Google’s John Mueller answered how the new Google Lens search impacts SEO. How Google Lens Multisearch affects the practice of search engine optimization is a good question, and John provided a thoughtful answer.
John Mueller talks about SEO and multiple search
Google multi search
Google Lens is an app available for Android and Apple iOS devices.
The Google Lens app (available for Android and Apple iOS devices) provides a way to search with the camera and performs tasks such as translating text, identifying plants, insects and animals, finding information about places and others perform similar functions.
Google Multisearch is a new way of searching with the Google Lens app that uses text and images at the same time.
The official Google Lens page on Google Play lists these features for the app:
- « DIGITALIZE AND TRANSLATE TEXT
Translate the words you see, save a business card to your contacts, add events from a poster to your calendar, and copy and paste complicated codes or long paragraphs into your phone to save time.- IDENTIFY PLANTS AND ANIMALS
Find out what plant is in your friend’s apartment or what kind of dog you saw in the park.- DISCOVER THE PLACES AROUND YOU
Identify and discover landmarks, restaurants and storefronts. View ratings, hours of operation, historical facts and more.- FIND THE LOOK YOU LOVE
Do you see an outfit that catches your eye? Or a perfect chair for your living room? Find similar clothing, furniture and decorations that you love.- KNOW WHAT TO ORDER
View popular dishes on a restaurant map based on Google Maps reviews.- SCAN CODES
Quickly scan QR codes and barcodes.
The Multisearch feature was announced as a beta feature on April 7, 2022. Beta usually means something is still being developed and tested, but has reached a point where it’s stable enough to be used.
Google said that the multi-search feature uses AI and they are still investigating the integration of the MUM algorithm.
The Google MUM algorithm is a powerful technology that answers complex questions with the ability to use audio, video, images and text and returns the answer using information independent of language.
With the Google Lens app, a user can take a photo and then swipe up to access the “Add to your search” button, which then opens a form for adding text.
Screenshot of Google Lens in multisearch mode
Searching with an image can be viewed as a search for what exactly is contained in the image, like an exact search.
Searching with an image plus text allows the user Refine your searchfor example to find what is in the picture but in a different color.
Google’s announcement of the new multi-search used the following examples of search improvements:
- “Screenshot of an elegant orange dress and add the search query ‘green’ to find it in a different color
- Take a picture of your dining set and add the search query “coffee table” to find a suitable table
- Take a picture of your rosemary plant and add a care instructions query
John Mueller read the question in the Google SEO Office Hours Hangout.
Here’s the question Mueller read:
“How can multi-search in Google Lens… affect SEO?” »
John Mueller responded by first explaining that Google Lens Multisearch is still a new thing.
“So… this is something that I think is still pretty new and how multisearch works.
We recently published a blog post about it. And you can do this in Chrome, for example, and on different types of phones.
Essentially, you can take a picture of any image on a website and search by that image.
For example, if you find a…clothing or…something you want more information about, you can highlight that section of the image and then search for similar items.
SEO and Multi-Search
Mueller then discussed SEO in the context of multiple search:
“And from an SEO perspective, it’s not really something you would do…manually to make it work.
However, if your images are indexed, we can find your images and highlight them to people when they search this way.
So it’s not like there’s a direct impact on SEO or anything like that.
But it’s like if you’re doing everything right, if your content is searchable, if you have images in your content and those images are relevant, then there are many ways we can lead people to those images or to your content.
SEO and Multi-Search
John Mueller said that there is no news for SEO that is specific to multi-search. SEO best practices for content and image SEO are recommended.
However, in my opinion, Google Multisearch may need to take further SEO-related steps, including an overhaul of its content and image strategy now that Google Lens is part of the mix.
In terms of SEO, it might be wise to use the Google Lens app and verify that your images are actually showing up for relevant searches.
Another thing to examine is to see what competitors are ranked in Google Lens.
The advent of multi-search means that it might be worth considering using images on your web pages (if they aren’t already being used effectively) in addition to applying the various image best practices, including image recommendations for Google Discover and structured data ).
references
Read Google Multisearch Ads
Go beyond the search field: Introducing multi-search
Learn more about the Google Lens app
Google Lens on the Google Play Store
Watch the Google Office Hours video
John Mueller answers the question about SEO and multisearch at 17:39 minutes