Can you reorder Fotolia keywords?

[sbonk]

Last week I started going through my Fotolio portfolio and making sure that the most important keywords are in the top 7. I had not been doing a good job of this in the past when uploading.

However, when I do a search using keywords that I have now placed in the top 7, my photos are still not coming up. Is there a way to successfully reorder?

[hatman12]

Impossible to tell, sbonk.  Fotolia's search engine appears to have been broken or intermittent since V2; nobody seems to be able to find their pictures, keyword order or not.

How the buyers are finding appropriate pictures is beyond me, but sales seem to be increasing so something must be going on.

I suppose it's possible that they are fixing other languages first, which is why all my sales comes from customers in Europe.

[sbonk]

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I'll wait before continuing to reorder.

[hatman12]

Just had a look and all my sales this week seem to have gone to German clients, who presumably are searching using the German language.

[ozbandit]

Don't bother it won't do a thing. I tried this a month ago with a few of my images and none of them are still coming up via their search when I look for any of the new top seven keywords.

[Peter]

Yes. I can reorder my keywords. They enabled this few days ago.

[chellyar]

Unless things have been fixed in the last two weeks it doesn't appear to make any difference what order the keywords are in...

I played around with re-ordering some of mine then searching for the images using the top keywords, and it didn't work, I even left them for three or four days thinking the index process might be slow, but they still didn't come up in a search on the top keywords on that image..

I also had an image that appeared in one of my searches that didn't have the keywords in the top 7, so I think the 'top 7' thing is not correct either..

I'll check back there in another few weeks, and see if the search engine is fixed...

[sbonk]

I emailed Fotolia about search problems and recieved a quick response back that they are "aware of the situation".

[sbonk]

I emailed Fotolia again last night to specifically ask about reordering keywords and if it should be ok to do so and have it work. They responded that you cannot do this at this time. I then went to my portfolio and saw that the update key is disabled.

[ancientimages]

This was the response I received on July 29 when I asked a similar question about why my images were not showing up when I searched on keywords still visible in the information:

"Answers:     
Fotolia :    We apologize for the inconvenience. Our search engine currently displays as a "search result" only the first 7 keywords associated to the image. Try searching your image by entering the first 7 keywords you entered that are associated with that image.
Soon this will be fixed and all keywords that are associated with the image will come up as a search result.
   07-30-2007 08:16 pm"

However, that has not yet happened.   

In addition, I have consistently searched using one of those "top seven" keywords, and had differing numbers of images show up in the searches (from 0 - 130), but NONE of my images with those same keywords at the top.  Whatever "fixes" they are accomplishing must be happening on a random basis - or in Europe first.  I should add the keyword problems relate to images uploaded before the upgrade.  Newer images - so far - (knock on wood) - are showing up in searches.

[madelaide]

Although this is an old thread, I'm reviving it due to a post I see in their forum.

Henrik Andersen
As I said, I know I can rearrange - but does it actually work?

Scott Latham
No it does not work.
you can prove this - move a keyword up from the bottom to the top of your list. wait a week. search for it using that keyword. you won't find it.
only the first 7 keywords originally submitted count.

Kerioak (moderator)
The best advice I can give, which is too late in this instance, is to get the keywords correct when you first upload them. I think we all make mistakes when we start, I know I did but I learned from it and made sure that I got them as accurate as possible in future.
After you have uploaded why not let the images sit there for a day or two before you submit them, then if you do think of any extra words or want to change the order you have time to think about it.

So Kerioak is apparently acknowledging that reordering after submitting doesn't work.  Any experiences with that/

Regards,
Adelaide

[Peter]

True. You can reorder, but it does not help. hehe.

[madelaide]

I'm glad I've always keyworded in order of importance, even before FT.

It sucks however that I've recently found that composed keywords don't work in FT.  So "Rio de Janeiro" has to be three separate keywords.  Very stupid, especially with the 7 keyword limitation.  So you use "Rio, de, Janeiro, Copacabana, beach" and you only have 2 keywords more.  Needless to say, none of my images containing "Rio de Janeiro" can be found. 

Regards,
Adelaide

[Peter]

yep, no multiple word keywords. you should every word make as separate keyword.

[PaulieWalnuts]

I reordered my keywords a while ago and my downloads came to a dead stop. Given that I was getting regular downloads I can't imagine this was a coincidence.

I don't know if reordering had a positive effect overall but it definately seems to have had an immediate negative effect. Maybe recently they have continued to allow the reodering but lessened the impact it has on the search results.

Either way, it doesn't seem like a good idea.

[Phil]

start rant...

what a croc of $%#@!!!

2000 images, hundreds that dont turn up in searches, so days spent reordering and no change.  Now it appears I have to delete them all and resubmit, going through their goddam horrible categories again, removing all the double words, etc etc.

I wonder how many of their 3million images actually turn up in searches.

I look through their ideas box and I dont think they have ever made 1 change based on what people have said.

Did v2 actually fix anything? anything at all?

what a bunch of backyarders!! geckostock in the uk is more professional than they are and thats 1 guy operating from home. God no wonder people go exclusive with Istock...

end rant...

[PaulieWalnuts]

It would seem to make sense that they should have explained to contributors exactly how their keyword system works and emphasized the importance of using it correctly. I haven't seen anything explaining this.

Buyers would probably find more relevant images and buy more, contributors would sell more, and FT would make more money.

So far this month FT is currently my #2 earner behind IS. I wonder how much higher my earnings would be now if I had understood the keywording from the beginning...

[Phil]

I agree, frustrating to find these things out now. explains why they are number 6 for me, only just above BigStock.

[null]

Last week I started going through my Fotolio portfolio and making sure that the most important keywords are in the top 7. I had not been doing a good job of this in the past when uploading.

Sooner or later, all sites will have to use keywords relevance (reflected by order), since in 2010, sites like SS and DT will have around 10,000,000 shots. I wrote something about it last week  here, see last paragraph: "Pre-emptive strategy: relevance".

I also wrote a script for ordering keywords - FlemishTagger. If ever a site decides that 10 or 15 keywords will do (it should), then they can just truncate my IPTC.

I started reuploading to Fotolia last August (I forgot about them for a year) with ranked keywords in my IPTC. As a result, my sales went up drastically with a BME last November.... of my new shots.
The basic message is... start sorting your keywords now.

About Geckostock: yes Richard got his programming right from when he found this friend that redid the full site. A marvellous MRF section, an FTP that is flawless... and that was just a casual amateur that liked coding. I understood from Richard it was a trucker just like him. So my message to FLA, SnapV and all these sites that can't come up with a working FTP: find that guy, drag him out of his truck, and let him make your site work on a corner of his kitchen table!