SmugMug vs Flickr

SmugMug automatically pulls photo metadata such as keywords, descriptions and captions, and inserts them in appropriate places in the webpage so that search engines can properly index them. If that information is not set before uploading, it can be added via back-end as well. Also in the back-end it's possible to set site-wide metadata and custom URLs to further optimize.

Content still needs to be dispersed via social media, blogs, forums, etc for it to show up in search results, but SmugMug has a well polished codebase that takes search engines into consideration and won't hinder content's exposure potential.

By simply dragging and dropping various content blocks (such as menu, galleries, social buttons, text) around it's possible to quickly and visually lay out the site. Customization options are context aware. So, if a gallery is open, gallery customization options will be shown, if a page is open, page customization options will be shown. To change the look of the site there are multiple themes available that can be further customized by changing HTML & CSS.

SmugMug has a drag and drop interface that allows organizing photos into folders and galleries, adjusting how they're displayed, setting privacy preferences, editing meta keywords and descriptions, etc in an easy to use manner.

Watermarks can be added to photos, printmarks to prints, and branding can be applied to orders (shopping cart, thank you prints and stickers).

Photos can be shared, commented on and liked.

It's possible to set an assistant password that gives access to the backend (with some limitations). Very useful for letting someone trusted upload and arrange photos. The assistant won't be able to delete photos or galleries, customize the site or access private folders.

A gallery or a folder and it's sub-items can be given a password that will be asked when trying to access them.

Anyone accessing a gallery using a specifically crafted URL can upload photos to it.

To use a custom domain a "Power" pricing tier or higher is required.

It's possible to sell digital downloads of photos and videos as well as prints. SmugMug takes 15% of profit on sale.

Flickr offers 1TB of free storage with no limits on image resolution. This makes for a great place to store ones photos due to the high amount of storage available for free.

Flickr has an app on Windows, OSX, iOS and Android, called Flickr Uploadr (available for download in the tools section) that can automatically upload images to Flickr. It can even pull images from external drives and other cloud storage services such as iCloud.

I mainly use Google Photos and keep separate local backup of all my photos, but also use the IOS app which transfers all new photos onto Flickr storage as well.

Flickr is capable of searching images by a combination of content, color, shape, depth of field, style, pattern, size, license and other options.

Flickr will automatically attempt to figure out the contents of a picture and tag them appropriately. This will allow you to look for, for example, all images of flowers, bridges or butterflies.