Author Topic: Shutterstock search algorithm just changed. (Read 21795 times)

Minsc · « **on:** April 30, 2016, 17:59 »

On the popular tab. What was on page 2 is now on page 1. And what was on page 1 is now on page 2.

I think it happened within the last hour. I hope this is a temporary glitch as the new results are of lower quality.

Anyway, just be prepared for the storm.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #1 on:** April 30, 2016, 19:20 »

OMG...unbelieveable. They just killed my sales for the coming week, at least.

dbvirago · « **Reply #2 on:** April 30, 2016, 19:25 »

I just did a search on several terms for which I have very high placement and they haven't changed. Was this on your personal port or in a general search?

Shelma1 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 30, 2016, 19:28 »

My most popular images are now moved from the top of page 1 to the middle of page 2 in most popular search on the site...not in my portfolio. My portfolio most popular looks the same.

Minsc · « **Reply #4 on:** April 30, 2016, 19:38 »

Quote from: dbvirago on April 30, 2016, 19:25

I just did a search on several terms for which I have very high placement and they haven't changed. Was this on your personal port or in a general search?

General search. Tried it with different browsers and in private browsing mode.

It doesn't seem like it has affected everything yet, but take a look at this search for pets:

http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?autocomplete_id=&language=en&lang=en&search_source=&safesearch=1&version=llv1&searchterm=pets&media_type=images

If the first 3 results are 3 sets of icons, then it has changed. I searched this category often and I clearly remember page 2 results on the first page.

Rinderart · « **Reply #5 on:** April 30, 2016, 19:59 »

Mar 12th 2012 is when the end started, My most popular. some with 5/6,000 DL's and deserved to be Most Popular Disappeared that accounted for the bulk of income. They went to page 50 or something and never returned. This and taking away My "VERY HEFTY" referral Money after swearing it was Permanent was Basically what Killed my Motivation.

Dumc · « **Reply #6 on:** April 30, 2016, 21:31 »

My 2 images that were on top of the first page among popular and relevant searches are still there.

Chichikov · « **Reply #7 on:** May 01, 2016, 00:59 »

My most popular images are not under the "Popular" tag, but under the "Relevant" one

I don't know what means po-pu-lar for Shutterstock

But my personal knowledge of the meaning of this word corresponds to the one given by the Oxford dictionary:

popular
Pronunciation: /ˈpɒpjʊlə/
ADJECTIVE
1
Liked or admired by many people or by a particular person or group:
she was one of the most popular girls in the school
these cheeses are very popular in Europe

2
[ATTRIBUTIVE] (Of cultural activities or products) intended for or suited to the taste, understanding, or means of the general public rather than specialists or intellectuals:
editorials accusing the government of wanting to gag the popular press
2.1
(Of a belief or attitude) held by the majority of the general public:
many adult cats, contrary to popular opinion, dislike milk

3
[ATTRIBUTIVE] (Of political activity) carried on by the people as a whole rather than restricted to politicians or political parties:
a popular revolt against colonial rule

Dumc · « **Reply #8 on:** May 01, 2016, 01:30 »

So, your images are not popular. Where seems to be the problem?

MircoV · « **Reply #9 on:** May 01, 2016, 01:45 »

I just think there is no place for everyone on page 1. Or we need to have million images per page. I think it is good that others can also have a chance to be at first page. Mirco

gbalex · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2016, 11:12 »

Quote from: Rinderart on April 30, 2016, 19:59

Mar 12th 2012 is when the end started, My most popular. some with 5/6,000 DL's and deserved to be Most Popular Disappeared that accounted for the bulk of income. They went to page 50 or something and never returned. This and taking away My "VERY HEFTY" referral Money after swearing it was Permanent was Basically what Killed my Motivation.

Have you noticed that some of the harshest critics of the "conspiracy theory" have fallen silent or added their voices to those who have been hit by these demotions?

