Author Topic: Analyzing keywording of 10,000 most popular stock images (Read 5967 times)

ribtoks · « **on:** October 03, 2022, 04:30 »

Hey folks

Happy to share the study ("part 1") that I did to analyze keywording on microstocks: https://xpiksapp.com/blog/microstock-keywording-analysis/

Would be very interested in your opinion and possibly what should I target for "part 2"!

Thanks

pancaketom · « **Reply #1 on:** October 03, 2022, 15:49 »

Interesting analysis. I think it would be very interesting to see if the relationships hold up for other companies.

Also do you think it is better to target only low or high competition keywords for an image or a portfolio or to mix them either for images or for the portfolio. For example if you go the low competition route, is it better to leave high competition words out entirely?

Search placement is nearly everything, but SS order - at least on my portfolio before I turned it off had almost no relationship to sales.

other takeaways - it seems word salad keyword pairs are good at SS, and at least some spamming works eg- adding "free" to every image?

I still feel like the keyword what is in the image and don't spam should be the best advice, sadly the real world results don't always bear that out.

ribtoks · « **Reply #2 on:** October 04, 2022, 03:22 »

Quote from: pancaketom on October 03, 2022, 15:49

Also do you think it is better to target only low or high competition keywords for an image or a portfolio or to mix them either for images or for the portfolio. For example if you go the low competition route, is it better to leave high competition words out entirely?

I think it depends on your content. If you have something that you think will have a high selling potential and is competitive enough, I'd target it to the higher competition keywords. Also since it's possible to amend keywords, you might take tiered approach to keywording. First achieve some success with low-competition and then update keywording. Sure, that's a hassle, but then it might be a turning point from sales perspective. For sure something to experiment with.

Rage · « **Reply #3 on:** October 04, 2022, 09:47 »

Keywords seems to have become a necessary evil, with most submitters putting in all 50 keywords just to maximise chances of a view.

This is clear in the kind if results stock sites show up even for very specific queries. So it'll be interesting to kmow how buyers are actually searching for stuff. Is it a word, aeries of words, an actual sentence etc

RalfLiebhold · « **Reply #4 on:** October 04, 2022, 11:31 »

Quote from: Rage on October 04, 2022, 09:47

Keywords seems to have become a necessary evil, with most submitters putting in all 50 keywords just to maximise chances of a view.

This is clear in the kind if results stock sites show up even for very specific queries. So it'll be interesting to kmow how buyers are actually searching for stuff. Is it a word, aeries of words, an actual sentence etc

In my opinion, the Alamy Zoom statistic gives a very good overview of how and with which terms buyers search for images. Some of the searches here are very complex. If you then come across search queries such as "OMEGA 3 AND RED FRUITS", "Fried chicken breast and fresh salad" or "16th century farm house", it makes sense from my point of view to use as many meaningful keywords as possible. But that is somehow also a question of faith.

UPLOAD-UPLOAD-UPLOAD · « **Reply #5 on:** October 05, 2022, 07:58 »

This is a really excellent post.
Keywording is key.
One thing I always do is look at the pictures my competitors (all of shutterstock) post and how they got the top position. Then I look at the ports of the top contributors and see what they do.
Not copy cat, not posting likes as some idiots claim I do, but posting stock photos.
It's a rough and tough game but I love it.
I'm sorry SS no longer shows the keywords and only shows the title. The title is super, super important but so are the key words.
Thanks!

UPLOAD-UPLOAD-UPLOAD · « **Reply #6 on:** October 05, 2022, 08:09 »

I'm going to study that link you generously provided.
There is gold in what you posted.
In general I only use about 20-25 keywords.

alan b traehern · « **Reply #7 on:** October 06, 2022, 08:06 »

Quote from: RalfLiebhold on October 04, 2022, 11:31

Quote from: Rage on October 04, 2022, 09:47
Keywords seems to have become a necessary evil, with most submitters putting in all 50 keywords just to maximise chances of a view.

