Make Your Keywords Work For You

In the field of editorial photography, photo researchers no longer search for pictures by looking at images ( your eyes begin sagging after a while!). Instead they search, first, for words. Rarely do they do a one-word search (they’d receive thousands of hits). They usually use a three or four word search, and sometimes five or six words. When you attach descriptive keywords to each of your images, keep this in mind. Try to anticipate what keywords a photobuyer might use in his/her search. Since text description takes up very little * in a database, be generous in your use of words to describe each image. Also, remember to include colloquial descriptions: In California it’s a “carpet,” in Wisconsin, it’s a “rug.” In Alabama the word is “flying;” in New Jersey it’s “aviation.” HINT: Stay away from trite descriptions and keyphrases that are too general. The phrase “Infant child and mother” may bring 2,000 hits. A better description would be, “Infant soiled diapers distraught mother”

** (if it more accurately describes the scene). * The phrase, “ Four score and seven years ago, our fathers…” takes up 32 bytes. A normal 8 meg image takes up 8,000,000 bytes. ** No need to include prepositions.

Examples:

GOOD:

mother supports toddler standing position a Victorian photo locket circa 1865 Spain Andalusia Seville Giralda tower mother daughter under bell poor Cuban family seated on sidewalk Havana Cuba mother daughter Biscarrosse beach France crazy worm ride Edinburgh funfair people family mountain biking France Aquitaine Landes forest France Aquitaine Landes forest boy mountain biking France Aquiline Landes forest teenagers looking bored music concert teenagers looking bored rock concert little girl mother walking carefully on a snowy dirt road kid and man repairing mountain bike elder boy scout welcoming little sister railway station four children contemplating sunset Frioul islands France Corsica island Bastia man son Jet Ski heart-shaped biscuits white plate valentines male writes graffiti Hebrew three little boys looking at world globe

NOT GOOD:

These keyphrases are too generic.The photobuyer would get hundreds of inquiries. They need one or two additional modifiers to make the description more specific. Typical modifiers would be: where they are doing the activity (name the city, park, resort, etc.) If it’s at a school, business, industry, church, synagogue, mosque, add this also. GET SPECIFIC. That’s what the researchers do! mother and baby playing family riding bicycle together children riding carousel mom with newborn baby mother kissing child newborn baby feet crying baby baby on bed newborn baby boy mother holding baby tired mother and baby crying baby mother holding baby in arms mother and child smiling mother with newborn baby mother holding newborn baby infant newborn baby boy infant child and mother mother and child crying baby on mother’s lap Christmas turkey mom and daughter opening present mom and son opening Christmas presents young boy and girl and dog young girl and her parents young girl and her mother young girl and her father woman taking photos of children walking in the country brother and sister playing in the sand grandmother and her granddaughter baby grasping father’s finger mother and daughter kissing girls hugging children at beach grandmother snuggling with baby father with his little boy

Rohn Engh is publisher of www.sellphotos.com , and the newsletter, PhotoStockNOTES, that shows stock photographers how to sell photos and publishers how to buy photos on the Internet.