggery-pokery," do you have any reworking ideas (in light of the recent changes) to share, Pearl? I am still trying to work it out myself John Pearl Me too. Perhaps we need to find a "jiggery-pokery" expert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin McAbee Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 Sometimes after the fact I remember a keyword that I didn't include, and I know some of my keywords could be updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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