Maximize metadata to get discovered

In part 3 of our 5 Keys to Stock Success series, learn the basics of metadata: keywords, descriptions, and how to use them to your advantage as a stock contributor. 

To maximize the commercial potential of your creative work, it's important to craft your metadata — the keywords and titles you enter to get your content noticed on Adobe Stock — as carefully as you run your production process and create your visuals. If a customer can’t find your assets, they can’t license them — it’s as simple as that. You’ve got to choose the right keywords and titles before you submit your content for review.

 In this article, we’ll take you inside Adobe Stock for a look at metadata best practices that can help surface your content and make it easier for buyers around the world to find the exact types of assets they need.

When you create your stock content, your first step is to develop a storyline. Once you understand the who, what, when, where, and why of your story, you’ll be able to use metadata to describe the story effectively with words. The best place to start is to ask yourself: Who’s in the picture? What are they doing, and why? When and where is the action happening? And finally, were there any relevant concepts or inspirations that drove the content-creation process?

The accuracy and authenticity of your metadata are key. Metadata relies on what the image is literally depicting. Instead of guessing at how a customer might want to use your asset, remember that the primary purpose of metadata is to describe the core subject matter. Add as much detail as you can. If you’re aware of additional information such as a person’s ethnicity or an animal’s particular breed, include these specifics in your keywords. Distinguishing between an African and an Asian elephant, for example, can have an impact on your sales.

 As for asset titles, they help introduce your content to potential buyers. Begin with concise, natural-sounding language that provides details — like Family playing with their golden retriever, Cannon Beach, Oregon Coast — to help customers understand if the image will serve their needs. Titles are searchable, and they become URLs on Adobe Stock. And keep in mind that, if a word is important enough to include in the title, you should include it as a keyword as well. Use your title as a starting point to add effective keywords that cover the most important elements of your asset.

 By focusing on facts, you’ll help the Adobe Stock search technology produce more precise results, you’ll enhance the overall customer experience, and you’ll help buyers discover more relevant content. To better understand the system, browse Adobe Stock assets to understand and correctly identify animals, plants, food and drink, or locations before you fill out the metadata for your own submissions. If you’re submitting an illustration, include the style (e.g., 3D rendering, vector, or watercolor). And if you’re submitting a video, follow the metadata guidelines for still images but also include any special techniques or camera angles (e.g., zoom, time-lapse, or aerial).

Representing models accurately, authentically, and appropriately requires communication and understanding. Eliminate any guesswork and focus on the information provided on your model releases. Be transparent and have direct, honest conversations with your models to discuss how they’d like to be represented. It’s also a good idea to speak to someone about the right terminology to describe specific cultural groups.

Then, use the knowledge you’ve gained to inform keywords for ethnicity, gender, age or age range, and other descriptive characteristics such as clothing, hair color, and tattoos. Also, describe relationships or roles (e.g., mother, couple, teacher, or farmer) as well as facial expressions and emotions. On the flip side, if there are no people in your image, include the keywords, "no people" or "nobody". 

Remember that your models’ safety should always be a core concern and must be taken very seriously. Inaccurate, derogatory, or vulgar keywords can potentially endanger models in some regions and situations. Remember that customers want authenticity, so creating appropriate titles and keywords that celebrate your subjects enhances both model trust and the overall search experience for customers.

Do: 

• Use a single language. Choose the supported language you feel most comfortable using. On Adobe Stock, the default keyword language matches your computer’s OS language, so you may want to change it — especially if you want to target regional content. Once you’ve chosen a language, consistently enter your metadata in that language. The Adobe Stock search engine will automatically translate it into other available languages. Getting those language-specific nuances can help improve regionally relevant search. 
  
• Arrange keywords in order of importance. The first 10 keywords are crucial for relevance and have the biggest impact on search results. Include all the important words from your title in the top 10 keywords. This will give your content an extra boost for searches relevant to those queries. 
  
• Keep it simple. While you can add up to 49 keyword tags for all types of assets on Adobe Stock, more isn't always better. The number of tags is far less important to buyers than the accuracy and relevance of those tags for search. A range of 15 to 35 keywords is often plenty to maximize impact. For titles, try to describe your content in around 70 characters. If you use more, your title may be automatically shortened during the file submission process. Keep titles concise to avoid losing important information. 
• Evoke the narrative. After describing the basic elements and actions (i.e., the who, what, where, and when), add conceptual keywords that describe the feelings, moods, or trends (e.g., solitude, childhood, milestones, or celebration). These keywords need to be accurate and relevant, too, so be careful to describe only what’s represented. Also, don’t use opposites. For example, an image shouldn’t use both long hair and hair loss unless there’s contextual relevance that can be understood by a customer. 
  

