Keyword tag requirements help

Keywording Help and Requirements

You may have taken a beautiful image that fits a buyer's needs perfectly, but if your keywords are inadequate, it might not be found, found in the wrong search results or drive away potential buyers. Fortunately, there are ways to improve your keywording skills and learn how the search algorithm works so you know how to set up your keywords without gaming the system. Here are the top tips from Cutcaster.

Think like a buyer

Buyers search for images by both subject (actual content) and concept (ideas or mood). They might also have technical requirements, such as the type of shot (aerial, close up, etc) or the amount of copy space (See here for a list and description of how you should write these “technical requirement” keywords at Cutcaster). It's a good idea to keep all these concerns in mind while keywording but remember to be as literal and specific as possible.

Try this. Picture yourself describing your image to someone who you are speaking to over the phone or is blind. Try to focus on only the visual information for keywords and ignore the contextual information you know about how and where it was taken. The first three words that come to your mind will probably be the most relevant and important ones to add as keywords.

Other decision factors:

* Are there people in the picture? If so, describe them specifically. See this for the best keywords to use for model, gender, age and subject.

* What colors are prominently represented? Only use colors if this is important. If the image is a “pink flower” use the compound phrase “pink flower” with a space and no comma and NOT “pink, flower”.

* What objects are prominently included in the picture – ONLY use key subjects of the picture, not items in the background. Don’t list insignificant details. Think about if you did a keyword search for a keyword you have included in your keyword set, would you want to get that specific image in your results. If it is maybe then think real hard about adding it because it may turn off buyers who don’t want or weren’t expecting that results.

* Is the location relevant/worth mentioning? If so, be both specific and general: city like New York City or street like Park Avenue but do not include any location info if the shot is of a seagull with a sky background or woman hiking on a non descript trail. See here for some examples of location based keywords you could use.

* Are you using a special angle or other technical points worth mentioning? Panoramic, low angle etc. For composition, photo technique/effects or other technical points, then please see this list of keywords for help on what keywords to use.

See Cutcaster's 12 Commandments of Keywording