Author Topic: Istockphoto Best Match Tweak 5/27/11 (Read 31651 times)

PaulieWalnuts · « **on:** May 27, 2011, 06:14 »

Looks like there was a substantial tweak today. Vetta/Agency are less dominant at the top of the search results. A lot of non-V/A files are mixed in that seem to have either high view/download ratio or high downloads.

Maybe the forcefed Vetta/Agency experiment didn't boost sales. Or they're listening to buyers complaining about the heavy V/A search results and pricing.

Either way, looks like an improvement to me and hopefully to buyers too.

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** May 27, 2011, 06:57 »

Wow, a big change indeed.
For A/V I've been keeping my eye on 'horse', not because I've got a vested interest, but because there was for a very long time only one file in the top 200 which wasn't V or A.
Now the top file by best match (in my geographic bias) is an independent, not even P+.
(Now to check the searches I do have a vested interest in).

ayzek · « **Reply #2 on:** May 27, 2011, 09:23 »

Really big change.
Let's hope it has not been done by mistake.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #3 on:** May 27, 2011, 09:44 »

Huge change - take a look at the searches I've been keeping tabs on (using Sean's greasemonkey script to sort a page of 200 results). I think the issue will be how long they leave it this way - I'm assuming there will be screams of complaints from Vetta/Agency heavies. It will take a while for buyers to realize that they now have a more reasonable mix of results. And of course turning collections on and off would still be better than any mix.

nataq · « **Reply #4 on:** May 27, 2011, 10:11 »

Wow, but since they announced they aren´t going to make huge changes anymore, I bet this was done by mistake.

Unfortunately it doesn´t look too different from "sort by downloads" now, so I guess new files will hardly sell if it stays like this.

helix7 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 27, 2011, 10:24 »

Between this and the current "sale" (aka the price reduction experiment), I'd say it's pretty clear that HQ is having some 2nd thoughts about their strategy.

traveler1116 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 27, 2011, 10:26 »

Best Match should look similar to the search by downloads with weighting on searched for keywords. New files are not the best matched files until buyers decide that, the problem was that new fiels (Vetta and Agency) went straight to the top. They didn't represent the best match at all.

nataq · « **Reply #7 on:** May 27, 2011, 10:31 »

Quote from: traveler1116 on May 27, 2011, 10:26

Best Match should look similar to the search by downloads with weighting on searched for keywords. New files are not the best matched files until buyers decide that, the problem was that new fiels (Vetta and Agency) went straight to the top. They didn't represent the best match at all.

Not if the buyer doesn´t see the image. I for one will wait how things develop before I upload some more new content. I have lost too many images with changes like that. But I really do appreciate the change - can´t have all at once I guess.

lagereek · « **Reply #8 on:** May 27, 2011, 11:10 »

If this best match, is NOT a mistake? I will be an extremely rich man. Buy you all a beer.

ShadySue · « **Reply #9 on:** May 27, 2011, 11:13 »

Having a really lousy day today. One sale just after midnight, iStock time and nothing since.
Mind you, I had only 2 XSm sales on Monday.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #10 on:** May 27, 2011, 11:34 »

It's lousy for me, too, but Fridays sometimes are.

lagereek · « **Reply #11 on:** May 27, 2011, 11:37 »

Sue! Im sorry to hear that but something is cooking thats for sure I had in the region of 50- P+ sales yesterday.

Karimala · « **Reply #12 on:** May 27, 2011, 11:40 »

What I'm noticing is my low-sales images are selling today...and more specifically they are images I deliberately chose not to add to P+. Heh. Go figure. But I'm not complaining...glad to see these shots selling!

Sadstock · « **Reply #13 on:** May 27, 2011, 12:56 »

Quote from: ShadySue on May 27, 2011, 11:13

Having a really lousy day today. One sale just after midnight, iStock time and nothing since.
Mind you, I had only 2 XSm sales on Monday.

-------------------
Monday in the US is memorial day, the unoffical start of summer, so many folks in the U.S. are on vacation.

My standard search is back to a normal distribution like it was a year ago, so in theory my sales should pick up.

jsmithzz · « **Reply #14 on:** May 27, 2011, 13:04 »

I'm not going to start breaking out the champagne just yet. Just a matter of time before Kelly and crew thrown a wrench into something else.

