Pexels Updates Search Algorithm to Increase Visibility for LGBTQ+ Community

Pexels’ algorithm update gives LGBTQ+ couples equal presence, another step in strengthening our overall quest to improve representation for marginalized communities.

As one of the most popular free photo and video libraries in the world, we understand the power a photo or video can have.

Images have the power to make or break ideologies, challenge the status quo, and humanize experiences. Images fuel stories and create movements.

This is why it’s our responsibility as a global platform to act as a force for good—a force for progress. That’s why we’re improving our search experience.

In 2018, we made a commitment to give more visibility to underrepresented people in our search results and grow our library with more content that better reflected the world around us.

It became apparent that when users searched for popular topics like "couple", and “love”, among many others, the results were largely one-sided: there was no shortage of photos featuring heterosexual couples, but images showing LGBTQ+ relationships were lacking.

As with most search engines across the web, our internal search algorithm is programmed to learn from our users, constantly fine-tuning results to provide the "best" possible photos and videos for every search term.

This means that our search algorithm, as is the case with many online, will inevitably end up reflecting some of society's biases.

If we tell our algorithm to always prioritize the most popular photos and videos, this means it's all too possible that the most popular photos and videos will overwhelmingly depict white, straight, able-bodied, beautiful people — because, as we all know, the world is not an equal place.

People are discriminated against due to race, appearance, ability, gender, and sexuality. A search algorithm that reflects back what the majority of people want to see is great for the best photos of cats or beaches, but it's less than ideal for a platform that wants to challenge prejudice and stereotypes rather than reinforcing them.

This is why instead our updated search feature relies on humans, and more specifically the talented and kind humans of our curation team.

Our curators are now able to pick and choose large groups of photos with a couple of clicks so that those will be boosted on selected search terms. The basic example would be boosting same-sex couple photos on "couple" searches. You get the idea.

This, of course, won't really be able to completely offset the intrinsic biases that large-scale internet usage creates and which will no doubt continue to affect our search for a long time, but it helps.

This update to Pexels will mean better representation across our search results, which is undeniably a win.

Why is representation important?

Offering our community more images and videos that reflect more diverse realities means taking a stance as an ally in normalizing and improving visibility for LGBTQ+ people. Our goal is twofold: to empower our community in telling better stories and to improve representation for marginalized groups.

We invite everyone who is interested to help us continue making our search results better.

If you’re a company, consider doing your own photo shoot and adding the content to your brand profile on Pexels. If you’re often looking for photos and videos for your projects, consider how you can help power progress in the content you feature. And if you’re a photographer, share your work with the world by creating a Pexels profile.