This is clear in the kind if results stock sites show up even for very specific queries. So it'll be interesting to kmow how buyers are actually searching for stuff. Is it a word, aeries of words, an actual sentence etc

In my opinion, the Alamy Zoom statistic gives a very good overview of how and with which terms buyers search for images. Some of the searches here are very complex. If you then come across search queries such as "OMEGA 3 AND RED FRUITS", "Fried chicken breast and fresh salad" or "16th century farm house", it makes sense from my point of view to use as many meaningful keywords as possible. But that is somehow also a question of faith.

If the extended keywords, or complex description are important and the image shows something specific, they are necessary and good. If someone just adds close words and similar meaning words, you're wasting time with words that buyers don't use to find image. If you were searching for your image, what words would you use to find it? If you were describing your image to someone else, what words would you use. That's what good keywords are.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #8 on:** October 06, 2022, 12:48 »

Quote from: ribtoks on October 03, 2022, 04:30

Hey folks

Happy to share the study ("part 1") that I did to analyze keywording on microstocks: https://xpiksapp.com/blog/microstock-keywording-analysis/

Would be very interested in your opinion and possibly what should I target for "part 2"!

Thanks

Thanks and good analysis, which I'd have to study to understand. Pretty deep and complex.

cascoly · « **Reply #9 on:** October 06, 2022, 17:56 »

Quote from: alan b traehern on October 06, 2022, 08:06

...

If the extended keywords, or complex description are important and the image shows something specific, they are necessary and good. If someone just adds close words and similar meaning words, you're wasting time with words that buyers don't use to find image. If you were searching for your image, what words would you use to find it? If you were describing your image to someone else, what words would you use. That's what good keywords are.

good keywords allow someone who DOESN'T think like you to find & buy your work. (that's why agency claims of LCV were absurd)

a common case would be someone who doesn't care whether a spider is an insect or not - they just want a scary or dangerous or venomous 'insect'

StudioLOWERLOOPs · « **Reply #10 on:** October 07, 2022, 00:48 »

Title is more important. Thank you anyway.

ouatedeP · « **Reply #11 on:** October 07, 2022, 04:55 »

Quote from: cascoly on October 06, 2022, 17:56

Quote from: alan b traehern on October 06, 2022, 08:06
...

If the extended keywords, or complex description are important and the image shows something specific, they are necessary and good. If someone just adds close words and similar meaning words, you're wasting time with words that buyers don't use to find image. If you were searching for your image, what words would you use to find it? If you were describing your image to someone else, what words would you use. That's what good keywords are.

good keywords allow someone who DOESN'T think like you to find & buy your work. (that's why agency claims of LCV were absurd)

a common case would be someone who doesn't care whether a spider is an insect or not - they just want a scary or dangerous or venomous 'insect'

also need to consider maximising chances word will be properly translated in other language searches,

stoker2014 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 07, 2022, 05:58 »

You all write as if the buyer sees only 1 image in the search. In fact, the site offers the buyer a bunch of other images, and here's how the site does it, according to what criteria, it's important. The buyer saw the main image on the search, but also sees what the site offers and not the fact that he will buy the main one. I think sites use artificial intelligence, they determine what it is from the picture and offer it to the buyer. And even if there are 0 tags, the system will create them for itself.
For example, Pinterest has not been able to enter tags for a long time, the search is only based on artificial intelligence. And this is not only the future, this is already the present. Therefore, you can not spend any time on tags, their analysis, you can load without tags at all.

ribtoks · « **Reply #13 on:** October 07, 2022, 06:09 »

Quote from: stoker2014 on October 07, 2022, 05:58

Therefore, you can not spend any time on tags, their analysis, you can load without tags at all.

It would be extremely interesting if you are willing to do this experiment: always add a minimum amount of keywords (7) to your artworks and report you sales (or the absence of those) in a year.

marish · « **Reply #14 on:** October 07, 2022, 08:05 »

Very interesting analysis - in particular, the part about the distribution of keyword counts.

