Look at your port and forgot about download per month. The best match is now sorted mostly by newer upload. Their performance is lot less in the equation anymore.

Yep. When did that happen?

I just checked a couple of images that I track regularly. One was a regular on the first page results and moved to the third page so not too bad. My best seller moved from third page to the twllight zone so not so good.

On a positive note, some of my new stuff moved from lala land to the first few pages so hopefully that evens things out.

I think it happened yesterday. I am not yet sure what to think about it.. Lets wait one week and see..

Their best match search makes no sense at all.  I have an image that has well over 1000 dls in just over a year and hasstayed on the first page since it's been uploaded.  It is now at the bottom of page 6 of a search with 100 images per page.  At least half of the  images that come before it have less than 10 dls.  How can that be best match?  If anybody wants to see a newest search then they can sort by newest, best match should be exactly what it says.

looks like i better start uploading again to take advantage of this

It is not just upload date. It is almost everything but something elese is in the algoritm.
My first best match image is not the newest, it is my most viewed of quite new images but the second best match is the newest image uploaded...

I don't know if it is something to do with the change but I had a very slow day yesterday, might be just coincidence though.

It looks like its been changed to show the newest images that have the highest downloads per month. Before it was just based on downloads per month regardless of age.

Quote from: stokfoto on September 13, 2008, 11:07
I don't know if it is something to do with the change but I had a very slow day yesterday, might be just coincidence though.

Last thursday and friday were lower in sales for me too. I don't like what I see and I don't know why they changed this. Maybe without the view versus download thing, their best match search was the most perfect of all agencies with Shutterstock. It was already including the newer files in the equation. Then I don't see why giving them that much importance.

I can upload a picture of a ugly dog tomorrow and it will be in the first pages when approved. Maybe it's some buyers who was wanting some fresh images in front, but then what's the difference between best match and AGE

Quote from: fotografer on September 13, 2008, 08:18
At least half of the  images that come before it have less than 10 dls.  How can that be best match?

best match, as the name says, should be a balance between keywords + description + title matching with the search terms. Number of views, downloads, date of upload, etc should be irrelevant to something called "best match" unless the search was done explicitly with these choices.

Regards,
Adelaide

That would be nice if it worked that way but it's heavily weighted on downloads per month.

If I was a buyer ideally I would want the nicest image that has the least downloads. I wouldn't want one of the images with a ton of downloads because it's all over the place. And I wouldn't want a so-so image with low/zero downloads.

I think that's what this new tweak is trying to do. Give preferance to the newest popular images.

Quote from: Vonkara on September 13, 2008, 13:54
I can upload a picture of a ugly dog tomorrow and it will be in the first pages when approved. Maybe it's some buyers who was wanting some fresh images in front, but then what's the difference between best match and AGE

They are IS, probably it would be rejected  

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on September 13, 2008, 19:47
And I wouldn't want a so-so image with low/zero downloads.

Why? you can see the image at 100% to inspect that there is nothing wrong in the photo

I'm referring to the aesthetic quality not the technical quality. IS continues to tweak the best match toward letting the buyer inadvertently decide the popularilty of images. Higher aesthetic quality images rise to the top and poor ones get pushed down.

I have just observed that 5 of my latest 10 sales were images uploaded in 2006. 

I wonder how people found them, because I tried some searches with the more obvious keywords, and I could not find them in the first pages.

Regards,
Adelaide

Quote from: madelaide on September 13, 2008, 19:05

Quote from: fotografer on September 13, 2008, 08:18
At least half of the  images that come before it have less than 10 dls.  How can that be best match?

best match, as the name says, should be a balance between keywords + description + title matching with the search terms. Number of views, downloads, date of upload, etc should be irrelevant to something called "best match" unless the search was done explicitly with these choices.

Regards,
Adelaide

There is no "best match" in that sense.  If the keywords match the search terms, it comes up.  If the title and description mattered, all you would need to do is modify all your images so all the keywords existed in the description and title.

Quote from: sjlocke on September 13, 2008, 21:58
There is no "best match" in that sense.  If the keywords match the search terms, it comes up.  If the title and description mattered, all you would need to do is modify all your images so all the keywords existed in the description and title.

That's the way the DT "relevancy" search works: title and description play a dominant role in search placement. Although it may sound like a good thing, maximizing your exposure takes a lot of twiddling and tweaking, which I don't think many people bother doing. Life is much simpler when only keywords matter.

sigh,.....again...

Was a little concerned at first about the search engine change but it appears to be helping me. Usually only have 1-2 downloads on a Sunday and already have 5 today  Last Thur and Fri also good.

Quote from: epantha on September 14, 2008, 18:25
Was a little concerned at first about the search engine change but it appears to be helping me. Usually only have 1-2 downloads on a Sunday and already have 5 today  Last Thur and Fri also good.

Just curious. Did you have lot of new recently approved images? Did it's your newer files who sold the best or the usual ones?

QuoteJust curious. Did you have lot of new recently approved images? Did it's your newer files who sold the best or the usual ones?

I upload the 15 allotted number of images to IS every week and the photos that are selling well right now are the usual ones that are a bit unique in their category.

I've been trying to figure out why IS is doing so much better (by a huge margin) than all the other sites and I think it is because I work as a professional graphic artist and just "get" IS and what they want. A lot of my stuff is very "North American" .

Quote from: epantha on September 14, 2008, 21:45
I've been trying to figure out why IS is doing so much better (by a huge margin) than all the other sites and I think it is because I work as a professional graphic artist and just "get" IS and what they want. A lot of my stuff is very "North American" .

Could you elaborate on very "North American"?
Are you referring perhaps to your scenics? Shots of US currency or something else altogether?

My most popular shot is very generic and could be from any industrialzed country in the world.
OTOH, the shot that seems to be generating the most interest is of a young Latina.

My take is with the changing demographic in the US, that the Latino market is something to target. Just my $0.02

A comparison of NA vs European movies shows strong stylistic differences and preferences. NA is a very extrovert culture.

Quote from: averil on September 14, 2008, 23:03
A comparison of NA vs European movies shows strong stylistic differences and preferences. NA is a very extrovert culture.

NA may be an 'extrovert' culture as you say, but also puritanical in many respects.
Last time I was in Europe, there was far more nudity in print ads than would be allowed in the US or Canada.


But I did not mean to hijack this thread. It is supposed to be about the best match on IS changing.
Since I have never really had any 'daily' downloads, I have not noticed any difference EXCEPT that two or three of my newest files have sold.
Generally I have to wait weeks or months to see action on new files.

In conclusion, maybe this will be a bit more like SS, where the newest stuff gets the most attention.

QuoteCould you elaborate on very "North American"?
Are you referring perhaps to your scenics? Shots of US currency or something else altogether?

Yes, American scenics, wildlife, plants and currency. I'm guessing I do better with IS because a lot more NAs buy their stock photography from this agency, for example, than the European FT, where I don't do nearly as well. DT also seems to have a lot of NA buyers based on the time of day the files are being downloaded.

Does IS change the best match several times a year?