Below is live coverage of the Tapping Into Image Search from SMX West 2009 conference.
This coverage is provided by both Barry Schwartz, the editor of the Search Engine Roundtable.
We are using a live blogging tool to provide the real time coverage. We will publish the archive below after the session is completed. In addition, you can interact with us and while we are live blogging, so feel free to ask us questions as we blog.
| Tapping Into Image Search | (02/11/2009) Powered by: CoveritLive |
2:51 | Barry Schwartz: ~10 minutes until we start... |
| 2:54 |   |
2:55 | Barry Schwartz: Matt Siltala's goatee totally beats mine... |
| 2:55 |  |
2:56 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] I had mistaken it for a hedgehog, thanks for clarifying |
2:56 | Barry Schwartz: LOL  |
2:56 | Barry Schwartz: Can someone get me a diet coke? |
| 2:58 |  |
2:59 | Barry Schwartz: ~2 mins |
| 3:00 |  |
3:00 | Barry Schwartz: The sessions is just getting started, so get ready for live coverage from the Search Engine Roundtable! |
3:00 | Barry Schwartz: Matt McGee welcomes us to the tapping session |
| 3:02 |  |
3:02 | Barry Schwartz: Peter Linsley is first up, a product manager from Google Images (FYI, he use to work at Ask.com) |
3:03 | Barry Schwartz: He gave out two free tshirts |
3:03 | Barry Schwartz: Google wants to organize images for the world. |
| 3:03 |  |
3:04 | Barry Schwartz: Image Searchers all all over, including the web results in the form of Universal Search |
3:05 | Barry Schwartz: example http://www.google.com/search?q=images%20flowers |
3:05 | Barry Schwartz: Users are generally more relax with their image search queries then the web search queries, maybe because of the thumbnails shown |
3:05 | Barry Schwartz: They also click on to page two or three more often in image search than web search |
3:06 | Barry Schwartz: People come to image search with shopping queries or for color books or inspiration, yada yada |
3:06 | Barry Schwartz: How does image search work? |
3:07 | Barry Schwartz: They discover pages and images (scr or href), then crawl, classify and index them, then they look for duplicates or referring page and ranked them based on "many signals" |
3:09 | Barry Schwartz: singals include text and others |
3:10 | Barry Schwartz: Best Practices: - Focus on the User - High Quality Images - Above the Fold |
3:10 | [Comment From Guest] where are the Google shirts? :) |
3:10 | Barry Schwartz: @Guest, Peter gave two out at this session |
3:11 | Barry Schwartz: Text is a "strong" signal he said |
3:11 | [Comment From Markus] greetings from Germany.. |
3:12 | Barry Schwartz: Peter is done... |
3:13 | Barry Schwartz: Kaushal Kurapati from Yahoo is speaking now on image search |
| 3:14 |  |
3:14 | Barry Schwartz: Yahoo images is the second biggest search property for yahoo |
3:14 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] I guess because of the economy Google is not giving out T-Shirts? :) |
3:14 | Barry Schwartz: @Dave, they did |
3:14 | Barry Schwartz: Traffic goes between Flickr and them (They own Flickr) |
3:15 | Barry Schwartz: users explore a lot on image search |
3:16 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Can you get a picture of the audience to see how full the room is? |
3:16 | Barry Schwartz: @Dave sure, im in middle of room, will upload picture in a minute... I am looking to theright of the room, from the middle, so you are missing the left |
| 3:17 |  |
3:17 | Barry Schwartz: Yahoo offers visual assistance in search, here is a picture of that in action for flowers http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&va=flowers&sz= |
| 3:18 |  |
3:19 | Barry Schwartz: - In Flickr they have millions of images - Regular feeds from Flickr go into image search - Traffic glows back and forth between two properties - Private fdata is not indexed and if indexed taken down in 24 hours - Flickr comes with unique content and usage signals that help in its rankings but no preferential treatment |
| 3:19 | |
3:19 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Thanks! When you take a picture are you holding up your laptop and using the camera inside of it? |
3:19 | Barry Schwartz: using a camera Dave |
| 3:19 |  |
3:19 | Barry Schwartz: that is a picture of visual assistance |
3:19 | [Comment From John Honeck] Not really a question....This is a great interface and a wonderful job you are doing. Thank you. |
