A keywording policy can be vastly different between large general agencies and small specialist agencies and there are some general areas where there are inconsistencies at a generic level, which can cause difficulties for clients searching for images.

To this end, BAPLA Chairman Paul Brown has conducted on BAPLA’s behalf a survey to assess the most generic keywords used by members; not to try and set any standards, rather to analyse the main generic headings in common use amongst photo agencies, and report back the findings to members. The best use of the results would be to analyse these words in conjunction with your own keywording policy to ensure that relevant words were added when keywording, or as part of a synonym list.

The results of the survey were revealed at the BAPLA AGM 2007. Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey and also to Paul Brown who voluntarily took time to complete this survey which will benefit many. 55 members responded, which is a good number for this type of survey, and it was certainly enough replies to make a useful analysis.

The Results

This survey was designed to look at the variety of generic keywords used by our industry; keywords which often classify parts or the whole of collections.

Clients which use one agency may well get used to using one word for a subject, and will not find images when they use another agency which uses different keywords for the same subject.

It has become clear from the results, that there is a great diversity in keyword requirements between agencies of different and size and content. As such, the most detailed analysis should be done by each agency in conjunction with their own keywording strategy.

However, the main points to consider are summarised below and although the comments are often fairly basic and will not be of use to everyone, hopefully there is at least something that will stimulate the right thoughts on the subject.