Image Search SMX West 2009 Case Study

Image Search Facts

Image Search Volume comScore numbers say that 7+% of all searches take place in image search engines. Other industry figures have suggested the total image search volume is about 15% of all search Difference is a lot of image search queries take place within web search

Original Eye Tracking Study Source: Enquiro Research

Blended Search Eye Tracking Source: Enquiro Research

VisualDX Health Case Study

VisualDx Health

Pictures of Skin Diseases

Images Tell a Story

Quick Tip Don’t look at this site just after lunch …

Basic Site Value Proposition The images themselves Learn about what disease you may have Be better informed when you go to the doctor Ask better questions

The Problem Total Visits43,597 Visits Per Day1,406 Image Search Visits49 (1.5 per day) Image Search as a % of Total Visits 0.11% Image Search not a factor in site traffic May 2007 Basic Stats

3 Optimization Steps

Eliminated URL Parameters Site used parameters on URLs Typical URL: nIvyDermatitis.htm?st=Male_1244,1249,1 271, 1248,23517,1247,1246 Parameters identify which images to show This one is for adult, male, poison ivy

Example Image Set

Example Image Set 2 The same HTML page with different parameters

URL Parameters (cont’d) The underlying page: /adult/poisonIvyDermatitis.htm was referenced on site with many different sets of parameters Purpose was to show different image sets based on Male/Female/Child selections Led to massive duplicate content

Resolution Moved image identification process to cookies Parameters no longer needed Each HTML page represented by one URL Dupe Content Eliminated

Added Alt Attributes Before: After:

Enabled Enhanced Image Search

Improvement – Stage 1 Total Visits146,930 Visits Per Day4,740 Image Search Visits6,079 (200 per day) Image Search as a % of Total Visits 4.14% Image Search now IS a factor in site traffic Oct 2007 Basic Stats

What We Saw Next On December 3 rd, the site was not restricted by Google SafeSearch

SafeSearch Policies You can get them here: Key facts: –Google filters pornography and explicit images –VisualDx Health does have some explicit pictures –Google provides an appeal process –Appeal URL is in Google Webmaster Help: ers/thread?tid=5cb68076e74823d1&hl=en ers/thread?tid=5cb68076e74823d1&hl=en

Tailoring the Message State the problem clearly Be direct Don’t complain Keep the message as short as you possibly can Be sure you are OK with someone looking at your site We sent our request in on December 12 th

Improvement – Stage 2 Total Visits388,935 Visits Per Day12,546 Image Search Visits95,684 (3000+ per day) Image Search as a % of Total Visits 24.60% Image Search now is a BIG factor in site traffic Jan 2008 Basic Stats

Image Visits

Image Visits as % of Total Visits

Thank You! Eric Enge President Stone Temple Consulting (508)