# Searchability of Embedded Image Metadata on the Web



## swteven (Jan 28, 2014)

Lightroom and other DAM software have the ability to embed metadata within image files and later filter it to yield relevant search results. Once the metadata is attached to the files, the metadata travels with the file even when the file is separated from the DAM software.

When an image file (with embedded image metadata) is placed on a web page, can the image metadata be searched from the file itself ?

In other words, lets say I was visiting a photographer's searchable website and I wanted to search for a particular subject. Could the search module dig into the embedded metadata of the image files and yield search results? Is this function available in a web application or plug-in?


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## clee01l (Jan 28, 2014)

Scott, Keywords (tags) can travel with the exported image.  Most websites like Flickr have this search capability.  I can't put my hands on any at the momemt but I think there are some web gallery Plugins that has this search capability  (The Turning Gate comes to mind)  Also Tim Armes and Sean McCormack has website plugins at the Photographers Toolbox  that may also do this.  I've not worked with any of these So I can't say if they have a search capability or not. .


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## swteven (Jan 28, 2014)

It does seem like Flickr and other photo sharing websites have this function but I am hoping to find a personal website photo gallery solution (application/plugin). I looked at The Turning Gate and Photographers Toolbox but they do not appear to do this.


When I built my first photo website I went to great pains building metatags to describe my images so they could be found by search engines. Before the web became super-saturated with content, this SEO was actually quite effective.


My hope is that user queries on a personal website would yield relevant search results based on the embedded image metadata (rather than just the text included on the web page).


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## johnbeardy (Jan 28, 2014)

Searchability depends entirely on whether that embedded metadata is parsed by the web server and added as text on the web page or written into an online database. That's a crucial difference - text on the page/database is searchable, but no large scale search engines examine the embedded metadata itself, and search features on web pages would not typically do so either.

John


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## erro (Jan 28, 2014)

Just putting a photo on a web-page will not make the metadata searchable. To make it searchabel, the website must first itself read the metadata, and make it searchable. Some sites do, some sites don't. But if i put a photo on my personal webpage with an ordinare <img>-link, the metadata will not be searchable, even though the photo may contain lots of metadata. However, if someone downloads that photo, the metadata is searchable in the file itself. Unless the site that hosts the image-file have a process where they strip the metadata before presenting the file to a user.


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## swteven (Jan 28, 2014)

johnbeardy said:


> Searchability depends entirely on whether that embedded metadata is parsed by the web server and added as text on the web page or written into an online database. That's a crucial difference - text on the page/database is searchable, but no large scale search engines examine the embedded metadata itself, and search features on web pages would not typically do so either.
> 
> John



This is a solution even though its not exactly the way I envision it to be. With all the effort to embed descriptive metadata to our images in LR it would be great if this data could be accessed publicly. Is the parsing a function of the web server or website host rather than an application or plug-in?


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## clee01l (Jan 28, 2014)

swteven said:


> This is a solution even though its not exactly the way I envision it to be. With all the effort to embed descriptive metadata to our images in LR it would be great if this data could be accessed publicly. Is the parsing a function of the web server or website host rather than an application or plug-in?


Parsing is a function of the website software that is used to build the web pages. The Webserver is  server side software that delivers complete HTML web pages to the client.  But those pages need to be built by the website software.  Website software constructs HTML on the fly based upon provided criteria. Joomla, PHP, AJAX, Coldfusion are examples of website software that work with a database of information to create dynamic web pages. Your www.photohouston.com website is a static web page that consists entirely of hard coded HTML files and folders of images stored at the web host. 

Just as there is a database behind LR that stores the metadata extracted from the EXIF header of each image cataloged, there is a database that is accessed by the _Joomla, PHP, AJAX, Coldfusion etc._ processing engine (software) that stored the metadata embedded in the images that you upload to the website.  As far as I can tell, your static website does not use a processing engine like _Joomla, PHP, AJAX, Coldfusion etc. _and makes no calls to a backend database.


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## johnbeardy (Jan 28, 2014)

swteven said:


> This is a solution even though its not exactly the way I envision it to be. With all the effort to embed descriptive metadata to our images in LR it would be great if this data could be accessed publicly. Is the parsing a function of the web server or website host rather than an application or plug-in?



