The popularity meter indicates how popular a photo is based on how many hits it has received. The better your title is and the more descriptive you are, the more likely your photos will become popular. In this article you will find some very useful hints on how to ensure an increasing popularity of your photos.
Personal photo blog and album.
When viewing a photo blog you will notice a popularity meter below each photo. The popularity meter indicates the popularity of a photo compared with the other photos the user has submitted.
All photo blogs and albums.
If you are searching for photos, or viewing the latest photo comments or submissions, the popularity meter indicates the popularity of a photo compared with the most popular photo submitted at the photo blogs. This is also the same when viewing the most popular photos through all the photo blogs.
Uploading photos.
Before submitting photos to your photo blog you should get to know a little about titling your photos and how to add a proper description. Both of them are very important factors when it comes to ranking your photos at all major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Titles.
The title carries the whole weight of the page where your photo will be submitted, therefore taking the time to add a descriptive title is important as it will improve your overall search ranking. Below you will find examples of bad titles which have been rewritten into good titles. This will give you a good idea of what titling a photo correctly will actually mean for your photos.
Bad titles:
My dog Our house Great view
Good titles:
My dog barking at the tree Our house just outside of town Great view of the hills and the ocean
Search engines do not have eyes and cannot see the content of your photos, therefore, you need to title your photos so the search engines will know what your photos are all about.
Keep your titles short and to the point. Take the time to think of a proper title, believe us when we say "it is well worth it".
Descriptions.
Descriptions are always a good idea to add, as these words act as keywords for the title, ranking your photo even higher when people are searching for particular phrases. Viewers will also get a much better view of your photo and a much better feeling about your experiences through your own words.
People will usually take as much interest in your work as you do, especially when they can see that you take the time to explain and highlight areas instead of simply pasting the upload. The more detail you add, the more attention your photo is likely to get.
Please make sure when adding a description that it also matches the content of the photo. Do not add EXIF data as the only description. Below you see examples of bad descriptions, which have been rewritten into good descriptions (these are follow ups to the titles that were mentioned earlier).
Bad descriptions:
Nothing Only EXIF data Taken outside of the house
Good descriptions:
My dog barking at the tree (good title from earlier)
We were out walking in the forest and my dog suddenly decided to stop up and bark at the tree. I am not sure if a squirrel was hiding there, but something caught the dog's attention.
Our house just outside of town (good title from earlier)
The house is located outside of town where there is peace and quiet. We enjoy it a lot here, and as you can see, it is placed in a beautiful environment not far from the lake.
Great view of the hills and the ocean (good title from earlier)
We decided to take the kids for a day trip to the ocean, and at the same time, I was able to go shoot some pictures. The sea was calm and there was not a single cloud in the sky. I decided to try and take a landscape picture of it and came of with this of the hills and the sea.
As you can see, all descriptions match the content of the title. At the same time, many new keywords were added to the photos.
Keywords.
It is recommended that you add keywords further describing your photo, as some words may not fit in the actual title. These words can even highlight some of the words from the description, ranking you even higher when people are searching for particular words.
When adding keywords make sure they match the content of the photo and you are not using words that have already been used in the title.
