MicrostockGroup

I still get this too. 

Success in the stock image industry (by whatever measures) doesn't happen overnight. It takes hard work and dedication over a longer period of time.
Walk this road for 3 or 4 years with consistent new imagery and you'll see what I mean.

You also will always improve your quality and style - things you can't do without.

Most importantly: Use correct keywords. Buyers/researchers are (mostly) not idiots. If they have a concept in mind they also know how it could be visually conceived so they can come up with some keywords on their own. Stupid example is not to use the word "friend" in an image of a dog (although he might be man's best friend...). The buyer would know to look for a dog...

I'd suggest not to mix RF/RM of one subject like you did with the Hoover dam. I'd leave them all RM unless you have the RFs on the Micros.

That's just my opinion and some might suggest otherwise.

If you look at their Quarterly Statement, for the last ten Q's the tendency of RM/RF ratio has been a slight increase of RM over RF from 3:1 to 4:1.  I agree it depends on the buyer and the portfolio, but it is pretty obvious that most Alamy buyers are getting RM images.

http://www.alamy.com/contributors/statements/default.asp

Many things.

Amongst others the buyer can inquire about if the image he (she) wants is being used by somebody else during the time period the buyer wants it.

In RM the buyer pays for the type of use and the time period. Time is an important factor. Many agencies require their RM images to be exclusive anyway.
At Alamy not necessarily. If it comes to commercial RM the buyer is likely to ask about exclusivity even thouh it's not marked exclusive at Alamy.

That's the big advantage of RM that the use of an image can be somewhat controlled or monitored.

Commercial RM also usually involves high cost shoots. Therefore the photographer needs to rake in more $$$ than getting a couple hundred bucks for an RF image. RM images can sell at rates between $2000 to $9000 per use. In some instances the same photo can be used for a campaign where it requires multiple licenses so it can be licensed 2 or 3 times netting several thousands for each license.

Imagine selling the same picture as RF for a one time $200 in your pocket...

But the market is huge and the RM needs go from a spot size newsletter image (netting $12) to exclusive high gloss magazine covers (more than $12   ).

You need to test the waters.

*license prices may vary

Ha, I almost forgot: Take any RM/L image at Alamy and use the price calculator top see how time and usage types affect the pricing!

What do people want the search to do, be psychic? 

If you have the same individual keywords on Micro sites, the images will also show up. Keep in mind that word order and proximity will effect the placement of your images in an Alamy search result. Use the Essential keywords to your advantage. Put keywords that belong together as close as possible and the most important, after the Essential, as first in the Main box.

If two words are in the keywords, they will appear when someone does a search. Considering the above, where they appear in the search can be controlled.

Keep in mind the objections to photographers names being searched, when some people want their names to be searchable. I used the Description for not so important keywords, so they would rank lower, and then people who pasted a thesaurus and encyclopedic descriptions complained because of bad matches, so I had to go and re-keyword over 12000 images. 

The "connected words" and [distinctive phrase] feature for Alamy is not operational at this time. Who knows if it will ever be. I still do names "FName LName" just in case, but what if someone search for D. Snover, instead of Diane Snover, did I just put myself out of a match? I'd rather have pictures show, that be eliminated for some tiny reason. Don't forget location is searched as well as date, which can help people find your specific photos.

In other words, nothing is perfect.

Nope, nope and yes. 

Description is not searched. I tried my photos that had subject names only in the descriptions and after the change, none appeared. If it changed back, then I'm wrong and re-keyed 1200 images for nothing. I used that field for subject identities making them low in the search, but there if someone searched for a proper name of the subject.

They never activated the expressions and filters yet.

Yes any two matching words anywhere (in the example you used of two words) in any of the Essential, Main, Comprehensive, Location or Caption will appear in a search. The search looks at all of these fields, but weights the results according to importance.

If you are bored put a word like "Xmpfhg" in your description of one photo, and wait a few days, maybe a weekend, until things are re-sorted. Then search for it. You should get no results.