Google’s John Mueller answered the question of how Google’s new multisearch Google Lens affects SEO. How multi-purpose Google Lens search affects search engine optimization practice is a good question, and John has given a thoughtful answer.
Google Multisearch
Google Lens is an app available for Android and Apple iOS devices.
Google Lens (available for Android and Apple iOS) offers a way to search with the camera and perform tasks such as translating text, identifying plants, bugs and animals, and finding place information and other similar features.
Google Multisearch is a new way to search with Google Lens, which uses text and images at the same time.
The official Google Lens page on Google Play lists the following features for the app:
The multiple search feature was released on April 7, 2022 as a beta feature. Beta generally means that something is still being developed and tested, but it has reached a point where it is stable enough to use.
Google has stated that the multisearch feature uses AI and that they are still researching 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 regardless of language.
With Google Lens, the user can capture an image and then drag up to access the “Add to Search” button, which then opens the form to add text.
Screenshot of Google Lens in Multisearch Mode
Searching with an image can be thought of as searching for exactly what is in the image, as an exact search.
Image and text search allows the user to refine their search, for example by finding what is in the image but with a different color.
Google’s new multi-search prediction used the following examples of search enhancements:
How Does Multisearch Affect SEO?
John Mueller read the question in the Google SEO Chat for office hours.
This is a question Mueller read:
“How can multi-search in Google Lens… can it affect SEO?”
John Mueller responded by first clarifying that the multi-purpose Google Lens search is still a new thing.
“So … I think it’s something that’s still fairly new and how multi-search works.
We recently posted a blog post about it. And you can do that, for example, in Chrome and on different types of phones.
Basically, it happens that you can take a photo of any image from the site and search for that image.
For example, if you find a certain … piece of clothing or … anything basically that you’d like to find more information about, you can sort of highlight that part of the picture and then look for more similar things. ”
SEO and Multisearch
Mueller then discussed SEO in the context of multisearch:
“And from an SEO standpoint, 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 that way.
So it’s not about … like a direct effect on SEO or anything like that.
However, it’s kind of like if you do everything right, if your content can be found in a search, if you have images on your content and those images are relevant, then we can lead people to those images or to your content in a number of ways. ”
SEO and Multisearch
John Mueller said there is nothing new about SEO that is specifically related to multisearch. SEO Best Practices for Content and Images We recommend SEO.
However, in my opinion, Google’s multi-purpose search may require new SEO-related actions, including rethinking content and image strategy now that Google Lens is part of the mix.
When it comes to SEO, it might be wise to use the Google Lens app and check to see if your images are actually appearing for relevant queries.
Another thing to research is to check which competitors are listed in Google Lens.
The advent of multipurpose search means that it might be helpful to consider using images on your websites (if not already used effectively) in addition to using a variety of image best practices, including Google Discover image recommendations and structured data.
Citations
Read the Google Multisearch Announcements
Go further than the search box: Introducing multiple searches
Read More About the Google Lens App
Google Lens in the Google Play Store
Watch the Google Office Hours Video
John Mueller answers an SEO question and a multiple search at 17.39 minutes