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Last updated on
Jun 11, 2026
Learn practical tips and best practices to make your content more discoverable to customers.
Titles and keywords help customers find your content. They work with the Adobe Stock search engine to surface your content to the right customers. The stronger your metadata, the more visible your content becomes.
Write effective titles
Write a brief, clear title that accurately describes your content:
- Keep it short, ideally under 70 characters.
- Focus on what’s most visually important to the content.
- Avoid overly technical or gear-heavy terms.
- Don't refer to anything involving IP, artist names, or real people.
Title examples
The following examples below illustrate how Contributors can write titles and keywords clearly and accurately. Use them as a reference to understand the appropriate level of detail, wording, and structure when describing your own content.
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|
Title |
Keywords |
|---|---|---|
|
Gay couple hugging in the park |
Couple, hugging, park, love, adult, Black, boyfriend, casual clothing, White, cheerful, cuddling |
|
Women in a laboratory with face masks and gloves |
Microscope, face mask, working, woman, laboratory, scientist, science, person, one person, chemistry |
Add descriptive and strategic keywords
Including keywords (up to 49 per content submission) helps customers discover your content.
- Use relevant nouns, adjectives, and concepts specific to your content.
- Keyword order is essential and should reflect the content's importance.
- Use local spelling where applicable (such as color vs. colour).
- Think like a buyer. For example, what would they search for to find your content?
Keyword examples
The following examples demonstrate how to use keywords to accurately and consistently describe content. They highlight common patterns such as separating concepts, balancing general and specific terms, and adding relevant contextual details to improve discoverability.
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Keyword usage |
Examples |
|---|---|
|
Separate descriptive elements |
White, fluffy, young animal, pup |
|
General and specific keywords |
Animal, mammal, carnivore |
|
Location-based keywords |
London, England or London, Ontario |
|
Conceptual keywords |
Solitude, childhood, milestone, cold |
|
Number of people |
One person, three people, alone |
|
Describe the setting |
Indoors, outdoors, day, night, sunny, cloudy |
|
Viewpoint or camera angle |
High-angle view, aerial view, portrait |
|
Model information |
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Order keywords by importance
Place the most important and relevant keywords in the first 10 positions as they have the greatest influence on search ranking.
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Image |
Example |
First ten keywords |
|---|---|---|
|
Senior woman flexing her muscles on beach |
Woman, back, muscular, flexing, muscles, beach, Caucasian, senior adult, adult, one person |
|
Living with sign language |
Sign language, family, meeting, deaf, three people, communication, smiling, sitting, table, indoors |
Match keywords to your account
Titles and keywords must match the language set in your Contributor Account. If you’re unsure which language you’re using, learn how to check and update it.
Common mistakes to avoid
Avoid these common mistakes to keep your content from being refused:
- Use only relevant keywords to avoid content refusal.
- Keep trademarks, brand names, and personal info out of your submission.
- Submit content in one language only.
- Use each keyword once.
Use Adobe-generated keywords
During your submission, Adobe can generate suggested keywords when you upload your content to the Contributor Portal. From there, you’ll be able to review and adjust them to improve accuracy. Learn more about the process to reorder titles and keywords.
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