123RF is introducing geographic weighting to the search, based on the country of registration of the contributor.  See the announcement from the newsletter below and the link to the press release. 

Can't wait to disambiguate my incorrectly associated images.     Really, I shot that teapot in France, and then flew to Brazil and shot it again, that's why it should get geographic weighting in both regions...


"NEW: 123RF�s New Search Tab: GeoRank and how it affects you?

123RF has just released a new search ranking system called GeoRank a couple of weeks back (refer to our Press Release here). GeoRank�s purpose is to float up results from contributors that are closer to the region of the buyer who is making a search and will produce a more localized search result. For example, a buyer in Europe searching for business images would get more European models compared to when the same search is conducted in USA.

For the time being, GeoRank takes the geographical information from a Contributor�s registered country. We understand that this has a few shortcomings - What if you shot the photo in Canada and the buyer is in USA and you�re registered in Europe? To overcome this, we are rolling out a CSV import tool that you will be able to use to designate which images should be GeoRanked differently. So stay tuned for more developments as we crank up the accuracy of 123RF�s GeoRank!"


http://www.prweb.com/releases/123RF/GeoRank/prweb10698634.htm?utm_source=123RF&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=contri

Waste of time. Can't be bothered. 

Agree. I could be an Indian photographer in Europe shooting Asian models.

yeah not a big fan of this. Seems those in locations (such as me in Australia) other than the US and Europe (where the VAST majority of buyers are from) will lose out, as my images wont be as 'relevant' as theirs.

Sh*tzen.

I will work on that tomorrow

Think about it, how many people are going to do this? I think not many, so what happens is they end up with a database full of images pinned to a location that dont make sense. grsphoto is a good example, so he has a Japanese businessman posing in front of the Tokyo Skytree pulling up in front of a buyer in Canada as supposedly a Canadian businessman.

Classic move to be expected from an agency that sells cutting royalties as a good thing.

Just for laughs, I am not going to it, and all my Dutch locations will pull up for Irish buyers. 

Think of it, it might actually hurt my sales, LOL

I am baffled as to the decisions 123 is making that will drive their business into the ground. There is no differentiation in this decision that makes them "one up" on their competitors, no obvious logic that inherently improve sales for THEM or us.  And what about image quality/content? They will promote less popular images, poorly produced images in some cases over more appropriate, more aligned images for the buyer.  Who is the customer here anyway? It's the buyer.  The buyer deserves to see the best an agency has to offer regardless of where the photographer lives. Really very disturbing decision.

Lots of local stock photographers never leave their studios and if they do, they choose a generic location. When they cast model shootings, they often try to get a multicultural mix, even if that isn't really reflected in their area. They shoot what sells.

yeah not a big fan of this. Seems those in locations (such as me in Australia) other than the US and Europe (where the VAST majority of buyers are from) will lose out, as my images wont be as 'relevant' as theirs.

I agree, this seems like a bad idea!

Old thread alert!

BTW my sales dropped more than 50% since May 2015!
They changed something and I will stop uploading my new images because of this!

Old thread alert!

BTW my sales dropped more than 50% since May 2015!
They changed something and I will stop uploading my new images because of this!

Old thread or not, I still think this is very relevant. Seems limiting. Surprised to see no change over the years. Photos should have no bounds, especially stock photo.