It depends. If you send static HTML from LR's Web, LR's web gallery adds the text to the page. You have a certain type of control, and your text metadata is exposed to search engines, but searching within your site is limited.

But if your web pages are generated "dynamically" on a server, as happens with Flickr or SmugMug, the server may add the text to the page by parsing the embedded metadata when the picture is uploaded - usually reading a limited range of fields (the older IPTC fields). But some web services offer an API, so an LR published service may send text as well as images to the server. With such dynamic pages, the site can perform more searches and offer alternative ways for users to find pictures - eg they first find Italy, then choose Calabria, then portraits.

John


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## swteven (Jan 28, 2014)

Wow! My head is spinning. Pretty complicated stuff. I will have to simmer on this for awhile. Thank you gurus for illumination!

Scott


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## Tim Makins (Feb 5, 2014)

Yes, you can extract image metadata using an online installation of EXIFTool. Here are a couple of examples:

http://regex.info/exif.cgi
http://www.verexif.com/en/index.php

See the EXIFtool home page to download it: 
http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

Tim Makins
pro travel photographer: www.gnomeplanet.com
lightroom keyword techniques and free lists: www.photo-keywords.com


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## erro (Feb 6, 2014)

Tim Makins said:


> Yes, you can extract image metadata using an online installation of EXIFTool. Here are a couple of examples:
> 
> http://regex.info/exif.cgi
> http://www.verexif.com/en/index.php
> ...



Yes, assuming that the online image still has the metadata embedded. Some sites strip the metadata before publishing images.


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## swteven (Feb 6, 2014)

I want to clarify the original question I posted:

"When an image file (with embedded image metadata) is placed on a website, can the image metadata be searched ?"

I am referring to a LOCAL search on a single website - not searching the whole web using a search engine like google.

i.e.. If someone is visiting my photo website, could they conduct a search of the my website gallery and get relevant results based on the embedded image metadata?

In retrospect, my thread title was misleading and I should have titled it: "Searchability of Embedded Image Metadata on a website"

Scott


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## johnbeardy (Feb 6, 2014)

It depends if the web site reads the embedded metadata from the image and puts it somewhere in text format. This text is what is searched - the embedded metadata is not _directly_ searchable.

So for example, let's say I upload a picture to WordPress. The upload process reads _some_ of the metadata, stores it in the WP database, and then allows visitors to search _that_ data. So it's the site that's doing the work and there's a database.

But if that parsing isn't part of the web site design, then it's not searchable _within_ the site. This would happen if you uploaded an HTML site from LR, for example. The best you can then do is rely on Google and add "site:yourwebsite.com" to the search text - you can add a bit of HTML/script to help the user make such a search, but it would only search any text the is visible on the web pages. Google does not search the embedded metadata directly. 

Clearer?

John


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## swteven (Feb 6, 2014)

Thanks John. Yes, that is clearer. I gained an understanding from Guru posts earlier in the thread but your post reinforces this. I was trying to clarify my thread topic title for previous posters. Can a thread title be changed once established?

When I build my static page website about 10 years ago I recall using Alt Tags for images. I could add several keywords to an Alt Tag but that is not embedded metadata. Perhaps it helps with a web search.

It is interesting that Wordpress has a process for resourcing _some_ of the metadata. Do you know which particular fields of the image metadata are accessed and stored in the WP database?

Scott


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## Tim Makins (Feb 7, 2014)

johnbeardy said:


> I... the embedded metadata is not _directly_ searchable....But if that parsing isn't part of the web site design, then it's not searchable _within_ the site.
> 
> John



You can still link to an external image processor to view the EXIF data, even if the site doesn't have this facility. For instance here's a page on my site showing a photo of balloons:
http://www.gnomeplanet.com/potm/2012_5.php

All I need is to add a link on that page to this address:

http://regex.info/exif.cgi?dummy=on&imgurl=http://www.gnomeplanet.com/potm/2012/V0127_a.jpg

When someone clicks that link, they can see all the EXIF for that photo. I could redirect that output to an iFrame on my site, and it would all appear seamless, even though I do not have any EXIF capability on my site.

Regards, Tim Makins


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