Visual search will lead to a momentous shift in which people interaction and managing relationships with each other, businesses and AI will evolve. Approximately 75%of the internet users in the U.S. have started their search for visual content and nearly 74% of shoppers stated that it is inefficient to have text-based keyword searches to find appropriate required online product. Visual search is good at answering questions that are hard to verbalize, such as, “What goes well with this shirt?” As such, it has not cannibalized textual search, instead working in tandem with it. This white paper focuses on increasing use of Google Lens and Pinterest Lens for better search results.

Visual search will lead to a momentous shift in which people interaction and managing relationships with each other, businesses and AI will evolve. Approximately 75%of the internet users in the U.S. have started their search for visual content and nearly 74% of shoppers stated that it is inefficient to have text-based keyword searches to find appropriate required online product. Visual search is good at answering questions that are hard to verbalize, such as, “What goes well with this shirt?” As such, it has not cannibalized textual search, instead working in tandem with it. This white paper focuses on increasing use of Google Lens and Pinterest Lens for better search results.

Problem Statement: At present, customers get influenced to shop by seeing images available on social media. Numerous individuals still conduct online searches by typing a query into a search engine like Bing, Yahoo or Google. However, sometimes it’s a time-consuming process for them to have access from inspirational image to the checkout page. Most of the online shoppers encounter the difficulty of searching a product using specific keywords. Here, enters visual search technology. Visual search will led a momentous shift in which people interaction and managing relationships with each other, businesses and AI will evolve. This owes to the increasing reliability on virtual assistants and advanced visual search technology. Being a developed country, approximately 75 percent of U.S. internet users have started their search for visual content and nearly 74 percent of shoppers stated that it is inefficient to have text-based keyword searches to find appropriate required online product.

Visual search is witnessing exponential growth in terms of usage, but due to lack of awareness and understanding among audience destruct search marketers opportunities. However, visual search and its applications in eCommerce are valuable and viable technological solution to damaged state of online shopping. According to some surveys, in 2020, technology and consumer intent will boost user experience and advertising models of the future. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility for businesses to shift their spending from text to voice ads, and from investing in clicks to actions and answers.

Before proceeding to the benefits Visual Search Technology offers, first focus on definition of Visual Search. Because for most of us, it’s one of the biggest points of confusion between image search and visual search. Image search return images, regardless of the method or process (a text based query returning an image result). Even this technology has exhibited considerable improvement over the years. Whereas Visual Search uses same approach as human, seeing an object and recognizing it even after some time, the process is real-complex compared to text-based image searches. In this technology, the image is the query which a search engine identify, understand and carry out pixel-to-pixel comparison, to generate visually similar result.

How has visual search gotten better in the past year?

Search engines have improved on understanding the various components of images as image recognition tools are enabled access to huge training sets of images and visual search engines can learn the implicit questions users asks against when submitting images. This has led to creation of virtuous cycle, where people rely more on visual search and heightens usage, which in turn build more accurate visual search tools. Even the Jumpshot and Moz report confirmed rise of visual search, with near about 27 percent of total searches obtained with help of images. Pinterest confirmed their users searches being carried out with Lens technology which reached a value of 600 million and Google returns images that is never imagined.

Visual Search Stats

Brands are leveraging visual search technology to better reach their users and offer actionable advice on the way to adapt to the changing search habits under the influence of visual search technology. This move is not going unnoticed, as the statistics demonstrate, images are returned for 19% of search queries on Google, Image-based Pinterest Ads have an 8.5% conversion rate, and Pinterest is anticipated to clear $1 billion a year in ad revenue by 2020. The image recognition market is anticipated to grow to $25.65 billion by 2019. By 2021, early adopter brands which redesign their websites to support visual and voice search will observe a surge in digital commerce revenue by 30%.

Visual Search is Good At Answering Questioning that are Hard to Verbalize

Visual search is good at answering questions that are hard to verbalize, such as, “What breed of dog is that?” or “What goes well with this shirt?” As such, it has not cannibalized textual search, instead working in tandem with it.

Google Lens

google lens had a separate app for object recognition. But, following the big declaration at the end of May 2018 will allow the smartphone camera act as a visual browser. This will aid in real object recognition and emphasize the shopping side of visual search. This new version of Google lens will be in-built in Android smartphone cameras. Not to mention that, similar to Pinterest Lens, it has ‘Style Match’ feature. The feature is in line with other industry giants of visual search, the prominence on shopping will give users a link to purchase what they’ve browse or snapshot image.

Pinterest visual search

is on the verge to have a strong foothold in visual search technology as it has hired technology expertise from its competitor, Google. They have ex-Google senior image search engineers, including Google’s Head of Image Search. This has helped them to win the race as they offer most useful and advanced visual search tool in present times.

2017, Pinterest Lens was launch which inculcates noteworthy visual search functionalities. Most appreciable feature is “Lens Your Look”, wherein, a user could capture a denim jacket image, and it recommends what could suit with it –a remarkable instance of how visual search engines comprehend images, against to merely identifying them.

Identical to Bing’s visual search functionality, Pinterest offer shopping functionality. In which, if a user find other’s apparels fascinating, Pinterest Lens let you capture and return Pins letting the user to shop the look. Through a partnership with ShopStyle, thousands of shoppable products of various brands are linked to Pins. It facilitates a user to click a link within Pins and purchase the items they liked.

Future Ahead

In 2019, Visual Search will have some additional trends which includes: increased integration with chatbots which will ease the use of visual search by initiating a conversation with brand’s chatbot. To be on competitive advantage, companies will add text search to visual search for higher visibility and reach. Visual platforms like Instagram will tie-up with visual search key players for broadening the shopping experience. Even being at infant stage, visual search promise much more for the future. Brands wishing to stay visible will compelled to adopt visual search, replacing keywords and text-based search which may led to the downfall of SEO industry in the forthcoming years.