Ever wondered what trendy jumper that cool guy, girl or non-binary person (can’t be too careful these days) was wearing? Or did you ever have a photo of a spoon you really wanted to buy — but you couldn’t find it no matter how hard you tried?
Visual search is on the rise, taking after it’s predecessor (voice search) that was discussed in a previous blog post, this growing trend has allowed more people to use their smartphone cameras to essentially ‘point, shoot and shop’. Alternatively, users can use existing images to search for products and items.
Social media giant, Snapchat, has announced a new tool it is testing that incorporates visual search with Amazon. It allows users to snap a product or barcode, if successful, it would open an Amazon product page.
Google has also announced the integration of visual search into its search engine; using AI-driven Lens to help users find information visually, shop for products or even for home decor inspiration. In a similar fashion to standard SEO and voice SEO, content would be ranked by relevance of content behind the image. While Google, has had image search for awhile now, major improvements are in the works.
Samsung’s launch of Bixby (the Samsung equivalent of Siri) in the past year boasted its new Bixby Vision feature – partnering up with Pinterest that also encouraged visual search – essentially allowing users to shop for items they saw on the street or find information about nearby restaurants from the convenience of their phone cameras.
This has many implications for digital marketing:
-Digital marketers should use more images with descriptive names and relevant keywords attached to rank higher in the visual SEO sphere
-Growing a Pinterest space is important – as the site is a leader in the visual search field
-It is important for digital marketers to begin optimising for visual SEO as it provides a new sales channel
Should digital marketers strategise for this or utilise strategies that are proven to generate results?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
And until then I’ll see you in the next bLAWg post!
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
bLAWg 
I agree that this is going to prompt companies to have to use more descriptive terms, with relevant keywords and images. It does concern me that big players (such as Amazon) will dominate and such technology will only provide certain search results. I think this makes consumers wary as the search seems biased, but it may make things like SEO and PPC more competitive. Lastly, could this just be an extension of QR codes? It seems similar to walking into a store and being linked to the product’s site after scanning the code. I guess it extends beyond this in that even those products without QR technology can be searched regardless.
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I guess my take on this is who bids for the top spot when someone searches an image and multiple results pop up. On amazon or aliexpress it has the potential to show the copycat or cheapest version of the product instead of the actual brand. I wonder how many different brands it will come up, with if they’re black pants. Perhaps only the brands who pay for it to be at the top will benefit and it won’t assist small organisations!
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Hi Alex! I definitely agree with you, for products that are unique to the brand (e.g. iPhone XS max) it would not be much of a challenge, however for generic items like black pants or white shirts – I feel the companies will need to strategise/optimise their visual SEO to capitalise on this.
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