Flickr

Flickr is a social photo community through which users can share photos with millions of users. Additionally, Flickr serves as an image host.

Functions of Flickr

Flickr can be used to upload countless photos and videos and sort them into categories. Such categories are called tags in Flickr. The service has a keyword search option. With its advanced search you can specifically search for images that may be used as desired or to a limited extent by users, because they are licensed under a Creative Commons license or public domain.

Flickr classifies as a community because users can comment on the pictures and photo streams of other users. Additionally, RSS feeds are available through which users can subscribe to images of specific topics. It is also possible to add custom notes to each of the images. This YouTube video will give you a glimpse in the latest version of Flickr.

Guidelines for uploading

In May 2013, Flickr changed the guidelines for uploading photos and videos. Since then users have only one terabyte of disk space available to them. Images of up to 200 megabytes can be uploaded, whereby dimensions are no longer relevant. Videos are limited to a file size of one gigabyte, a resolution of up to 1080p and up to three minutes in length.

Cost structures of Flickr

Generally, Flickr is a free service. There was a pro membership previously which was abolished in May 2013. Since then, the participants of the community have the opportunity to use the service at a cost of$49.99 ad-free. Frequent users that need more than one terabyte of space can double their storage space for about $500.

Importance for search engine optimization

Flickr may be suitable as a tool for search engine optimization to a limited extent. In particular, Flickr was used for link-building for some time, where links were set as part of comments and photo albums. After Flickr became aware of this misuse of the community for link building, it installed the nofollow attribute in many areas. Currently dofollow links can be set only in the Flickr groups. Links can also be generated by users by granting them the use of uploaded images if they set a backlink to specific pages in return.

In the past, Flickr has frequently deleted whole accounts and all related photos when they were obviously being abused. It is therefore important to distribute links only sporadically to give the impression of a “real” profile. This includes, for example, regular posting of new images, setting links in the comments only rarely and active participation in the community.