3:20 | Barry Schwartz: SEO Tips for images - Proper text meta data, titles, tags, anchor, keywords - Descriptive captions surrounding the text helps - Time date stamps is good - Image quality does matter (i.e. good images get clicks more by users) |
3:21 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] How does time date stamps help your images get more traffic? |
3:22 | Barry Schwartz: @Dave, he didnt explain why... ill ask. in Q&A |
3:23 | Barry Schwartz: Matt Siltala is now up |
| 3:23 | |
3:23 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Thanks, should I save my questions until the end? |
3:23 | Barry Schwartz: @Dave, no send them now, they have a system to send Qs in via web |
3:25 | Barry Schwartz: He was trying to show an image of the "wardrob malfunction" at the last super bowl, but it isn't showing up, was it censored? |
| 3:25 | [Video file] | YouTube: gOLbERWVR30 Play |
3:25 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] is it possible to get search volume by keyword just for image searches? |
3:25 | Barry Schwartz: @manf from where? |
3:26 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] goog |
3:26 | Barry Schwartz: @manf - what tool? |
3:26 | Barry Schwartz: Image SEO by Matt |
3:26 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] for example, id like to know how often people search for britney spears in images vs text |
3:27 | Barry Schwartz: (1) Name your images with keywords (the file name of the image) |
3:27 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] I suppose tool could be adwords or goog insights |
3:27 | Barry Schwartz: @manf sent your Q |
3:28 | Barry Schwartz: (2) Describe your images in detail |
3:29 | Barry Schwartz: Great Content and Keywords - surround them around the images |
3:29 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Question for the end: Can something like Google Analytics show me which images appear most in the Google image results? |
3:29 | Barry Schwartz: @Dave say again? |
| 3:29 |  |
3:30 | Barry Schwartz: picture of the projector in action |
3:30 | Barry Schwartz: (4) Image Captions are important |
3:30 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] i want to specify keywords then see relative search vols not just top images |
3:31 | Barry Schwartz: Where should you use your images? - Social Scene - Blogs - Bookmarking - Articles - Some of those are examples |
3:31 | Barry Schwartz: He likes Squidoo for putting image into |
3:31 | Barry Schwartz: Put those images in your blog |
3:31 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] I think it would be kind of interesting to know which one of my images are displayed a lot in Google image results - can Analytics help me see this? |
3:32 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] nooo not Analytics - something like google Insight |
3:32 | Barry Schwartz: I think Dave anbd Manf are asking two different Qs, I got both submitted... |
3:33 | Barry Schwartz: Places to upload images... - Flickr - Picasa - Image Shack - TwitPic - TinyPic - SlideShare - Photobucket, etc. |
3:33 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] I thought Dave was paraphrasing me! Qs are indeed related |
3:34 | Barry Schwartz: Matt is now done |
3:34 | Barry Schwartz: Chris Silver Smith is next up |
| 3:34 |  |
3:34 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Thanks for submitting my question: I basically want to know which of my images in Google image search are driving me traffic. |
3:36 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] Dave - a server stats package like awstats will show u which files get most hits, including image files |
3:36 | Barry Schwartz: useful slide |
| 3:37 |  |
3:37 | Barry Schwartz: even thought Flickr nofollowed the links, it is still very useful |
3:38 | Barry Schwartz: Flickr Optimization TIps |
3:38 | [Comment From manfmnantucket] can haz link to slide plz? |
3:38 | Barry Schwartz: @manf, no, i took a picture of it |
3:38 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] But will awstats show me if the image traffic is coming from Google image search? |
3:39 | Barry Schwartz: Flickr images do well, cause each image has its own page |
3:40 | Barry Schwartz: Why they do well? - Title - H1 - Captions - Tagging - Cross grouping - Sharing - Alt Text - Optimal Linking hierarchies - Date taken and page views displayed - Interestingness algorithm |
3:40 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Wow, I just tried this interface on my Iphone and it works! That is cool. |
