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Bit-sinna — Keywords on deviantART: a guide
Published: 2013-06-27 11:41:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 18625; Favourites: 30; Downloads: 0
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This guide is based on a project written for an 8th semester course in Knowledge Organising Systems and Processes at the Royal Danish School of Library and Information Science.
The project was based on image indexing literature and included an investigation of keywords from 107 deviations from deviantART. The results of this investigation was compared with previous studies of what types of keywords users add to their images and what types of keywords is used in image searches.
The guide begins with a very brief summary of the recommendations with examples. Afterwards follows a more thorough guide for those who are interested in the reasoning behind the recommendations and some of the results of our project.
In summary
Add keywords that describe:
- What your deviation is.
e.g. photograph painting poem plushie necklace animation
- What your deviation is of.
This includes both what your deviation is of in general:
e.g. woman cat flower dancing dance walking city beach kitchen sunset spring christmas
As well as what your deviation is of specifically:
e.g. jennifer lawrence grumpy cat amsterdam the moon sherlock holmes
- What your deviation is about.
e.g. love mythology freedom war mother earth scary cute heaven hell post-apocalypse
Use:
- Synonyms.
e.g. photo photograph
- Both British and American versions of words.
e.g. colorful colourful
- Keywords taken from the category you've placed your deviation in.
e.g. paintings pop art still life fantasy sci-fi
- Keywords you personally would use in a search.
Don't use:
- Keywords that has nothing to do with your deviation.
- Commas between your keywords.
What are keywords? Why should I add them to my deviations?
Keywords are descriptive words that help others find your deviations via the Search engine here on deviantART.
FAQ #70: What is the format for the Keywords in deviations and what are they for?
On the submission page you'll find a field where it says Keywords (use spaces between keywords).
You are not required to add keywords to your deviations. It is however a good idea to do so if you want others to be able to find your work.
When someone searches for deviations on deviantART they search in deviation descriptions, titles and keywords.
In our study we found that the deviation descriptions are often used for communicating about other things than the deviation. Furthermore we saw that deviation titles often don't describe what can be seen in the deviation.
If your title and description isn't descriptive of your deviation it is a good idea to make the effort of adding good keywords. Adding good keywords helps make sure that your deviation turns up in searches where it is relevant.
Which keywords should I add?
When uploading a deviation it can sometimes be difficult to think of keywords to add, but there will always be some relevant keywords you can use. When adding keywords, try to keep in mind what kinds of words you use when you search for images. Besides this there are some general guidelines you can keep in mind to help inspire you when adding keywords.
1. Add keywords that describe what your deviation is. This could be a photo, a watercolour painting, a poem, a necklace, or something else entirely.
2. Add keywords that describe the tools and materials you used to make your deviation. This could be Photoshop, Flash, Copic markers, graphite, yarn, mohair, nickel-free brass or something else.
3. Add keywords that describe what your deviation is of in general terms and if possible in specific terms. This means any people, animals (and other beings), objects, actions, events, places and times depicted. In general terms your deviation might be a painting of a man standing in front of a building in the summer. More specifically it might be a painting of President Barack Obama standing in front of the White House on the 4th of July.
Whether or not you can use specific keywords depends on what your deviation depicts, but it is always possible to add keywords that describe your deviation in general terms. Both the general type of keywords and the more specific type of keywords are important, if you want others to be able to find your deviation. Even what an abstract painting is of can be described in general terms by using keywords that refers to its colours and shapes.
Previous studies have shown that the general type of keywords, particularly the ones describing people, animals, beings and objects, were the ones most used in image searches. This means that it is positive that our study also found this type of keywords to be the most commonly used type of keywords on deviantART.
4. Add keywords that describe what your deviation is about. What your deviation is about is all the abstract concepts that can't be directly seen by looking at your deviation, but can be interpreted from it. A drawing of a heart can be about love, romance or Valentine's Day, and if it is broken it can be about heartbreak.
Another type of abstract keywords is the ones describing the impressions you get from your deviation and its content. You can for instance have a drawing of a cute monster, a scary monster or a depressing monster, or a painting that is intended to make the viewer feel happy, sad or nostalgic.
Previous research has shown that in image searches abstract words are often used in combination with keywords describing image's contents in general terms. This means that it is important to both use keywords that describe what your artwork is of and what it is about.
Other things to keep in mind
It is not necessary to add keywords that describe parts of a whole if you have already added keywords that describe the whole. For instance, if you add the keyword face it is not necessary to add words such as lips, eyes or nose unless they have particular significance in the deviation.
The category you chose for your deviation can usually give inspiration for a few keywords. And since the categories themselves can only be browsed and don't automatically function as searchable keywords, it is always a good idea to take advantage of this inspiration. If you've added a deviation to the category Traditional Art > Paintings > Pop Art, then it won't turn up in a keyword search for Pop Art, unless you also add Pop Art in the keyword field (or the title or description).
