Why was my asset rejected due to similar content?

Similar content rejections have been an issue for a vast number of contributors, staring a few months ago. Some such rejections, perhaps many, are warranted, while others seem random and illogical. The first asset below was rejected for similar content. As such, I debated whether to submit the second asset and held onto it for a couple of months. Maybe they had had enough of snowy owls. But I eventually threw caution to the wind and submitted it. It was accepted. Keywords and titles were similar (but not identical by any means), so it’s even unclear to what extent keywords and titles affect a similar content rejection. This has happened to me on a number occasions. Bottom line, it’s an issue contributors have been dealing with for quite some time and all we can do is stand on a cliff, spin around, jump, and hope we land back on solid ground.

 

Here are the primary grounds for this rejection, categorized by how the Adobe moderators (and their AI-assisted review tools) evaluate your work.

1. The "Batch" Problem (Self-Competition)

If you upload multiple files from the same shoot, Adobe will often reject all but the strongest 2 or 3.

• Minor Angle Shifts: Submitting the same subject with only a slight nudge of the camera or a minor crop.

• Burst Mode: Images taken in a sequence where the model’s expression or the lighting barely changes.

   

• Post-Processing Variations: Submitting the same photo once in color and once in black-and-white, or applying different filters to the same shot.

• Technical Tweaks: Different exposures or white balance settings of the same frame.

2. "Collection Saturation" (Market Overcrowding)

Even if your image is unique to your portfolio, it might be rejected because Adobe already has 50,000 nearly identical versions from other contributors.

• Common Subjects: Basic shots of a "cup of coffee on a white desk" or "hands typing on a laptop" are heavily scrutinized. If your version doesn't offer a "new story" or unique lighting, it’s flagged.

   

• AI-Generated Bloat: With the rise of Generative AI, the library is being flooded with "cat in a spacesuit" or "cyberpunk city" prompts. If your AI generation looks like a thousand others, it’s rejected as redundant.

3. Metadata Redundancy

Sometimes the rejection isn't about the pixels, but the keywords and titles.

• Copy-Paste Metadata: If you use the exact same title and tags for 20 different images, the system assumes the content is also the same.

• Generic Tagging: Using only broad terms (e.g., "nature," "beautiful," "green") makes your images indistinguishable from millions of others in the database.

4. Minimal Creative Variation (Vector/Illustration)

For designers and illustrators, "Similar Content" often triggers when:

• Simple Color Swaps: Changing only the background color or the shirt color of a character.

• Icon Sheets vs. Individuals: Submitting a sheet of 20 icons and then also submitting each icon individually.

• Stroke Weights: Submitting the same illustration with a 1pt stroke and then again with a 3pt stroke.

   

How to Avoid the Rejection

• Be Your Own Editor: Only upload the "hero" shots. If you have 10 photos of a mountain, pick the 2 with the most distinct lighting or composition.

• Vary the "Story": If you are shooting a model, change the outfit, the prop, or the emotion significantly between the shots you submit.

   

• Unique Metadata: Ensure every image has a slightly different title that describes its specific unique element (e.g., "Close up of red lentil soup" vs. "Top down view of lentil bowl").

• Wait and Space Out: Some contributors find success by uploading variations in smaller batches over several weeks rather than all at once, though this is a "community hack" and not official advice.

The "Wildcard" tip: If you're doing AI work, avoid "one-word" prompt changes. Substantial changes to the environment, lighting style (e.g., "Golden Hour" vs "Neon Noir"), and subject action are necessary to pass the "Similar Content" check.

Hi ​@Saro_art 

You need to make sure there is no other image in your portfolio that are close to the ones refused for similar. If there is absolutely no other, it might be a case that there is another file with caption similar to yours on the database in which case you amend the caption to make it more descriptive of what you are submitting.

Best wishes

Jacquelin

This is what Stock has to say about ‘Similar Content.’

• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/similar-vs-spamming.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/similar-content-guidelines.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/help/find-similar-assets.html

Use less common metadata because the algorithm looks at those, too. To give a few examples:

• Umbrellas 2+ Million results https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=umbrellas
• Parasols 2+ Million results https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=parasols
• Sun+Shade 614K results https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=sun+shade
• Sun+screen 588K results https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=sun+screen

Reverse engineering content for Stock can be an effective way to get your content accepted. In other words, search the database for holes in inventory. Fill it with high quality content. 

Hope that helps. 

No one knows exactly how Adobe determines similarity. It seems to be both a combination of visual similarity and titles/keywords. You can try searching for images using some of the keywords from your rejected image,

Hey ​@Saro_art 

What type of content are you submitting: photos, AI content, Illustrations, Video(s)….?

Sometimes it is the keyword(s) or Title…

By submitting an image we can also help you a bit better.
Cheers

Nate

Unfortunately, there’s no way to know for sure which asset Adobe considered similar to yours. The only option is to search the collection and try to guess what they might have found similar, which you’ve already done.

When I submitted content that didn’t seem to have anything comparable and still got rejected for “similar content,” I took it as a sign they weren’t interested in that submission.

Similar content rejections have been quite common over the last six months or more. Search the forum for “similar content,” as the issue has been discussed ad nauseum. And you’ll probably see more of it going forward.