The stats for the top pages suggest that ranking algorithm might be biased towards images with fewer keywords, hence having fewer keywords might give you a higher chance to reach the top pages.

This hypothesis can be tested by creating a boxplot of image rank distribution grouped by a number of keywords - do you think you could include this in "part 2"?

Diana Herrmann · « **Reply #15 on:** October 07, 2022, 09:14 »

Quote from: cascoly on October 06, 2022, 17:56

Quote from: alan b traehern on October 06, 2022, 08:06
...

If the extended keywords, or complex description are important and the image shows something specific, they are necessary and good. If someone just adds close words and similar meaning words, you're wasting time with words that buyers don't use to find image. If you were searching for your image, what words would you use to find it? If you were describing your image to someone else, what words would you use. That's what good keywords are.

good keywords allow someone who DOESN'T think like you to find & buy your work. (that's why agency claims of LCV were absurd)

a common case would be someone who doesn't care whether a spider is an insect or not - they just want a scary or dangerous or venomous 'insect'

Suggested by SS, Scary Spider Photo, do any of these words need to be in keywords to make a sale? zoology, environmental, terrestrial, alien, fauna, invertebrate, biology, natural, leg, phobia, then why waste time adding more words for no reason.

stoker2014 · « **Reply #16 on:** October 07, 2022, 11:34 »

Quote from: ribtoks on October 07, 2022, 06:09

Quote from: stoker2014 on October 07, 2022, 05:58
Therefore, you can not spend any time on tags, their analysis, you can load without tags at all.

It would be extremely interesting if you are willing to do this experiment: always add a minimum amount of keywords (7) to your artworks and report you sales (or the absence of those) in a year.

Of course, 7 words will match the image completely, so getting 0 sales is not realistic. I used to upload videos with 5-7 tags on videohive, everything that was normally filmed was bought.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #17 on:** October 07, 2022, 11:53 »

Quote from: marish on October 07, 2022, 08:05

Very interesting analysis - in particular, the part about the distribution of keyword counts.

The stats for the top pages suggest that ranking algorithm might be biased towards images with fewer keywords, hence having fewer keywords might give you a higher chance to reach the top pages.

This hypothesis can be tested by creating a boxplot of image rank distribution grouped by a number of keywords - do you think you could include this in "part 2"?

That would certainly be a good idea.

Let me say, whether it's me saying less or someone else saying add the Max, or anything else. We don't know, and it's subjective and we will tend to see what we want to see. So of course I see that Less in More.

Also if any of us knew, we would have this whole discussion going on, which has been forever and probably since before the forum was started.

We don't know, but the Analyzing keywording from ribtoks is bring in new information.

stoker2014 · « **Reply #18 on:** October 07, 2022, 12:34 »

Some stocks publish the words that buyers most often search for. So there are not only words, but also phrases. If you take these words and insert them into your work, then you will be found more often.

cascoly · « **Reply #19 on:** October 07, 2022, 13:10 »

Quote from: stoker2014 on October 07, 2022, 05:58

....I think sites use artificial intelligence, they determine what it is from the picture and offer it to the buyer. And even if there are 0 tags, the system will create them for itself.

again - actual evidence before making this claim?? did you do any research? like finding images that shouldn't be found from title & description? a quick search on both SS and pinterest showed the tag was part of the title or description. search for 'Himalayan mountain" - how would AI be accurate enough to distinguish Himalaya from Andes or alps? yet only Himalayan are shown -- again part of the description.

Quote

For example, Pinterest has not been able to enter tags for a long time, the search is only based on artificial intelligence. And this is not only the future, this is already the present. Therefore, you can not spend any time on tags, their analysis, you can load without tags at all.

you can't extrapolate from pinterest to agencies

pinterest is not an agency & their primary goal is not to sell images.
pinterest CANNOT use tags because most(?) pins are images w/o tags
n evidece they usde AI - they cvould just
even if it's the future, that's not a reason to self-destruct today by not usinf keywords

cascoly · « **Reply #20 on:** October 07, 2022, 13:11 »

Quote from: ribtoks on October 07, 2022, 06:09

Quote from: stoker2014 on October 07, 2022, 05:58
Therefore, you can not spend any time on tags, their analysis, you can load without tags at all.