In our study, we found only a few deviations where words from the categories were used as keywords. This is unfortunate, as previous research has shown that the type of words that can be found in deviantART's categories are often used in image searches.
One last thing to keep in mind when adding any kind of keyword is to use synonyms and alternative ways of expressing or writing something whenever it is possible. E.g. photo and photograph, fan art and fanart, colorful and colourful. This is important because the search engine on deviantART only looks for the exact words entered into the search field. So if someone searches using the keyword colourful they will not find the deviation where you added the keyword colorful, unless you also used colourful in the title, description or keyword field.
If you have any questions about our project, our findings or keywords and searching in general you are more than welcome to ask. 
Related content
Comments: 97
There is a limit of number of keywords to use ?
If I put too much of these, my art will be hide ?
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Unlike on Instagram (where you can add a maximum of 30 tags, without having the description and tags deleted upon submission), I have seen no evidence of this on dA nor read anywhere that it should be so. Although that is of course not a guarantee.
I can however say that I have added 35 tags to one of my deviations and it showed up on the tags as expected, so I don't think you should worry about it.
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I just found this and I have a question, do the keywords go in my deviation's description or where you put the tags
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Keywords on deviantART are now tags, so they go in the tag field.
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Thank you so much for this helpful Journal, i will definitely keep it in mind because this will help me to improve my keywords.
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I'm glad you found it helpful!
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I deleted my old username from my key words so that if I typed it into Google it WOULDNT come up with my art in the images. However the pictures still come up. How do I solve that?
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If the keywords is the only place where your old username was listed, it is most likely a matter of Google not having crawled your deviation pages since you made the changes. So in Google's index your old username is still listed in connection with your images until your page is recrawled.
support.google.com/webmasters/…
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Cool thanks. But when does ti get recrawled. It's been like it for ages.
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No way of telling, sorry. I think it is only web page owners that can directly request a crawl to speed up the process.
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Ah K well thanks for the help
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i searched almost the exact name in the description, and I also took parts of the title and put it into the keywords, and when I searched it didnt come up. why isnt it working?
things I searched: punkstar, punkstar wolf, punkstar furry, punkwolf furry, punkstarfurry, punkstar female furry
tags: #punkwolf #rockstarwolf #punkstarfurry #furryfemale #anthrowolfgirl
deviation:
UPDATE: "punkwolf furry" worked and "rockstarfurry"
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Hi Nadia
I've searched for your deviation, and as far as I can see it turns up in all the searches that it is supposed to. E.g.:
punkstar <- exact (works)
punkstar wolf <- exact (works)
punkstar furry <-exact (works)
punkwolf furry <- not exact (doesn't work)
punkstarfurry <- not exact (doesn't work)
punkstar female furry <- not exact (doesn't work)
The problem is that if you include even one word in your search that is not an exact match with a word from your tags, title or description you will not get your deviation in your search results.
Tags: furry punk punkstar rock star wolf furryfemale anthrowolfgirl
Title: Kay D Katey Punk star furry SPEED PAINT
Description: Kay D AKA katey or K D Is just a fun little punk star wolf i created Hope u guys like it And dont forget to fave comment There is also a speed paint of this I posted on my YouTube channel Go watch it
This means that a search for:
punkstarfurry punkstar rock star furryfemale
won't include your deviation, but a search for
punkstar furry punkstar rock star furryfemale
will include your deviation.
If you want to be able to find your deviation in a search that includes the word punkstarfurry you have to include it in either your title, tag, or description.
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so it has to be the exact word
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I don't know if this is relevant or not, but, how do you search an artist specifically?
I know it's easier to just go to their profile and gallery, but I'm wanting to view artwork from a deactivated account, and to do this, I need to search the artist specifically in the Browse section. I forgot what the keyword command is for that, and I'd like some help. ^^ Thank you
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Hi Klaud
To search for art by a specific deviant just add by:username after the keywords you wish to search for. E.g.:
portraits by:bit-sinna (this will get you my deviations that I have described as portraits)
If you just use by:username without any additional keywords you should find all works by that deviant. Just remember to write by in lowercase letters or it might mess up the search.
For more about the different commands you should be able to use on dA, check out this Faq:
FAQ #577: How do I use the Search?
Best regards
Betinna
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Thank you so much for your help!
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Is there any way to add a keyword that REMOVES certain results? Like if you were searching for "horse" per say, but you didn't want anything related to "Palamino" in your search results?
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Yes! There is a really esay way and it works in a lot of other search engines too (such as google).
You just add a minus in front of the word you don't want to be included in your results. (The minus has to be connected to the word you want to excluded, like in the example, otherwise it won't work.)
Ex:
horse -palamino
--> gives results with the word horse, but without palamino.
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Oh, wonderful! And this also applies to Deviantart's tag words as well?
