Photo curators are STILL confused about titles!

Problem addressed and solved, curators were doing it correct, just a miscommunication. Thanks Jonathan.

Hi there Atomazul,

You wrote into customer service about this just yesterday, and I sent you a reply. Since part of the issue here was the confusion caused by my misinformation, I'd like to just share the message I sent you here, also since you've already shared one of my messages. In it, I wrote...


Actually, this disconnect is largely my fault. Since our last correspondence, I have been corrected by my supervisor, in that numbers should not be in our titles. I was the one who was wrong, so for my contribution to the confusion, please accept my apologies.

The reason we don't want numbers in titles has to do with our our search algorithm is set up, and how our keyword tags work. Essentially, a clip's title is also a keyword tag, and having numbers in it (Steamboat 1, Steamboat 2, etc) actually only serves to confuse our system and can cause the item to either never show up in results, or to show up in all the wrong places. Numbers in the title like that are also an indication that many pieces of content are likely similar, and we do not frequently accept large batches of similar shots. We'll be more likely to ask you to just pick one or a few. So if you find yourself numbering items because they're similar, then please consider just choosing one or two. It's better for you and for us if there aren't any numbers, because it will mean your content stands a better chance and being accepted, seen, and sold. This is the explanation that should have been given to you sooner, by me. Again, my apologies for the extra confusion I caused.


It's not about your titles being vague, it's just that we simply can't take items with numbered titles like that. It's not personal, and no one thinks you're trying to deceive anyone. The matter was complicated by my giving you the wrong information back in Feb as well. I hope I've cleared everything up for you. If you would like to continue discussing this matter, please feel free to reply to my customer support message. :)

Thank you for the reply here, I did not actually get the customer support message reply, not sure why. I will revise the way I title my photos from now on.

Thanks again for the clarification.

I sure hope that does not apply to footage. Is footage with numbers possibly "never show up in results or show up in wrong places"? With nearly 14,000 clips and almost all have numbers I hope the keywords or P5 system is not being confused. Using number is really one of the easiest and best way for many of us to catalog our portfolios. Without numbers (that are the number assigned by the camera) it is impossible to find the original footage when needed. On the photo side earlier we were told we could at least put the number in the description, is that still ok?
Thanks.

Should I be going through my collection to remove the numbers in the previously accepted titles?

Does this risk of "not showing up in results or in the wrong places" when numbers are added, solely apply to photos, or all media types?

I would also like to know about if this apply to footage. All footage I´ve uploaded which is larger than HD is named 4K in the title field.
Are we not supposed to do so?

In the past we were told it was photos only. Seems like the search and keyword algorithm would work the same. If so, they need to fix the photo side and not change the footage side. That would be all but impossible and really cause a mess.

Hello hello wonderful artists,

Atomazul, my apologies, I didn't realize you weren't receiving our email notifications. But I'm glad it sounds like you're all set now. :)

I've been told by several our curation staff that numbers in the title is something you really should try to avoid. We do understand that some artists have been using their own numbering system for a long time, and changing everything would just be a mess like Rekindle says. In those cases, so long as the rest of the title is accurate, we tend to let them slide.

The way that the search system can get confused has to do with what buyers are searching for. If your clip is titled "car in driveway 5" then just searching for "car driveway" might not return that result very well, especially if the other keywords aren't very good or numerous. Those other keywords on the clip still function great though, so it's not a huge detriment, not even remotely.

This is why using 4K in the title isn't a big deal, because buyers looking for 4K footage will tend to append their search with 4K. But buyers searching for X, Y, or Z won't tend to append their searches with random numbers.

Does that make sense? You're just not doing yourself any favors with numbers in the title, that's all. Not a huge deal. :)

Let's see:

A buyer is searching for "cute dog".

A clip with the title "Cute dog" will be better in the search result than the clip with the title "Cute dog 39654".
So, the search algorithm prioritized 'exact term' search, but it is flexible if the 'exact term' was not found.

Thanks for the communication Jonathan, it means a lot, and is why I tend to trust Pond5 more than other companies that refuse to respond to our concerns.

However, I have to disagree with your saying it's not a huge deal. Search result placement is probably the most important factor in our business relationship. If my clips are not coming up reasonably high in the results, customers are not seeing them and they are not being sold. It's actually a very big deal, to me anyways. Not trying to debate you, but I want you to understand where the concern and frustration may come from at times.

I don't want to "sneak clips through", or have someone "let them slide". I want to do it correctly, and allow myself the opportunity to have success and see a return on my work. If adding a number reduces their rank in the results, then in addition to no longer using them in the future, I need to remove all numbers from all of my existing clip titles, as much of a nightmare as that sounds to me. Sales matter most.

But before I do, I really need to know, will removing the numbers of previously accepted clips actually improve their search result placement, or have those search algorithm factors already been applied and attached to the clip once curated?

I ask because during my back and forth with curators on this, the risk of having a negative "contributor rating" affecting my search results was mentioned, which I had never heard of before. Is this "rating" of the clip or contributor? There's no FAQ information to base my speculation on, or I'm missing it. Is it set in stone or does it change if the offending factors are fixed later, like numbers in the title?