It would be extremely interesting if you are willing to do this experiment: always add a minimum amount of keywords (7) to your artworks and report you sales (or the absence of those) in a year.

and the keywords should have nothing to do with the image, otherwise results would be contaminated

stoker2014 · « **Reply #21 on:** October 07, 2022, 13:22 »

We are working for the future. So the future belongs to artificial intelligence, and it does not need our tags.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #22 on:** October 07, 2022, 13:56 »

Quote from: cascoly on October 07, 2022, 13:11

Quote from: ribtoks on October 07, 2022, 06:09
Quote from: stoker2014 on October 07, 2022, 05:58
Therefore, you can not spend any time on tags, their analysis, you can load without tags at all.

It would be extremely interesting if you are willing to do this experiment: always add a minimum amount of keywords (7) to your artworks and report you sales (or the absence of those) in a year.

and the keywords should have nothing to do with the image, otherwise results would be contaminated

I'm enjoying this. I should really play that game and add some inappropriate keywords to some new images and check after a period of time, only images that have downloads and see if any of those words, ever make a sale. That would surly change my mind about spamming keywords or adding words that normally no one else would use. So my racing images should always include, climate change, diversity and naked?

Then for the other control group, leave those words out and do my normal keywords, and for group 3 remove most of the words that came from uncommon terms and little used for the same.

I'd have the added words, control group and less is more test. Even with that, there's really no way to remove random sales, if I upload 100 images and randomly select which go into which set. I'd have to only use this on site that report words used to find the image. I couldn't base anything on image sales by set, without that specific information.

An alternate method might be, select images that already sell and add the test words to 33%, remove the extended words from 33% and do nothing to a specific 33% as the control group.

Quote from: ouatedeP on October 07, 2022, 04:55

also need to consider maximising chances word will be properly translated in other language searches,

Good additional point that I hadn't considered = translations could use more and varied words, so they aren't lost in the translation.

cascoly · « **Reply #23 on:** October 07, 2022, 14:42 »

Quote from: stoker2014 on October 07, 2022, 13:22

We are working for the future. So the future belongs to artificial intelligence, and it does not need our tags.

guess you don't care about an income UNTIL AI takes over?

cascoly · « **Reply #24 on:** October 07, 2022, 14:49 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 07, 2022, 13:56

Quote from: cascoly on October 07, 2022, 13:11
Quote from: ribtoks on October 07, 2022, 06:09
Quote from: stoker2014 on October 07, 2022, 05:58
Therefore, you can not spend any time on tags, their analysis, you can load without tags at all.

It would be extremely interesting if you are willing to do this experiment: always add a minimum amount of keywords (7) to your artworks and report you sales (or the absence of those) in a year.

and the keywords should have nothing to do with the image, otherwise results would be contaminated
...
I'm enjoying this. I should really play that game and add some inappropriate keywords to some new images and check after a period of time, only images that have downloads and see if any of those words, ever make a sale. That would surly change my mind about spamming keywords or adding words that normally no one else would use. So my racing images should always include, climate change, diversity and naked?

...

you may already have "extreme sports", danger

and, perhaps jokingly "environmental hazard/damage/etc", "gas guzzler" (965 images), "fossil fuels"

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Author Topic: Analyzing keywording of 10,000 most popular stock images (Read 5967 times)

ribtoks

pancaketom

ribtoks

Rage

RalfLiebhold

UPLOAD-UPLOAD-UPLOAD

UPLOAD-UPLOAD-UPLOAD

alan b traehern

Uncle Pete

cascoly

StudioLOWERLOOPs

ouatedeP

stoker2014

ribtoks

marish

Diana Herrmann

stoker2014

Uncle Pete

stoker2014

cascoly

cascoly

stoker2014

Uncle Pete

cascoly

cascoly

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