Smugsearch optimization

Markjay

There's lots of information on how to optimize our photos for search engines like google etc. Is there information on the following specific questions or, would you be kind enough to answer in this thread, please.


1. in what format does the smugsearch most easily recognize or find a photo on smugmug. By this I mean..... keyword formatting

dogs, cats, horses, tropical beach
dogs; cats; horses; "tropical beach"

2. What criteria does Smugsearch use to order the results page?
And please, be specific because it can profoundly affect how / where our photos are displayed in the search (first page, last page, etc.)

3. How does the smugsearch determine which of these criteria will make one particular photo appear earlier in the search result than others? I'' list them with a letter so you can respond to each one or specific ones more easily.

Thank you in advance!

A, photos that have been uploaded and keyworded earlier than others (date wise)

B. photos that have more keywords listed than others (up to the max allowed)

C. photos that simply have the search term word in BOTH the caption AND the photo title

D. photos that have been IPTC tagged prior to upload onto smugmug

E. photos that are linked to VERY high traffic hosting spot NOT related to Smugmug (for example: photos that are uploaded to istockphoto.com and simply LINKED to there through a smugmug gallery)

F. Smugmug Pro user images show up before others


Thank you in advance

bspeaks

Markjay wrote:

Bump: responses appreciated.

I second the bump. Perhaps a FAQ is in order?

Thank you,

Bill

www.speaksimages.com

bspeaks

bspeaks wrote:

I second the bump. Perhaps a FAQ is in order?

Thank you,

Bill

www.speaksimages.com

Any progress?

Thanks!
Bill

www.speaksimages.com

Markjay

Not going to happen
After waiting days for an answer....... I've given up. It appears that this information is considered proprietary or it's just information Smugmug would rather not elaborate on at this time. Maybe it has something to do with the coming Smug stock system and they don't want to share that information since it's related?

I'd say time to move on past this post.. it's over ;-)

bspeaks wrote:

Any progress?

Thanks!
Bill

www.speaksimages.com

Andy

You can give up but we haven't.

It's on the list of todos, to make an info page that will answer your questions.

bspeaks

Andy wrote:

You can give up but we haven't.

It's on the list of todos, to make an info page that will answer your questions.

Thanks Andy!
Bill
www.speaksimages.com

Markjay

Thanks
THANK YOU!!!

I knew I was giving up prematurely :-)

Andy wrote:

You can give up but we haven't.

It's on the list of todos, to make an info page that will answer your questions.

bspeaks

Any thing happening on this?
Bill

bspeaks

bspeaks wrote:

Any thing happening on this?
Bill

Bump.

bspeaks

Any update? I would really appreciate an answer.

Thank you,
Bill

Steve Cavigliano

Hi Mark,
There's really not much light I can shed on your question :-( But I will give you the best answers I can. Much of this information is locked in our Cheif Geek's head and is not meant for public consumption.


1. in what format does the smugsearch most easily recognize or find a photo on smugmug. By this I mean..... keyword formatting

dogs, cats, horses, tropical beach
dogs; cats; horses; "tropical beach"

Not sure what you are asking here? The top row is the same as the bottom row, with the exception of "tropical beach" being one keyword in the 2nd row and tropical beach, being 2 keywords in the top row. Seperating keywords with a comma or semi colon, makes no difference. A keyword is a keyword.

2. What criteria does Smugsearch use to order the results page?
And please, be specific because it can profoundly affect how / where our photos are displayed in the search (first page, last page, etc.)

3. How does the smugsearch determine which of these criteria will make one particular photo appear earlier in the search result than others? I'' list them with a letter so you can respond to each one or specific ones more easily.

These 2 are questions we will not answer. Just as Google and other search engine companies won't. We will not give away our "secret sauce" recipe. For the obvious reasons (we don 't want the search results to be "gamed").

So please continue to keyword your photos and galleries as you have been doing. This will give your photos the best chance of displaying when a search is performed :-)


Steve

PixelPie

A lot of Keywords.

Markjay wrote:

B. photos that have more keywords listed than others (up to the max allowed)

Just for my curiosity, and I'm sure I've stumbled upon this in all my readings, BUT can you clarify how many keywords are actually allowed? Is it 15 or 30? (Those numbers are what come to mind).

And then do you place those same keywords, on each and every photo, or is it best to mix them up a little? Wouldn't that be keyword spamming if the same 15 words show on 100+ photos?

Sorry for any repeat questions!