Pauws99 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2016, 12:01 »

Quote from: gbalex on May 01, 2016, 11:12

Quote from: Rinderart on April 30, 2016, 19:59
Mar 12th 2012 is when the end started, My most popular. some with 5/6,000 DL's and deserved to be Most Popular Disappeared that accounted for the bulk of income. They went to page 50 or something and never returned. This and taking away My "VERY HEFTY" referral Money after swearing it was Permanent was Basically what Killed my Motivation.

Have you noticed that some of the harshest critics of the "conspiracy theory" have fallen silent or added their voices to those who have been hit by these demotions?

er no

Minsc · « **Reply #12 on:** May 01, 2016, 12:27 »

Quote from: Dumc on April 30, 2016, 21:31

My 2 images that were on top of the first page among popular and relevant searches are still there.

I did a search on my phone and iPad earlier and everything seems to be normal. On the desktop, the results are different.

On the upside, this will give my images that were on page 2 a chance to get some sales. We'll see how the change affect sales in the upcoming week. Maybe I'll see a drop, maybe I won't. If the ranking engine hasn't change, whatever is popular on page 2 will eventually make its way back to page 1 in time.

Rinderart · « **Reply #13 on:** May 01, 2016, 12:29 »

Quote from: gbalex on May 01, 2016, 11:12

Quote from: Rinderart on April 30, 2016, 19:59
Mar 12th 2012 is when the end started, My most popular. some with 5/6,000 DL's and deserved to be Most Popular Disappeared that accounted for the bulk of income. They went to page 50 or something and never returned. This and taking away My "VERY HEFTY" referral Money after swearing it was Permanent was Basically what Killed my Motivation.

Have you noticed that some of the harshest critics of the "conspiracy theory" have fallen silent or added their voices to those who have been hit by these demotions?

Dont pay to much attention But what I have noticed "BIG TIME" is a whole bunch of People 1/2 years ago that were going On and on about How great they were doing are dead Now. Ya don'rt hear a word. I do Love newbies with 50 Images saying how good it is....LOL

I did have some of my Old Best sellers and most Popular that went from #1 to page 50 come back after 6 mos or so , They worked there way back to Popular.

Dumc · « **Reply #14 on:** May 01, 2016, 13:01 »

Quote from: Minsc on May 01, 2016, 12:27

Quote from: Dumc on April 30, 2016, 21:31
My 2 images that were on top of the first page among popular and relevant searches are still there.

I did a search on my phone and iPad earlier and everything seems to be normal. On the desktop, the results are different.

On the upside, this will give my images that were on page 2 a chance to get some sales. We'll see how the change affect sales in the upcoming week. Maybe I'll see a drop, maybe I won't. If the ranking engine hasn't change, whatever is popular on page 2 will eventually make its way back to page 1 in time.

I searched through my PC not iPad or phone...

masterlu · « **Reply #15 on:** May 01, 2016, 13:10 »

Everything back to normal here after two days... now popular are in the right place

Minsc · « **Reply #16 on:** May 01, 2016, 13:22 »

Quote from: Dumc on May 01, 2016, 13:01

Quote from: Minsc on May 01, 2016, 12:27
Quote from: Dumc on April 30, 2016, 21:31
My 2 images that were on top of the first page among popular and relevant searches are still there.

I did a search on my phone and iPad earlier and everything seems to be normal. On the desktop, the results are different.

On the upside, this will give my images that were on page 2 a chance to get some sales. We'll see how the change affect sales in the upcoming week. Maybe I'll see a drop, maybe I won't. If the ranking engine hasn't change, whatever is popular on page 2 will eventually make its way back to page 1 in time.

I searched through my PC not iPad or phone...

It seems like things are going back to normal again. I did a private search and it returned the correct results. My non-private search still show the other set of results. Both Shelma1 and I saw the different search results, so it probably affect a small number of searches.

