Many think search will be solved with better Metadata. While metadata is important, there are limits to how far it can take the customer toward finding the right piece of content.
Have you ever done a Goggle search for anything – pictures or text – and not found useful information, even though you know that useful information probably exists. If you haven’t experienced this problem, then you haven’t done many Google searches.
Any set of search terms, no matter specific one tries to be, delivers too many search results. The results tend to vary widely in their usefulness to any specific individual. In some cases, the newest information is best. Others fine the most frequently downloaded information most useful. But, many searchers are looking for something that has been analyzed and qualified by an acknowledged or trusted expert on the particular subject.
In the last few months I’ve written a number of stories that deal with various aspects of the curation issue. Links to these stories are listed below. To grow the stock photo industry we must find a better way to help customers find the images they need.
Improving Search For Buyers 3/30/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/improving-search-for-buyers
Visual Search: Will It Solve The Problems Photo Customers Face? 3/22/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/visual-search-will-it-solve-the-problems-stoc
Shutterstock Reverse Image Search 3/18/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/shutterstock-reverse-image-search
Why Is Curation So Necessary? 3/11/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/why-is-curation-so-necessary
How Search Return Can Kill Sales 3/7/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/how-search-return-can-kill-sales
Is Growing Collections A Good Thing? 2/22/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/is-growing-collections-a-good-thing
Curated Collections: The Future 2/12/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/curated-collections-the-future
Search Innovations Needed 1/21/16
http://www.selling-stock.com/Article/search-innovations-needed