iStockphoto - Stock Photographer Training Manual

6.0 - Title, Descriptions & Keywords

Title:
Don't lead File Titles with: A1, A, AAA, 1A, etc.

Unacceptable Title: "A Five Pencils" or "1 Five Red Pencils"

Manipulating the titles so that your uploads will appear first in search results by starting every image with "A Five Pencils" or "1 Five Red Pencils" is not allowed. Titles should accurately reflect the subject. Reviews of member accounts occur regularly.

Remember, a title is a name you give your file. These aren't translated, so keep it simple.

Descriptions:
Please provide us with a good description of the image. Include relevant details: the subject, location and any interesting or valuable information, such as the camera used, scanner, or any special circumstances about the image. The information you provide may help us decide if we can approve your file. You are welcome to include a banner or a link to similar images, as long as this is in addition to a properly detailed description.

This information is not searchable, nor is it translated, but it can provide important details to the person who is considering your file for download.

Keywords:
Keywords are the most important information you can provide to help users find your images. While people often know the specific subject they are looking for, concept keywords may help to inspire the end-user to choose your images to represent the idea. Keywords are closely reviewed in the inspection process; inappropriate words will be removed.

We utilize an advanced indexing tool called a Controlled Vocabulary (CV) to tag images. This allows your keywords to be translated into any one of our supported languages.

Each keyword you enter will map to the tag that will be used to find your image in our search. The keyword you enter is a "tag", and it will be displayed on the left side; the corresponding "term" will be on the right. Sometimes there will be several available terms for a word, based on the natural ambiguities found in language. For example, the tag "pen" will give you two term options: animal pen (enclosure) or pen (writing instrument). It is your responsibility to check the correct box so that the right terms can be attributed to your file and allow it to be found. This process is known as disambiguation (DA).

It is not necessary to add every synonym for a tag, as the CV does this work for you. Adding these redundant synonyms is a waste of your time, and doesn't improve your search results in any way. More information on the amazing CV and appropriate tagging can be found in the article. K is for...Tags?

Categories are a tool that allows people to browse images that have been placed in the same category without using keywords. You will need to attribute at least one category to your image. You can have up to three.

Acceptable Example: Keywords: Young Woman, Red, Apples, Makeup, Biting, White Background, Shoulders Up, Large Group of Objects, One Person, Young Adult, Healthy Eating, Looking At Camera Category: People > Human Gender > Females > Women > Only Women > One Woman Only Unacceptable Example: Sin, Bible, Temptation, Medicine, Doctor, Eden, Exercise, your user name, your business name, your email Detailed Categories > Food And Drink > Cooking

Acceptable Example: Keywords: Man, Barefoot, Shadows, Tie, Green, Stairs, Head in Hands, Depressed, Giving Up, Sadness, Square, Urban, One Person, Young Man, Skinny Category: Content > Frustration Unacceptable Example: Suicide, Prozac, Breakup, Girlfriend, Argument, Business, Bankruptcy, Death, your user name, your business name, your email Style > Viewpoint > High Angle View > Directly Above

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