As you can see in the screenshots, the odd results showed one extra page (12140), so it must have been a glitch.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #17 on:** May 01, 2016, 13:41 »

No it's not really fixed, I can still see the old first page swapped with the second one, on a least 2 important keywords relevant to me.

Minsc · « **Reply #18 on:** May 01, 2016, 22:04 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on May 01, 2016, 13:41

No it's not really fixed, I can still see the old first page swapped with the second one, on a least 2 important keywords relevant to me.

Yup. Still not fixed.

I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens.

Chichikov · « **Reply #19 on:** May 02, 2016, 06:56 »

Quote from: Dumc on May 01, 2016, 01:30

So, your images are not popular. Where seems to be the problem?

Yes, you are right, images selling more than 1000 times are not popular while other selling less than 100 times are……
But now it seems that all turned normal.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #20 on:** May 02, 2016, 11:00 »

Quote from: Chichikov on May 02, 2016, 06:56

Quote from: Dumc on May 01, 2016, 01:30
So, your images are not popular. Where seems to be the problem?

Yes, you are right, images selling more than 1000 times are not popular while other selling less than 100 times are……
But now it seems that all turned normal.

Those photos sold "only" 100 times might be in high demand right now and that's what make them "popular" right now

"Popular" doesn't mean all time popular, that's more like "relevant" in Shutterstock language.

BTW, the glitch seems to be fixed, indeed. Today my tests return the similar "popular" pages as 3-4 days ago.

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #21 on:** May 02, 2016, 11:02 »

popularity of files changes over time, no one can claim their image is the most popular in perpetuity

Shelma1 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 02, 2016, 11:17 »

I don't see anyone claiming their images are popular in perpetuity. I've had some of my most popular knocked out of first place by better images and vice versa. This is simply switching the entire page 1 for the entire page 2. And it's still the same for the search term I'm looking at right now...all my most popular images (I have the top three in this category) are now at the top of page 2 instead of page 1. And all the other popular page 1 images from other contributors have moved right along with mine.

Minsc · « **Reply #23 on:** May 02, 2016, 11:20 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on May 02, 2016, 11:00

BTW, the glitch seems to be fixed, indeed. Today my tests return the similar "popular" pages as 3-4 days ago.

It doesn't seem to be fixed yet. If it has, it hasn't propagated to all searches.

Sales are down a bit this morning, like 30%. Maybe it's one of those type of Mondays, but I doubt it.

ShadySue · « **Reply #24 on:** May 02, 2016, 12:32 »

Today is a major holiday in the UK and much of Europe.

Dumc · « **Reply #25 on:** May 02, 2016, 12:36 »

And which holiday is that?

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #26 on:** May 02, 2016, 12:46 »

May day bank holiday.

Dumc · « **Reply #27 on:** May 02, 2016, 13:00 »

UK, what about "much of Europe"?

ShadySue · « **Reply #28 on:** May 02, 2016, 13:56 »

Quote from: Dumc on May 02, 2016, 13:00

UK, what about "much of Europe"?

Have you heard about the internet? Incredible for getting info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers'_Day
As yesterday was a Sunday, the holiday will often pass to today.

Dumc · « **Reply #29 on:** May 02, 2016, 14:03 »

1st of May is Labour day. 2nd May is normal working day in much of Europe. And yes, I checked "internet". Maybe you should check it too. Only countires in Europe that have 2nd May free of work are Slovenia, Serbia, Ukraine and Monte negro.

ShadySue · « **Reply #30 on:** May 02, 2016, 14:24 »

Quote from: Dumc on May 02, 2016, 14:03

1st of May is Labour day. 2nd May is normal working day in much of Europe. And yes, I checked "internet". Maybe you should check it too. Only countires in Europe that have 2nd May free of work are Slovenia, Serbia, Ukraine and Monte negro.

Wrong, apparently:
http://www.officeholidays.com/upcoming/index.php

Dumc · « **Reply #31 on:** May 02, 2016, 14:36 »

Ok, I admit, my bad. I should know that Australia, Barbados, Burundi, China, Dominican republic, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong..... are considered "much of Europe".

