Google Image Search/Pack

 

The Future is: Visual

It’s hard to say when the first picture was taken. The earliest photo anyone can find was taken in 1826. We’ve been swooning for snaps ever since. According to Wordstream, today 95 million images are uploaded to Instagram every day. With our fondness for photos, it’s no wonder our search habits are leaning toward the visual - and why Google is giving more real estate to image in search results.

The data behind the trend

As content creators and marketers, if you’re not paying attention to the way images are being woven into search then you’re missing a big opportunity.

According to Moz:

1 in 3 Google searches are for images

1 in 8 SERPs show Image Pack results

Try it: Image Search

To understand Google’s shift to featuring images - known as the Google Image Pack -  let’s try this: grab your phone and search for an image. If you’re stuck for something to try, type “kung fu otter.” The results should look something like this:

 
Screen Shot 2018-06-05 at 3.22.46 PM.png

How to make content for Google Images Pack

Investing time into ranking in visual search isn’t worth it for all marketers. Honestly, at this point it’s probably most important for retail and consumer goods businesses. It can also be helpful for companies with local reach.

If your a content creator or marketer who falls into one of those categories or you are simply interested in experimenting with ranking in image searches, here’s what to pay attention to:

  • Enhance the audience’s experience. Duh, right? Just like any other content, look for pictures that enhance the experience for the viewer.
  • Go for quality. High res images and photos that are unique (who wants to see another stock photo...) will count more and more.
  • Standard ratios. It might seem cool to have a super tall image but Google won’t resize for the best view so that picture could end up looking funky. Go with standard image ratios (16:9 or 4:3) instead.  
  • Image SEO. Be sure to optimize images in the right places, just like you would a blog post or landing page. Pay particular attention to:
    • Image file name
    • Alt tags
    • Captions
    • Descriptions
    • Contextual information surrounding the image

Get smarter about image search: Additional reading

 
Kara Schlabaugh