Keyword Secrets: “Design”, “Texture”, “Background” — Why These Three Terms Print Money on Adobe Stock
Spoiler: Three tiny words account for half of the week's best-selling Adobe Stock photos - and they're not what most photographers think.
Why I Went Data-Mining
Between 16–22 June 2025 I scraped Adobe Stock’s Top-Seller list for 120 photo-only assets . What I pulled:
+-----------------------------+--------+
| Metric | Value |
+-----------------------------+--------+
| Total keyword tags analysed | 5 094 |
| Unique keywords | 1 476 |
| Average tags per photo | 42.4 |
+-----------------------------+--------+One pattern leapt out: three keywords — design, texture, background — showed up in ~50 % of all winners. Top-10 Money Words (Photos only):
+------------+-----------+---------------------+
| Keyword | Frequency | Share of Assets (%) |
+------------+-----------+---------------------+
| design | 61 | 50.8 |
| texture | 55 | 45.8 |
| background | 54 | 45.0 |
| light | 50 | 40.8 |
| technology | 46 | 38.3 |
| photo | 45 | 29.2 |
| modern | 43 | 35.8 |
| digital | 40 | 33.3 |
| bright | 34 | 28.3 |
| datum | 34 | 24.2 |
+------------+-----------+---------------------+
Markdown(Data: Weekly Top Seller Photos — Jun 16 2025 Excel file)
Design: The Swiss-Army Tag
“Design” is a catch-all for creatives hunting layouts, mock-ups, UI ideas, and any asset that looks intentional. It tells buyers your photo is made for slides, posters, and websites. Pair it with style descriptors — minimal design, retro design, future design — and you cover multiple niches without diluting SEO juice.
Try it: Tag any photo that feels composed or grid-friendly. Even lifestyle shots can be “design-driven” if negative space is obvious.
Texture: Tactile Click-Bait
Digital designers constantly need overlays that add grit, grain, or softness. “Texture” assets sell because they’re plugins in JPEG form — one file can power hundreds of projects.
Pro tips:
- Shoot flat-lit close-ups of stone, fabric, paper, bark.
- Keep shadows gentle so buyers can blend in multiply mode.
- Offer neutral color versions; designers can tint later.
Background: The Unsung Hero
Slide decks, app splash screens, YouTube thumbnails — everything starts with a background. The word signals utility: “I’m a clean canvas — drop your slogan here.”
Make it sell faster:
- Add “copy space” in your title.
- Upload both horizontal and vertical crops.
- Keep edges noise-free so buyers can tile or zoom.
Turning Keywords into Cash
- Stack the trio. Photos tagged design + texture + background punched above average in our set.
- Front-load titles. Adobe’s search puts weight on first five words — start with your money term.
- Sequence tags smartly. Put high-volume words first; Adobe auto completes for the rest.
Want the full Excel sheet plus my ready-made keyword formulas?
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