ShadySue · « **Reply #32 on:** May 02, 2016, 14:38 »

Quote from: Dumc on May 02, 2016, 14:36

Ok, I admit, my bad. I should know that Australia, Barbados, Burundi, China, Dominican republic, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong..... are considered "much of Europe".

Yawn.
Be happy. I'll change to "Several countries have public holidays today".

Julied83 · « **Reply #33 on:** May 02, 2016, 15:05 »

Europe and UK holiday can explain the down of my sale today at SS .. I hope it'll be better tomorrow because it's very very low !

Firewall · « **Reply #34 on:** May 02, 2016, 15:19 »

I have more sales than usual today. Most of the sales are from Europe

Minsc · « **Reply #35 on:** May 02, 2016, 16:09 »

Looks like everything is finally back to normal again. Still having a decent day despite the glitch and the holiday.

Tomorrow is going to be great!

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #36 on:** May 04, 2016, 13:44 »

1 of my photos jumped from spot 2 to 3, is the site broken?

Dumc · « **Reply #37 on:** May 04, 2016, 13:54 »

I guess people check for position of their images daily. How else would one know that page 1 and 2 were swapped.

douglas · « **Reply #38 on:** May 04, 2016, 18:15 »

Quote from: Dumc on May 02, 2016, 14:36

Ok, I admit, my bad. I should know that Australia, Barbados, Burundi, China, Dominican republic, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong..... are considered "much of Europe".

Grumpy bugger! It was also Easter Monday in the Orthodox calendar so a holiday in Romania, Ukraine, Greece, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Cyprus ...

MircoV · « **Reply #39 on:** May 05, 2016, 01:44 »

I would not say it to colleagues at my work to avoid unnecessary stress but since it is a forum it is different.

I am always wondering how somebody can have a complain about search engine and thinks that it is broken just because his or her images are not anymore on page 1, instead taken by other contributors. Then they check and check every day until the images are on page 1 again and then they decide the engine is fixed.

Do you really believe that you have a special ticket and only your images should be on first page? Everybody that sells images on SS has right to be on page 1 and everybody can fall into page 2 and deeper.

Mirco

Chichikov · « **Reply #40 on:** May 05, 2016, 06:16 »

Quote from: douglas on May 04, 2016, 18:15

Quote from: Dumc on May 02, 2016, 14:36
Ok, I admit, my bad. I should know that Australia, Barbados, Burundi, China, Dominican republic, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong..... are considered "much of Europe".

Grumpy bugger! It was also Easter Monday in the Orthodox calendar so a holiday in Romania, Ukraine, Greece, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Cyprus ...

Not only, as the first of May was a Saturday, in some of these countries they had Tuesday as holiday too, to "compensate"

Zero Talent · « **Reply #41 on:** May 05, 2016, 06:27 »

Quote from: MircoV on May 05, 2016, 01:44

I would not say it to colleagues at my work to avoid unnecessary stress but since it is a forum it is different.

I am always wondering how somebody can have a complain about search engine and thinks that it is broken just because his or her images are not anymore on page 1, instead taken by other contributors. Then they check and check every day until the images are on page 1 again and then they decide the engine is fixed.

Do you really believe that you have a special ticket and only your images should be on first page? Everybody that sells images on SS has right to be on page 1 and everybody can fall into page 2 and deeper.

Mirco

I agree with you... in general
I always reject the usual conspiracies this site is very popular for.

However, last week, there was a glich, not a conspiracy. For only 3 or 4 days, the entire 1st page has been swapped with the second. Not just my photos. I know well those photos belonging to fellow contributors, sitting next to mine. These were still sitting next to mine, but on the second page.
Once the glitch got solved, the same photos were sitting next to mine, back on the first page again.
Even their order on the second page was virtually the same.
Statistically, it cannot be not a coincidence.

The good news is the site is back to normal.