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Hello, and thanks for the guide. I have a question: at what point should I stop adding tags? Like, when does it get redundant? 15 tags? 20? More? Thanks
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As long as your tags are relevant for your image there is not a cut-off for when adding extra tags become redundant. But I can imagine that it will often become difficult to add more relevant tags once you have reached 15 or 20+ tags.
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Hi,
So commas are not recommended, what happens to keyword phrases?
Example: A picture of a cat chasing mouse
Keywords I want: cat chasing mouse, cat hunting, cat running
Keywords I put into keyword section: cat chasing mouse cat hunting cat running (like this...?)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hi,
Keyword phrases are treated as single keywords, and for this reason the order of the keywords does not matter. So if you want the keywords you mention, you would only have to add the following to your keywords field:
cat mouse chasing hunting running
This way your deviation will show up in searches for:
cat chasing mouse
cat running
mouse running
cat hunting
hunting cat
chasing
cat
and so on...
I hope that answers your question, but if not, please let me know.
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I see, very simple indeed. Thanks for the explanation!
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Do you happen to know if grammar matters? It would be slightly irritating to have to put 'don't' and 'dont'.
Also, if I a word like 'sparkles' will it also search for images with the tag 'sparkle'?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Grammar does matter quite a bit, I'm afraid. So if you want to cover all bases in regards to "don't" you will have to include the following so they are present in either your title, your description or your keywords:
don't dont do not
While "dont" isn't gramatically correct, a quick search shows that it quite widely used, and can as such still be a valuable keyword.
In regards to singular/plural and different word endings in general: At the moment a search for "sparkles" will not return results for "sparkle", so if both is relevant for your image, I'd suggest adding both.
Sorry for the slow response, I hope it has been of some help.
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That's ok, as you can see, I'm not the fastest responder either.
Thanks for the help! Presumably the rules still apply the same with the new hashtags?
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No problem. The same rules should apply, however until the new tags are fully implemented it will be impossible to say precisely how they will work. But I'll update the guide when things settle down enough.
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This was a helpful guide! But I was wondering... what if the keyword I want to use if about my series, like for example... I have a manga called Doll Weapon... then I put dollweapon in keywords. But when I tested if it works by using search engine in dA, I noticed that if only i put dollweapon(without space) then will it appear... So in order for it to appear normally, it should be doll weapon? (with space, even though it's supposed to be whole as a series?)
I'm sorry for such confusing question : (
Thank you for reading!
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If I understanding correctly, you are asking how to make your deviations appear when people search for the name of your manga Doll Weapon. Is that correct?
If so, then it is correct that you need to add the words separately as in the following example:
doll weapon manga original character drawing traditional art
With a string of keywords like this your deviation will show up when someone searches for the name of your manga. But if you want it to turn up in searches for the word Dollweapon as well, you will have to keep adding that to your keywords together with Doll Weapon as in the following example:
doll weapon dollweapon manga original character drawing traditional art
I hope this was what you meant, but please let me know if it didn't answer your question.
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Hi! Thanks so much for this helpful and well written guide. 
I have a question about keywords with spaces in them. If I want to tag "Game of Thrones", I have to leave spaces, but I don't want them to be separated into "game", "of", "thrones". Is there a way to address this?
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Hi, I'm glad to hear you think so.
I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you in that regards. You can't combine the keywords in any useful way so that the keywords are taken as one semantic unit. But this is not actually a problem, if you just want to make sure that people who search for Game of Thrones can find your deviation. With just those keywords, your deviation will turn up in the following searches:
Game of thrones (no matter the order of the words)
Game Thrones (no matter the order of the words)
Game of (no matter the order of the words)
Thrones of (no matter the order of the words)
Game
Thrones
Of (although it is my experience that very few searches consists of this word alone 
As you might notice, the problem with this is only that your deviation will turn up in some unrelated searches on the word Game alone or the word Thrones alone. But there is no way to avoid that, so my advice would be simply add Game of Thrones (and your other keywords) and not worry about it.
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Wow! 
You're so good at explaining; I'm sure you did well for your semester paper
I'm in a course slightly related to yours - computer science. So, I'm quite curious about their search algorithm 
If I search for a phrase, do the deviations that contain that phrase exactly in the same order take precedence over deviations that contain the words in a different order?
Are words in title/description/keywords equally important? What does the algorithm look at first?
Those are the things I wonder..
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Thank you, that's sweet of you to say.
And you ask some very interesting questions, questions that I'm in fact equally interested in knowing the answers to, but unfortunately I have not been able to get that kind of information. Not yet anyway. Sorry that I can't be of more help in that regards.
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I accidentally clicked on the journal option for a fanfic. How would i change it to a story?
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If you do not get the option of changing category away for Journal when pressing edit, my advice is to delete the journal and reupload the fanfic, so you get the chance to submit it as a literature deviation instead of a journal. I just tested to see if I could move a test text (where I chose the journal option instead of the literature category) to the literature category and it was not possible. So I'm afraid reupload is the only option.
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