3:42 | Barry Schwartz: Use quality images in Flickr and it will go a long way |
3:43 | Barry Schwartz: pictures with good contrast do better be broad in expeirmenting with subject matter for pictures intended to drive traffic and conversions |
3:43 | Barry Schwartz: Dont forget, make your photos public! |
3:44 | [Comment From gaver] how will vast repositories of images be managed to prevent copyright infringement? |
3:44 | Barry Schwartz: consider "loose" licensing for your pix, share them! |
3:44 | Barry Schwartz: @Gaver, can you add more detail to your Q? |
3:45 | Barry Schwartz: encourage people to use your images in exchange for a link |
3:45 | Barry Schwartz: Geotag your location specific images |
3:46 | Barry Schwartz: Add sets to your albums... |
3:46 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Danny Sullivan always uses "Feel free to use this photo. Just link to the photo page or the story. " Does that method work for getting links - if so how can I automate that on Flickr? |
3:46 | Barry Schwartz: @dave, it works, but hard to automate, i do that also |
3:46 | [Comment From gaver] Sure... as an example - assume someone uploads an image of the word Margaritaville and it is in the same format as that used by Jimmy Buffett for his trademark - who within the ownership of the domain hosting the content will police the assets to prevent the copyrighted images and trademarks (think mickey mouse) from being displayed; downloaded and then put on cafepres or zazzle and marketed as material products? |
3:47 | Barry Schwartz: Nowpublic and shamps help you share |
3:47 | Barry Schwartz: @gaver, asked |
3:48 | Barry Schwartz: This works on iPhone, here is a pic: |
| 3:48 |  |
3:48 | Barry Schwartz: Companies using Flickr - Ford - Whole Foods |
3:50 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Barry - why is your iphone on 3G right now - is all the WiFi taken? |
3:50 | Barry Schwartz: @Dave, i dont use public wifi, if possible  |
3:50 | Barry Schwartz: He shows more companies that use Flickr, like GM |
3:51 | Barry Schwartz: white papers available, email [email protected] |
3:51 | Barry Schwartz: Last up is Eric Enge |
| 3:51 |  |
3:52 | Barry Schwartz: He will share a case study |
3:52 | Barry Schwartz: comScore said 7% of searches take place in image search but with blended search, maybe up to 15% |
3:54 | Barry Schwartz: He shows an eye tracking study from Didit/Enquiro with blended search, see http://searchengineland.com/eye-tracking-on-universal-and-personalized-search-12233 |
3:54 | Barry Schwartz: Now for the case study... |
3:54 | Barry Schwartz: VisualDX Health - http://www.visualdxhealth.com/ |
3:54 | Barry Schwartz: They show pictures of diseases --- looks like fun,,, ugh,, not...  |
3:55 | Barry Schwartz: Site value proposition of the site are the images themselves, for this site... |
3:55 | Barry Schwartz: Helps people learn about these diseases... |
3:55 | Barry Schwartz: They were getting about 1400 visits per day to the site |
3:56 | Barry Schwartz: They did some basic optimization steps, three basic things... |
3:56 | Barry Schwartz: (1) Eliminated URL parameters |
3:57 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Can you ask if all those 1,400 visits are from image search? |
3:57 | Barry Schwartz: @Dave, i believe total site visitors from any where |
3:58 | Barry Schwartz: They had major dup issues |
3:58 | Barry Schwartz: (2) Added alt attributes |
| 3:58 |  |
3:58 | Barry Schwartz: ugh!!! a sample picture |
3:58 | Barry Schwartz: in your alt tag, include the words "picture" or "image" etc to the photo |
3:59 | Barry Schwartz: (3) They enabled "enhanced image search" in Google Webmaster tools ;;; http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=48367 |
3:59 | Barry Schwartz: Got traffic up to 4700 visits per day |
4:00 | Barry Schwartz: Then in December, they saw the site was restricted by Google Safe Search and this made a huge difference, so they read the safe search policies at google.com/safesearch_help.html |
4:01 | Barry Schwartz: Google filters porn images, VisualDX did not have explicit pictures, Google provides an appeal process a google.com/support/ (or you can submit the issue in google webmaster help discussions) |
4:02 | Barry Schwartz: Then they jumped to 12,000 visits per day (3,000 per day from image search) |
4:02 | Barry Schwartz: huge! |
4:02 | [Comment From Dave Dugdale] Wow that is a good case study. |
| 4:03 |
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