What is the first image that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘Finnish’? If you are not familiar with Finland, Finns or Finnish culture maybe you will see an idyllic snowed landscape with smoking chimney cottages and possibly some reindeers wandering around. On the other hand if you are close enough to this Nordic country surely some immaculate sauna, hi-tech mobile phone or salmon over rye bread images will fly in your mind. But what does Google Images think about keyword ‘Finnish’?

 

That is what @taalto wanted to show on an experiment that compares the results Google Images gives for ‘Finnish’ and ‘Swedish’ keywords. Images speak by themselves, while for the ‘Finnish’ search pictures showed are:

the results for ‘Swedish’ search are:

After this experiment an initiative was born from Finnish Advertising Agency W. Steinmann to try to revert these negative tendencies. They used a simple SEO technique of tagging uploaded photos –  whether the file name, alt-tag or surrounding text, with the keyword ‘Finnish’. Perhaps the simplicity of the technique is the reason why its often overlooked.

The Campaign for Finnish Image(s) aims at improving the quality of pictures going around the web, reflecting more realistically the modern life in Finland. Can a simple SEO practice make the difference on how Finland is perceived? At least through search engines eyes. This is a job not only for the Finnish authorities, but for anyone who lives or loves this magic land.

 

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