What are the pitfalls of keywording?
The two common mistakes are to add too many keywords and speculate on the possible end-users. For example, a teacup on a table in the background is not necessary important to the overall message of the image of a young couple having breakfast. A portrait image of a woman with trees in the background doesn’t necessarily warrant the keyword ‘tree’ but perhaps a more generic word describing the setting, e.g. ‘rural’, would suffice. Adding ‘doctor’ to a still-life image of a stethoscope is a classic example of speculative keywording. The image may be related to healthcare and medicine but ‘doctor’ refers to a professional occupation and should therefore be applied to people instead of objects.
