Pancake by Ebrahim Alkredes

Sometimes, the best way to prove the power of a piece of advice is to attach some numbers to it. And so — my aversion to solo statistics aside — let me make a case for the power of properly tagging your photographs on 500px and 500px Prime by sharing one number.

1,345.4%

That is the average increase you can expect in photo views by simply adding 5 or more appropriate tags to your photos. Seriously. We know it’s a big number, and it kind of punched us in the face too, but it is accurate!

Photograph Ipunch by Zaid Saadallah on 500px

Ipunch by Zaid Saadallah on 500px

The Numbers Don’t Lie

According to our statistics for 2015 so far:

A 500px photo with NO tags gets an average of 28.27 views.

A 500px photo with 1-4 tags gets an average of 187.06 views.

And a 500px photo with 5 or more tags gets an average of 405.78 views!

If you do the math, that comes out to a whopping 1,345% increase in views between a photo with no tags, and one with 5 or more tags. To say you’re shooting yourself in the foot by not tagging your photos properly on 500px is a huge understatement — it’s more like you’re cutting both feet off.

Photograph Young Woman Shouting with Megaphone by Lars Zahner on 500px

Young Woman Shouting with Megaphone by Lars Zahner on 500px

So if you want to take your photos from a whisper to a shout, TAG THEM. Add 5 or more appropriate tags that actually have to do with the image (unrelated tags have actually been shown to hurt visibility), and our stats show you’ll see a noticeable increase in both views and overall rating.

What do you have to lose? A 1,345% increase in visibility is no joke!