Follow Up: Similar Content Rejection

In my opinion, Adobe has to start culling the images in its collection. There are billions of images. I like to shoot kitchens and baths, but of course there are millions in the collection. The ones in the collection are years old. Adobe should allow 2026 designs in because that is what the clients would be looking for. There is a spectacular difference between a 2020 kitchen and the cabinets and quartzite they use now. I am sure this is the same with many other subjects. Skylines are constantly changing; the way cocktails are presented, family shots are wearing newer clothing..I can go on with a list of subjects that are different in 2026. It really isn’t fair to the clients not to have 2026 assets in the collection. I feel bad for anyone having rejections for being too similar when it is not similar at all. I also like your top image better!

It seems that rejections for similar content have become a very common issue and affect all contributors to some extent.

I know stock is more about creating useful assets than creating art. Still, there's a quote from an art book that might help. In the preface to The Story of Art, E. H. Gombrich writes:

"Each generation is at some point in revolt against the standards of its fathers; each work of art derives its appeal to contemporaries not only from what it does but also from what it leaves undone."

When you're working on a subject that's already been covered in countless ways, one approach is to make it different not only by adding something you think is valuable, but also by removing what you feel is unnecessary or doesn't add anything. Sometimes what you leave out is just as important as what you put in. I think it's a perspective that can be applied to everything.

I hope this gives you a few useful insights.

Your main keywords produce 43K results.

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=iced+matcha+latte

Other Suggestions: matcha cold brew, green tea iced, summer drink recipes, dairy free latte, refreshing beverage graphics

As ​@daniellei4510 says, similar content rejections are very challenging to pin down. For all we know, it could be triggered by the shape & color of the content. 

Do the best you can. And send your Stock “similars” to competing services.

You’re probably not doing anything wrong...you’re just not doing something right, and that’s what has beleaguered us all when it comes to similar content rejections. Personally, I don’t think it’s so much about the images as the keywords and titles. If the algorithm sees the same keywords used too many times (especially near the top of the list), it gets flagged as similar, both compared to the entire database and to one’s own personal submissions. The downside to this, assuming I’m correct, is that if the most pertinent keywords are moved to the bottom of the list, they are less likely to be considered when performing a search.