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All FilesAll FilesKeywords are the most important tool for getting your images found by the people who want to license them. The key to effective keywording is to use all the terms – and only the terms – that are clearly conveyed by the content and context of the image. When keywording your files, take care to include terms that describe the main content, what it's doing, where it is, what concepts it conveys in your image, and how the image is composed.
Keywording is a huge topic you can read more specifics on what iStock requires here.
Some of the biggest keywording mistakes occur when a contributor strays from those things that are clearly conveyed by the content and context of the image. Common keywording mistakes include:
Yes, this image contains eyes, ears, and noses, but they have no particular prominence in the image. This is a picture of two brothers hugging. Someone searching for "human nose" is looking for an image of a nose, not this image.
When you shot your image of a senior man walking through a field, you may know that he is your father, and that he is a lawyer. But if all we see is the senior man in the field, then "Lawyer" and "Father" are not valid keywords.
“Spamming” your file means deliberately including incorrect terms that have no bearing or only a tenuous connection to the content. Spamming is bad for your files, bad for the collection, and can ultimately result in having you and your portfolio removed from the site.
The woman on the left is a doctor, but there's nothing in the image to denote a specialty of any kind. So “Obstetrician” or “Cardiologist” are not good keywords for this image. In the image on the right, it's clear that she is now portrayed as a “Pediatrician”, so that would be a good keyword for the image.
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