Hi Bubblers !!
Today I went to the red bubble home page and used the keywords ‘Christmas’ ‘Cartoons’ to see what popped up. The results were not encouraging. The first few pages consisted of material seemingly lacking in any Christmas content whatsoever except for a couple per page.
When I checked these pieces I found artists tagging work Christmas when obviously it is nothing to do with Christmas but more in line of trying to milk the Christmas trade…. and using a ridiculous amount of unrelated key words.As a shopper using Christmas keywords I want to see stuff related to Christmas. Especially on the first few pages of a search otherwise I just go somewhere else.
The way it is at the moment spoils the results of people working on Christmas specific art.
Am I being unreasonable here?
Well, I just had a break and a bit of dinner and decided to do another search.
This time using the keywords ‘chameleon cartoon’
This search returned two results but my actual Chameleon cartoon was not to be found. Didn’t exist according to the helpful message at the top. Now checking with the actual cartoon it shows key words as,chameleons, animal_cartoons, nature_cartoons and chameleon_cartoons
As this cartoon actually sold a few times when it was uploaded I would have expected it to have at least been there. This sadly is the case with some other work as well.
Just how are we supposed to sell work if no one can find it in the market place using specific related keywords?
Has anyone else checked the market search for their work?
Anne van Alkemade
I agree with this totally, David. Some people are effectively using tags to spam their work. And everyone thinks theirs is suitable for Christmas presents so they use the word Christmas as a tag. The only solution I think is if Redbubble limits the number of tags per work. While this may seem unfair, it would certainly stop people for using the alphabet to promote their work. I saw in that search you suggested one totally irrelevant work had over 40 separate words.
Regarding your tags, get rid of the underscores. They don’t help in searches. Even though the underscores keep words together instead of the auto sort, they tend to hid our work rather than make them more accessible. I think this was found quite early in the Redbubble history. And as for the Chameleon card – I am one of the lucky owners; I never sent it and every now and again I take it out for a look because it still cracks me up. I’m surprised you haven’t sold dozens of this one!!!!
David Stuart:
Thanks Anne, it sold a few on RB when first uploaded but has done a lot better on Z and CP. With CP it shows up well on a google search. RB tags don’t appear to.
I take your point on the underscores but Chameleons is still entered as a separate key word and should show up.
I sadly notice that journals are not used the same way anymore. More like just another self promotional tool.There used to be some quite juicy stuff at times and gave us a little peeky into everyone’s world. ..aahh the old days :)
lightsmith
i typed in ‘infrared’ and must admit that despite the fact that the majority of mine are infrared (and tagged as such) I only had 2 or maybe 3 in the first five or six pages. I’m not sure what the sort sequence is – random? age? position of the tag in the tag list?
ps. hope you are tagging your christmas stuff with XMAS as well…..
oh, and yuletide and hogamanay too…
David Stuart:
Thanks Lightsmith, you know I don’t actually have xmas anywhere on any site. Can’t believe I missed it. That’s what happens when you rush.
I think the position of the tags plays a role on some Pods not sure with RB. Some of my older stuff (+1.5 years) has come up in searches as does newer stuff. I’m probably more peeved that sold cartoons weren’t appearing in a search. You would figure that would rank well.
Off to add tags.zzzzz