Ask any Search Engine Optimization professional and they will tell you that image search is all about the tags. Unfortunately for searchers, this has led to poor quality of search results. Flickr, the photo social network of Yahoo! Uses tags to group photos into relevant bunches. Microsoft Live.com and Google also have image search engines based off of these same tags. For example, type “classic cobra” into any of the three engines and your results will be a mix of cars, snakes, and toys. No amount of long tail search refinement seems to ever bring the results to real pertinence.
PageRank, Google’s signature search technology, is joined by VisualRank. Google announced the new image-recognition algorithm blend at the International World Wide Web Conference in Beijing. Google is looking to stay ahead of start-ups specializing in image search with VisualRank, believing the new search technology is a real breakthrough.
So what does this mean for Google’s bottom line? As Google refines it’s image search be on the look out for integration of ads similar to current Google searches, with easy access for merchants using Google checkout, and other profitable cross-promotions.
What should businesses be doing now? Do the tags still matter?
Take a step back and approach this change with the end user in mind. Are the images you are using representative of your business? If they aren’t, or if they are just filler, replace them to images that better represent your business and brand. Double check your tags while your at it, although Google may be able to search your images, they don’t drive all the searches.