Don't: 

• Avoid prohibited words. Don’t include brand and trademarked names, product names, or people’s names in titles or keywords. Also, don’t include camera specifications, numbers, and specific file information like file size.
  
• Avoid limiting how your content is returned in search. Use keywords that are individual, concise concepts (e.g., playground, outdoors, Golden Gate Bridge, and Steller's Sea Eagle). Avoid adding descriptive adjectives (e.g., red dress) or phrases composed of individual concepts (e.g., bowl of soup) as these practices may restrict how your content is returned. Descriptive elements, when not part of common concepts, are more useful to customers when they appear as separate keywords (e.g., red, dress, bowl, and soup). 
  
• Avoid spamming. Again, be descriptive and only enter keywords that are relevant to image content. Guessing how an image may be used (e.g., applying job search, ecommerce, or online payment to an isolated image of a laptop) or cutting corners (e.g., adding every animal from a batch of animal submissions to every individual asset regardless of whether the animal is actually represented) is a practice known as keyword spamming. It decreases customer trust and reduces the relevance of your assets, and it can reduce your visibility and harm your sales on Adobe Stock. In the worst case scenario, it can even lead to your account being closed. 
  
• Avoid losing sight of the big picture. Don’t use keywords for background objects that are irrelevant to potential buyers, and don’t waste time overthinking synonyms and adding variations of the same word (e.g., plural and singular nouns like dog, dogs, canine, and canines). This practice will take a lot of effort and eat into your keyword limits, and Adobe Stock search technology already accommodates synonyms. Instead, just add dog and any specifics like golden retriever so you can get back to creating content. 
  

Keywording is critical to the success of your content, so always be cautious about bulk-applying metadata. Our artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology, Adobe Sensei, will automatically recommend up to 25 keywords for you. While using the Adobe Sensei recommended keywords can save time and provide words you might not have considered, you’ll often you lose the specificity and relevance that can differentiate your content if you rely on these recommendations alone. We suggest using auto-generated keywords in combination with your own metadata descriptions for the best results.

 For example, Adobe Sensei struggles to recommend all the right keywords for more complex scenarios, such as a photo of a multigenerational family at a dinner table. In this example, you’d need to manually enter metadata to accurately describe the people, relationships, and main visual elements. Similarly, while Adobe Sensei might suggest the keyword dessert, adding accurate names such as klepon, éclair, or Neapolitan ice cream will surface your content to customers who are looking for something specific.

  When you do use auto-generated keywords, be sure to check them for accuracy before submitting your content. Always review the keywords for each asset on a case-by-case basis. Be sure to only select the most appropriate keywords, and reorder them if necessary to put the most important ones first. And don’t forget to add anything that might be missing.

 Also, consider the following questions: If you’re submitting a set of similar assets, what differentiates the content and how are you accounting for that in your keywords? Do the copied tags accurately represent the main elements of the image, or are there tags that no longer reflect what’s visible? Even if the keywords you use will be the same, consider shuffling the order you list them to help diversify placement in search results.

Always approach your metadata from a buyer’s perspective and make sure to give it a final gut check. If you were a customer searching for the photo you are uploading, what words would you use to find it? Ask yourself if you’d expect your content to show up for the search terms you’re using as metadata. Regularly review your keywords once you’ve submitted your assets, too, and check to see if anything needs updating. This is an opportunity to fix any mistakes you may have made or respond to any new trends that your content may reflect.

Your metadata plays a critical role in increasing the visibility of your assets and establishing trust in you as an artist. When you concentrate on what makes your content special and then provide matching keywords to describe it accurately, you’ll tell the story of every stock photo, illustration, or video clip more effectively and ensure that your work only comes up in relevant searches. This will also help customers, who will know that they can rely on your keywords to easily and confidently find the stock imagery they need when they need it.

 In part 4 of this series, we’ll look at how to go beyond metadata and optimize your uploads for maximum search potential.

For even more insider tips on titles and keywords, check out the Adobe Stock team’s comprehensive Metadata Guide, which covers best practices for describing people, objects, animals, places, plants and flowers, food and drink, business and industry, illustrations, and videos.

View Metadata Guide