Any IPTC/SEO/Photoshelter experts out there?
Confusion reigns… Over the last week or so I have made a start on my Photoshelter archive, something I really should have done a long time ago – my backlog of images is really quite frightening. However I have hit a bit of a stumbling block. In terms of SEO, and within PS itself, how best should I be using the IPTC fields?
My understanding of IPTC fields suggest I should be using IPTC Headline as a succinct, one sentence summary of the image – something along the lines of “Schooling snapper on a coral reef, Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia.” I then use the IPTC Caption field to provide more detailed/extra information about the subject, location etc. However, Photoshelter doesn’t actually display the headline field when you are presented with a gallery of thumbnails, when you view the pop-up image, or on the image page itself. So why use the headline field at all? It seems PS is missing out the most important bit of information. Or am I doing somthing really stupid here?
I’m also very confused about what information to include for SEO and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there. Some people recommend using ‘Stock Photography Image’ in the headline field, and the full information in the caption. Others to use headline and caption as above. And the Photoshelter help page is very obtuse to say the least:
Headline
A publishable entry providing a synopsis of the contents of the news object. Headline is not the same as Title.
Any pointers or advice from anyone using PS? Any IPTC recommendations? SEO recommendations? I really need to make sure I am doing the right thing before uploading any more images to PS…
Hi, I set a PS site up a couple of weeks ago, but the SEO issues are the same for any site. I am not an expert by any measure, like all of us I’m trying to keep up! But, one key thing to think is that not everything a search engines looks for is or needs to be seen by a viewer, so it does not matter that headlines aren’t seen in the preview. All the info is there for the image to be found. So, a headline that just said it was a stock photo would be pointless – no one would ever search under those terms as they would get millions of returns, and then they would have to …… So, the headline should be one sentence that gives a clear indication of the image. A caption can say much more, to help narrow the returns, but it must not spam, not include irrelevant info. Only things that describe the essential character of the image should be included (everyone, including us, gets annoyed at spurious returns from searches).
When I choose keywords, captions, headlines I try to think about how I would search.
PS uses Google Analytics, I find it eccentric and unreliable when compared with other site monitoring, so wait some time before you draw conclusions.
I’m not a techie, but I think the headline might be the most important tag, but it is anyway, an important SEo factor.
Hi Alan – Thanks for this, certainly helped me understand things a little better. Its quite ridiculous but the ins-and-outs of SEO makes my blood boil!
I actually found out that you can customise the image display in PS so that it does display the headline. This is important for people browsing the images, rather than SEO of course. A lot of my photos have some sort of behaviour, or are of a rare species, and I suspect it will help any potential buyers if this is made very obvious from the word go. I agree with you about putting in spam keywords and ‘Stock Image’ as a headline – it is not something I would want to do.
I have been talking to a photographer/web designer about a new site and bouncing around a few emails has really helped clarify my thoughts. He runs an SEO crash course for photographers which I am contemplating doing – I think it will be well worth the money spent in the long run. Particularly as I would like to be able to sell stock through my site, as well as using it to highlight my portfolio.
Have you ever tried Clicky rather than Google Analytics? Seems to be a little simpler…
Matt
Allen has put it succinctly. I too am not a programmer but what he elucidates above seems to be spot on. I have to tell you that your photos are outstanding. My dream was to become an oceanographer and on my first dive my ear drums burst. The doctor told me to “NEVER” dive below 8 feet. What fun is that? Anyway I am doing a link back on your site so I can dream about what could have been.
Keep shooting.
Steve-
Steve – Such a shame you cannot dive! Have you gone back to your doctor recently? A couple of colleagues of mine have burst their eardrums but have returned to diving…
Alan hit the nail on the head, particularly about not using spam – I think google punishes sites/links that use spam keywording, really not worth it.
One thing I have yet to solve is having the headline appear in the pop preview box of the image in Photoshelter. That would be very useful for image buyers in my opinion but changing that seems impossible at the moment.
Matt
Hey Guys,
Sorry this is a brief post but I thought you may like to take a look at my photoshelter site/SEO Blog/Photo Blog/Social Networking for Photoshelter Blog!
It’s at the below address
http://thomasjupe.visualsociety.com/
I am sure you will finds it useful, its young, new and being updated regularly! Any requests for content please ask!
Tom