Mantis · « **Reply #42 on:** May 05, 2016, 07:35 »

Quote from: Zero Talent on May 05, 2016, 06:27

Quote from: MircoV on May 05, 2016, 01:44
I would not say it to colleagues at my work to avoid unnecessary stress but since it is a forum it is different.

I am always wondering how somebody can have a complain about search engine and thinks that it is broken just because his or her images are not anymore on page 1, instead taken by other contributors. Then they check and check every day until the images are on page 1 again and then they decide the engine is fixed.

Do you really believe that you have a special ticket and only your images should be on first page? Everybody that sells images on SS has right to be on page 1 and everybody can fall into page 2 and deeper.

Mirco

I agree with you... in general
I always reject the usual conspiracies this site is very popular for.

However, last week, there was a glich, not a conspiracy. For only 3 or 4 days, the entire 1st page has been swapped with the second. Not just my photos. I know well those photos belonging to fellow contributors, sitting next to mine. These were still sitting next to mine, but on the second page.
Once the glitch got solved, the same photos were sitting next to mine, back on the first page again.
Even their order on the second page was virtually the same.
Statistically, it cannot be not a coincidence.

The good news is the site is back to normal and I'm on page one.

Edited for completeness

Just joking

Zero Talent · « **Reply #43 on:** May 05, 2016, 08:02 »

Quote from: Mantis on May 05, 2016, 07:35

Quote from: Zero Talent on May 05, 2016, 06:27
Quote from: MircoV on May 05, 2016, 01:44
I would not say it to colleagues at my work to avoid unnecessary stress but since it is a forum it is different.

I am always wondering how somebody can have a complain about search engine and thinks that it is broken just because his or her images are not anymore on page 1, instead taken by other contributors. Then they check and check every day until the images are on page 1 again and then they decide the engine is fixed.

Do you really believe that you have a special ticket and only your images should be on first page? Everybody that sells images on SS has right to be on page 1 and everybody can fall into page 2 and deeper.

Mirco

I agree with you... in general
I always reject the usual conspiracies this site is very popular for.

However, last week, there was a glich, not a conspiracy. For only 3 or 4 days, the entire 1st page has been swapped with the second. Not just my photos. I know well those photos belonging to fellow contributors, sitting next to mine. These were still sitting next to mine, but on the second page.
Once the glitch got solved, the same photos were sitting next to mine, back on the first page again.
Even their order on the second page was virtually the same.
Statistically, it cannot be not a coincidence.

The good news is the site is back to normal and I'm on page one.

Edited for completeness Just joking

Lol, not just "page one", but the very first on page one

(Instead of the very first on page 2

)

Edited for "complete" completeness

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Shelma1 · « **Reply #44 on:** May 05, 2016, 08:16 »

It must be some kind of glitch only some people are seeing. The new page "2" is acting normally, with things shifting around, and the new page "1" seems stuck, with lots of similars just sitting there in a big chunk in the same static position.

Sales seem to be normal.

Minsc · « **Reply #45 on:** May 05, 2016, 12:08 »

Quote from: MircoV on May 05, 2016, 01:44

I would not say it to colleagues at my work to avoid unnecessary stress but since it is a forum it is different.

I am always wondering how somebody can have a complain about search engine and thinks that it is broken just because his or her images are not anymore on page 1, instead taken by other contributors. Then they check and check every day until the images are on page 1 again and then they decide the engine is fixed.

Do you really believe that you have a special ticket and only your images should be on first page? Everybody that sells images on SS has right to be on page 1 and everybody can fall into page 2 and deeper.

Mirco

It was a glitch. It was experienced by a lot of contributors, not just a couple. Every contributor that upload has the right to be on the first page, but the right is earned when images gets download more than others make their way up there.

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: Shutterstock search algorithm just changed. (Read 21795 times)

dbvirago

Rinderart

Chichikov

Rinderart

Chichikov

Justanotherphotographer

Chichikov

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors