Author Topic: Removal of keywords and inserting their own crappy ones causing a loss of sales! (Read 16009 times)

ruxpriencdiam · « **on:** March 04, 2012, 12:17 »

I sure hope Duncan has a dam good reasonable explanation as to why CanStockPhoto is removing my keywords and inserting their crappy ones that no buyer in their right mind is going to search for??

I and CanStockPhoto are loosing sales due to missing and totally irrelevant keywords being inserted without my knowledge!

I am allowed 50 keywords which many of my images have on them and CanStockPhoto is removing my keywords and inserting theirs!

Anyone care to explain?

LesHoward · « **Reply #1 on:** March 04, 2012, 13:23 »

software glitch?

CD123 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2012, 17:00 »

Have not experienced this with any of my images?

wut · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2012, 17:12 »

I just noticed they always add those, IMO totally useless, keywords at the end: stock image, images, royalty free photo, stock photos, stock photograph, stock photographs, picture, pictures, graphic, graphics. IN other words, they're willfully, intentionally spamming our images with weak and irrelevant (graphic etc) keywords

CD123 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2012, 17:19 »

Quote from: wut on March 04, 2012, 17:12

I just noticed they always add those, IMO totally useless, keywords at the end: stock image, images, royalty free photo, stock photos, stock photograph, stock photographs, picture, pictures, graphic, graphics. IN other words, they're willfully, intentionally spamming our images with weak and irrelevant (graphic etc) keywords

Also noticed the additions, but they never replaced any of my keywords.

RT · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2012, 17:38 »

Quote from: wut on March 04, 2012, 17:12

I just noticed they always add those, IMO totally useless, keywords at the end: stock image, images, royalty free photo, stock photos, stock photograph, stock photographs, picture, pictures, graphic, graphics. IN other words, they're willfully, intentionally spamming our images with weak and irrelevant (graphic etc) keywords

I wouldn't call it spamming and IMO they're not worthless either, as I understand it they do that to help your images to be picked up in a Google search for when somebody searches for example: 'stock photo' of a xxxxxx. Incidentally most agencies do the exact same thing but you don't see the words in your list.
And as they add these keywords to every single applicable file for every contributor it does you and everyone else no harm whatsoever.

wut · « **Reply #6 on:** March 04, 2012, 17:45 »

Quote from: RT on March 04, 2012, 17:38

Quote from: wut on March 04, 2012, 17:12
I just noticed they always add those, IMO totally useless, keywords at the end: stock image, images, royalty free photo, stock photos, stock photograph, stock photographs, picture, pictures, graphic, graphics. IN other words, they're willfully, intentionally spamming our images with weak and irrelevant (graphic etc) keywords

I wouldn't call it spamming and IMO they're not worthless either, as I understand it they do that to help your images to be picked up in a Google search for when somebody searches for example: 'stock photo' of a xxxxxx.
And as they add these keywords to every single applicable file for every contributor it does you and everyone else no harm whatsoever.

Yes, I though about SEO, but who's really searching stock photos via Google?

And why is it then that almost every single agency is trying to persuade us to use less keywords? IS even rejected many photos for irrelevant keywords a year or two ago (and I never really keyword spammed my images)

Mantis · « **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2012, 18:12 »

Barry I agree. I don't mind them inserting more keywords if I have room, but if they are removing keywords that I put in that is in my opinion unethical. I know that they are trying to take advantage of search engines outside of CS, but that tells me CS is in trouble if they are resorting to this kind of activity. My sales suck there, it's no wonder.

Sadstock · « **Reply #8 on:** March 04, 2012, 18:58 »

Quote from: ruxpriencdiam on March 04, 2012, 12:17

I sure hope Duncan has a dam good reasonable explanation as to why CanStockPhoto is removing my keywords and inserting their crappy ones that no buyer in their right mind is going to search for??

I and CanStockPhoto are loosing sales due to missing and totally irrelevant keywords being inserted without my knowledge!

I am allowed 50 keywords which many of my images have on them and CanStockPhoto is removing my keywords and inserting theirs!

Anyone care to explain?

----------------------------------------

What words of yours did they remove?

ruxpriencdiam · « **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2012, 19:25 »

Quote from: Sadstock on March 04, 2012, 18:58

Quote from: ruxpriencdiam on March 04, 2012, 12:17
I sure hope Duncan has a dam good reasonable explanation as to why CanStockPhoto is removing my keywords and inserting their crappy ones that no buyer in their right mind is going to search for??

I and CanStockPhoto are loosing sales due to missing and totally irrelevant keywords being inserted without my knowledge!

I am allowed 50 keywords which many of my images have on them and CanStockPhoto is removing my keywords and inserting theirs!

Anyone care to explain?

----------------------------------------

What words of yours did they remove?

I haven't looked at all of my pics since i am just finding this out today but one image i keyworded with 38 keywords of which there were only 29 they listed so i was missing 9 keywords. Another has 36 when i keyworded 42.

The system is also taking phrases and separating them into single words instead of phrases like "copy space" and "room for your text" for example are all coming out as copy, space, room, for, your, text,

They are in turn as Duncan says adding their keywords in the search which as far as i am concerned is a waste

Who in their right mind is going to search for "Stock photo" if they are looking for a Basidiomycota or Agaricomycetes? Not me nor many other buyers I'm sure.

Sadstock · « **Reply #11 on:** March 04, 2012, 20:03 »

Quote from: Duncan_CSP on March 04, 2012, 19:56

If anyone has a specific question (since this is addressed to me) instead of posting as a thread on here and the CanStockPhoto forum, we're happy to answer directly through a support ticket - to avoid causing any undue confusion and misinformation.

I answered this directly on the CanStockPhoto discussion forum here, for anyone who is interested.

Regarding adding keywords, we have certain suggested keywords that are displayed with all our images so that they can be found better in web searches. This does not affect your CanStockPhoto search results, and helps drive more sales to your images. We know what we're doing here, and I can't imagine anyone will find a problem in helping drive you more sales.

Regarding removing of keywords - we do not make a habit of ever removing keywords. Generally if a keyword is removed, it's the inspectors doing it as a favor instead of rejecting the images. In the CanStockPhoto forum you included one of your images as an example. I'll re-post what I said there, for everyone's benefit given this is publicly posted here as well:

-----
shed; storage shed; building; door; one door; handle; roof; door handle; siding; shingles; light; pole; lightpole; electrical; constructed; industrial; room for your text; copy space; wood; gray; green; brown; tan; rocks; grass; gold; wood pole; conduit; wooden; stained

This is actually a perfect example of containing keywords which are not relevant.

There should be little doubt that no buyer searching "electrical" will be expecting to find this image. This hurts legitimately related electrical images, and looks poor to anyone doing an "electrical" search. The same goes for someone searching "door handle", "gold", "light", or several of the other keywords included in the image.

Again, keywords should describe what is only physically and prominently visible in the image. None of the above keywords describe anything that is prominent in the image.

Furthermore, you included "copy space" and "room for your text" - but in fact there is no copy space available in the image, as it's tightly cropped around the shed. Copy space means there is room to add text that does not interfere with the main subject of the image. If you had an area of blue sky visible above the roof, then "copy space" would be appropriate, as a buyer could add text to the image without covering the main (and only) focus of the image, the shed.

Including vaguely related keywords will only hurt your images overall ranking, it's sales, and the results of many other legitimate searches. We generally recommend 5 to 15 focused keywords per image.

Duncan

--------------------------------------------

Duncan,

Thanks for the information. Can you explain how vaguely related keywords will hurt my images overall ranking? Is there a penalty for people looking at an image and not buying it? There has been speculation in the microstock world that some sites penalize images with lots of keywords, or with many views and few sales. If Canstock uses some system like that, it would be great to know so I could edit my keywords accordingly.

Thanks

ruxpriencdiam · « **Reply #12 on:** March 04, 2012, 20:04 »

Still doesn't answer where my missing keywords went like "storage shed" and other relevant to the image? or how phrases are turned to single words?

Duncan_CSP · « **Reply #13 on:** March 04, 2012, 20:12 »

All keywords are automatically broken down into individual words. It makes no difference for ranking if a comma is between them or not.

"storage" and "shed" are presently included with the image - for the reason above, "storage shed" won't be displayed as a separate phrase in the keywords.

[edit for spelling]

Mantis · « **Reply #14 on:** March 04, 2012, 20:21 »

Thanks for the response, Duncan…..but ......

Your response is flimsy at best. You are empowering your inspectors to make a judgment call that if our keywords are less important than your Internet search keywords then that’s okay. Driving traffic to CanStockPhoto with keywords like "Stock photo" or “room for your text” when it is in fact totally irrelevant to my image is simply softening opportunity for us contributors. Better for you since it drives traffic your way but crappy for the contributor who is helping you do that via their keywords being pruned. By the way, some (or many) don’t frequent every forum, including CS. Oh, and by the way, by you saying that “we know what we’re doing” factually says that we contributors “don’t know what we are doing”.

ruxpriencdiam · « **Reply #15 on:** March 04, 2012, 20:50 »

Lots of good copy space for a business card.

And there is an Electrical box and Electrical conduit and Electrical light.

shiyali · « **Reply #16 on:** March 04, 2012, 21:35 »

There are other sites too where the inspectors make sure the keywords are relevant. I remember having images rejected on IS because of what they considered irrelevant keywords, having to edit the keywords and re-submit the images. While it can be frustrating to have keywords rejected, it is part of the deal we enter when we submit images, just like having images rejected that look perfectly sale-able to us.

ruxpriencdiam · « **Reply #17 on:** March 04, 2012, 22:58 »

When thinking of keywords break the shot down to these elements:

What is found in the image?
Where are the items?
What is the condition or state of the items?
What actions or moods are taking place or implied?
What colors are present?
What textures are found?
What shapes are found?
What concept, theme or idea is found?"

lirch · « **Reply #18 on:** March 05, 2012, 02:30 »

lagereek · « **Reply #19 on:** March 05, 2012, 02:52 »

This is not so bad! what about when IS, kept removing and adding keywords like: horizontal, vertical, color-image, etc.

CD123 · « **Reply #20 on:** March 05, 2012, 02:54 »

I think Canstock has been around long enough to be able to say they know what they are doing as website owner without derogating any contributor's knowledge about keywording.

They are not replacing any keywords and they have decided to utilize a system which break phrases up into individual words. As all phrases consist of individual words, buyers typing in phrases will get the same result in their search.

Deleting words they find irrelevant is not closely as bad, i.m.o., as getting images being rejected for 1 or 2 possible irrelevant keywords.

I doubt if Canstock will change major policy on how they run their site due to a few individuals who does not like it. Like with all businesses, nobody is forcing any one to use Canstock's services to sell their images and if their sales are so bad as some suggest here, just delete your port and upload to a site who follows principles you are happy with.

grp_photo · « **Reply #21 on:** March 05, 2012, 03:12 »

Quote from: ruxpriencdiam on March 04, 2012, 20:50

Lots of good copy space for a business card.

And there is an Electrical box and Electrical conduit and Electrical light.

Man I'm so happy that the only agency I'm running has solely pictures from me, dealing with contributors like you and stealing my time would drive me insane!

shiyali · « **Reply #22 on:** March 05, 2012, 04:42 »

Quote from: CD123 on March 05, 2012, 02:54

I think Canstock has been around long enough to be able to say they know what they are doing as website owner without derogating any contributor's knowledge about keywording.

They are not replacing any keywords and they have decided to utilize a system which break phrases up into individual words. As all phrases consist of individual words, buyers typing in phrases will get the same result in their search.

Deleting words they find irrelevant is not closely as bad, i.m.o., as getting images being rejected for 1 or 2 possible irrelevant keywords.

I doubt if Canstock will change major policy on how they run their site due to a few individuals who does not like it. Like with all businesses, nobody is forcing any one to use Canstock's services to sell their images and if their sales are so bad as some suggest here, just delete your port and upload to a site who follows principles you are happy with.

I have been with Canstock for seven years and consider them one of the most sensible, reasonable and contributor-friendly agencies around.

Microbius · « **Reply #23 on:** March 05, 2012, 05:37 »

Quote from: shiyali on March 05, 2012, 04:42

I have been with Canstock for seven years and consider them one of the most sensible, reasonable and contributor-friendly agencies around.

Agreed, and nothing discussed here has damaged my opinion. Keep up the good work Duncan.

Pixart · « **Reply #24 on:** March 05, 2012, 11:03 »

Quote from: grp_photo on March 05, 2012, 03:12

Man I'm so happy that the only agency I'm running has solely pictures from me, dealing with contributors like you and stealing my time would drive me insane!

Thanks for saying what I couldn't say out loud

. Totally agree with Duncan.

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Author Topic: Removal of keywords and inserting their own crappy ones causing a loss of sales! (Read 16009 times)

ruxpriencdiam

LesHoward

CD123

wut

CD123

RT

wut

Mantis

Sadstock

ruxpriencdiam

Duncan_CSP

Sadstock

ruxpriencdiam

Duncan_CSP

Mantis

ruxpriencdiam

shiyali

ruxpriencdiam

lirch

lagereek

CD123

grp_photo

shiyali

Microbius

Pixart

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