Yes I don't see why buyers would enter particularly complex search terms though I do wonder about the DT info..itsnot unusual for me to get sales totally unrelated to the image ;-). Its a shame more agencies don't provide this information

SS does provide some info. Look at the Insights > Top Performers screen. Some buyers have used combination keywords to find some of my images...and that's all I'm going to share.

Quote from: Pauws99 on July 13, 2017, 03:14

Yes I don't see why buyers would enter particularly complex search terms though I do wonder about the DT info..itsnot unusual for me to get sales totally unrelated to the image ;-). Its a shame more agencies don't provide this information

SS does provide some info. Look at the Insights > Top Performers screen. Some buyers have used combination keywords to find some of my images...and that's all I'm going to share.

Thanks for reminding me of that I do take a look from time to time. I reckon 90% of the searches are the stunningly obvious but I will be testing some combination key words. Though I wonder if you have "red" "potato" and "red potato" is that considered key word spamming?

Quote from: Dumc on July 13, 2017, 13:29

I don't think there is any difference if you have keywords with comma or not, for example "red, potato" or "red potato" and buyer searches for "red potato"

I don't think it matters. I like to keep all my keywords separate as in red, potato. Some people just put the keyword 'potato' in there and calls it a day. There are over 550k results for 'potato' and 125K results for 'red potato'. I think it's obvious which one you have a better chance with.

still 125K....understand?
the fact is that with such a large number of photos...most of customer simply look for popular...that's why old files keep selling well even after 10 years....

first of all old files were uploaded in a period where acceptance ratio was lower and inspector choose only the best, i remember how many files were refused for minimal flaw....so if one photo is popular is at least good enough....i

imagine a customer who begin browsing red potato clicking on new files tab? 125 most of them junk, most of them not having a single red potato....that0s the problem.

search " black caviar"

23000 images of a kind off food that is pretty expensive.....
tab new....page of page of photos without a single gram of caviar.....search for popular first 10 page only caviar....if you are a customer what you do? search and got crazy or click popular and that's it?
so if this is the panorama new images will struggle forever.
in my opinion if ss will not check accurately keyword soon will be a total mess.
they ask contributors to make a step forward quality in years while making giant step backward.

That's not black caviar. Who the heck serves black caviar with a metal spoon? What a disgrace!

More like salmon roe dyed black or just plain black couscous.

Another change? Just gone from bad to absolutely terrible. Last 3 days.

Another change? Just gone from bad to absolutely terrible. Last 3 days.

It started pretty bad with july but things are getting back to normal from last few days. I agree there is some algorithm change.

Quote from: jonbull on July 13, 2017, 19:41

search " black caviar"

23000 images of a kind off food that is pretty expensive.....
tab new....page of page of photos without a single gram of caviar.....search for popular first 10 page only caviar....if you are a customer what you do? search and got crazy or click popular and that's it?
so if this is the panorama new images will struggle forever.
in my opinion if ss will not check accurately keyword soon will be a total mess.
they ask contributors to make a step forward quality in years while making giant step backward.

Thats not what I find if I do a search surely a buyer would refine their search? if you do something so generic its not surprising if you get a wide range of results. Its a valid point but exaggerated in my view.

well first if u search caviar u should find only caviare....that's what happen if u buy to stock food or other serious food agency...

microstock is so amateurish especially about food photography. personally if i were ss i would ask all contributor to check and fix keyword in all images in a period of 3 months.....after that run the test of 10 images casually if 5 show normal or totally wrong keyword the contributors will be deleted. i'm sure things would run better.

in dreamstime many searched for single terms when buy. same in ss.
i repeat the fact that new contributor most are amateur without ethic of work and competition, run to this res of images not relevant to terms.
i eat my hand cause i left 10000000 images sleep in my hd and only last year i rebegin upload. considering that i have 10 images at first page  I'm sure if i had regularly uploaded since the beginning i would have 100 150 giving me enough money per month. right now i'm uploading good content who simply slip away in the sea of ugly images.

I can't see any positive changes in number of dls or enhanced licences on ss. Since half an year my ss income decreased about 50% percent from the average month income, I had the last two years. All the other relevant agencies are one the level they used to be. Video clip income has decreased dramatic also. More than photo.

everybody seems doing videoclip...but the market for video is minimal compared to photo and the number of video files is growing exponentially.

what u think people spend 200 dollar for 20 grams caviar to do photoset sold for 0,38:)
at least it rambles caviar. practically 75% are sushi photos.

I doubt that's how much residents of Volgograd (Russia) pay for it. If I remember correctly one kilo goes for 500 bucks (depending on the species, I presume). Perhaps even cheaper if poached. And they do eat it with silver spoons. And just with a regular dessert spoon if you are a hick like me.  I bet they also have a fair share of photographers over there.

well one kilo 500 dollar....yes for reselling:)...

Who do you plan to resell it to? To another resident of Volgograd? Good luck with that. Back in the days of my extensive travels, each time I was bringing with me a couple of 100 g jars of black caviar, all I was allowed by the customs. Paid peanuts for them, shared with friends. Not sure if I can bring any nowadays, with new rules, bans and all. Most of my pigging out on black caviar was on location. My hosts had a one liter jar in the fridge that I was just raiding every morning.

I am not sure how you can taste caviar just by looking at a picture. It all looks very real to me. You do know that black caviar from different species looks differently?

I guess everyone is different. July is a little lower than last 2 months for me, but nothing on the scale of the "the sky is falling!". Pretty much in line with other stocks. So far I interpret it as seasonal fluctuations.