MicrostockGroup

Those are good questions. I've been doing this for 5 years and still don't know the answers!

The keyword cloud at dreamstime shows how often the single keyword has been used in a search by buyers. The bigger the word is shown in the keyword cloud the more often it has been used in the past.

As far a as i know, theres no way to order your keywords according to importance. All keywords are arranged in alphabetical order automatically after we submit them. This can be quit confusing, when someone is using coherent terms.

so long, Kaarsten

They seriously need to do something more technically sophisticated than just weighting the title words. The default search order at DT keeps bringing up tons of similar images (by the same contributor) on the first few pages of searches. Try a search on 'Pasta' for example and check out pages 2 & 3. Virtual 'image spamming' like that is annoying enough without it being rewarded with a prominent sort-order placement to the detriment of others. Now try the same search anywhere else and you'll find much more variety in the results.

I think IS and SS have by far the best system in which the actual words used to find/buy images are the primary factor governing where the image appears in the default sort order. Rather handily it should effectively eliminate keyword spamming over time by virtue of shoving all the irrelevant images way down the sort order on a given search.