ShadySue · « **Reply #15 on:** May 27, 2011, 13:06 »

Quote from: Sadstock on May 27, 2011, 12:56

Quote from: ShadySue on May 27, 2011, 11:13
Having a really lousy day today. One sale just after midnight, iStock time and nothing since.
Mind you, I had only 2 XSm sales on Monday.
-------------------
Monday in the US is memorial day, the unoffical start of summer, so many folks in the U.S. are on vacation.

UK Bank Holiday on Monday, and likewise a lot of people take today off, but most offices are open today, at least in Scotland.
Stupidly, I was comparing with the comparable Friday last year: that way lies madness.

Sadstock · « **Reply #16 on:** May 27, 2011, 13:13 »

Quote from: nataq on May 27, 2011, 10:11

Wow, but since they announced they aren´t going to make huge changes anymore, I bet this was done by mistake.

You believed them? :-)

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #17 on:** May 27, 2011, 16:11 »

Quote from: ayzek on May 27, 2011, 09:23

Really big change.
Let's hope it has not been done by mistake.

I don't think this is a mistake. They're experimenting to see which best match mix makes the most money.

Seems like this was a pretty drastic change to dilute Vetta/Agency. Who knows why but maybe sales stalled from buyers spending elsewhere. If buyers start getting "comeback to us" emails like "we've improved our search to balance pricing" that would confirm they took a hit from forcing Vetta/Agency.

I couldn't blame them for trying. Does anybody really know where this is all going or what buyers are willing to spend? I doubt it. What if they forced Vetta/Agency and sales quadrupled while download volume continued to grow? You won't know where the limit is until you cross over it. Looks like they may have just found the limit.

lisafx · « **Reply #18 on:** May 27, 2011, 16:24 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on May 27, 2011, 11:34

It's lousy for me, too, but Fridays sometimes are.

Terrible here as well. With a best match change away from V/A I would expect to benefit, but today's downloads aren't showing it.

With the US holiday weekend, though, it's not a good time to get an accurate sense of what the new best match is doing to sales.

SNP · « **Reply #19 on:** May 27, 2011, 16:46 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on May 27, 2011, 11:34

It's lousy for me, too, but Fridays sometimes are.

it's not a great shift for me either. a number of other more prolific contributors I know were buzzing today about sales being down too, so personally I'm hoping this is not the latest best match. having said that, it's just one day and we all know these tweaks will keep happening.

franckreporter · « **Reply #20 on:** May 27, 2011, 16:53 »

I'm not a top seller top, I only have 32 images in VEtta collection, but with the best match shake now is really a disaster ....

much worse than that of March 27, 2011 ... (last shake best match)

yesterday was for me almost BDE and I had not noticed strange changes in the ordering of best match

this morning everything seems to be revolutionized and give priority to old images with thousands of downloads, while new images are located in the bottom of the search ...

I hope that someone at 'HQ can act on this choice, because the sort as it is now sucks and looks the same sorting for download ....

today less than 70% compared to last Friday

SNP · « **Reply #21 on:** May 27, 2011, 16:56 »

^ as someone said earlier, it's also going to slow down over the summer and this weekend is a US holiday weekend.

lisafx · « **Reply #22 on:** May 27, 2011, 16:59 »

Quote from: SNP on May 27, 2011, 16:56

it's also going to slow down over the summer

^^That thought scares the He11 out of me. Sales have been so bad the last couple of months, a summer slowdown would just about grind them to a halt.

helix7 · « **Reply #23 on:** May 27, 2011, 17:28 »

Quote from: lisafx on May 27, 2011, 16:59

That thought scares the He11 out of me. Sales have been so bad the last couple of months, a summer slowdown would just about grind them to a halt.

Same here. May is my worst month at istock since 2007. I can't imagine how bad the summer will be.

Actually I can. It'll be back to my 2006 earnings levels.

Hint: I started in microstock in 2007.

SNP · « **Reply #24 on:** May 27, 2011, 17:34 »

March/April & May were all pretty good months here. but I am seeing some bad days here and there with the latest best match tweaks.

last summer wasn't too bad, so I'm hoping this summer will be similar. but summer is a slow period so likely we'll all see some slowdown.

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Author Topic: Istockphoto Best Match Tweak 5/27/11 (Read 31651 times)

PaulieWalnuts

ShadySue

ayzek

Jo Ann Snover

nataq

helix7

traveler1116

nataq

lagereek

ShadySue

BaldricksTrousers

lagereek

Karimala

Sadstock

jsmithzz

ShadySue

Sadstock

PaulieWalnuts

lisafx

SNP

franckreporter

SNP

lisafx

helix7

SNP

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