Google to allow users to merge text and images in search queries

Google LLC has reportedly added visual search features in shopping and video. This could help the company in expanding its role in online shopping and dominance in online video.

The new feature will be launched within months through its search tool Google Lens, as confirmed by the company during its live-streamed Search On conference. In May, the company stated that advancements in artificial intelligence would make this feature a possibility.

Prabhakar Raghavan, the Senior Vice President at Google, commented that users can utilize the new capability to tap on the Lens icon while viewing an apparel picture and ask Google to search for the same pattern- but on another apparel, like socks. This helps when users are looking for something that may be impossible to describe precisely by just using words.

The feature also sorts within videos including the ones on Google’s YouTube which already is the biggest streaming service on the internet.

Raghavan said that the point-and-ask searching mode will make it easier to find an exact moment from a video that can help fix things whose names are unknown.

Users will be able to operate reverse-image searches while surfing on the iOS app of Google or the Chrome desktop browser. Choosing an image will get similar online visuals, which could enable shoppers to find where to purchase items viewed in photos and eventually lead them to Google Shopping, the marketplace rival to Amazon.com Inc.

Another priority is to make more items searchable. Google stated that it was authorizing a free Address Maker app to organizations and governments to assign addresses to homes and businesses as well as map routes that are not listed on the Google Maps yet. It added that the application could curb the time it takes organizations and governments to assign addresses for a town from years to weeks.

Source credits:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-adds-visual-search-features-shopping-video-push-2021-09-29/