Google Lens Is Changing Search — Here’s How to Take Advantage
Until recently, getting found online usually meant one thing: figuring out what your prospective customers are typing into Google.
Businesses have invested enormous amounts of time and money identifying the right keywords, creating website content, improving search engine optimization (SEO), running Google Ads and competing for those coveted spots at the top of a search results page.
Nowadays, your next customer may not type anything at all.
They may simply take a picture.
Google Lens allows people to use an image as a search query. Someone can photograph a product, building, plant, piece of furniture, appliance, article of clothing or virtually anything else and ask Google to help identify it, explain it or find something similar. Users can also upload screenshots and existing photos rather than starting with a traditional text search.
That creates an important new opportunity for businesses, according to Design in DC.
Instead of thinking about Google Lens as another technology disrupting traditional SEO, think of it as another doorway through which prospective customers can discover your business.
And businesses that start optimizing for visual search now may be better positioned as consumer search behavior continues to evolve.
From Keywords to Pictures
Consider how people traditionally search for something they see and like.
You walk into a friend's house and notice a beautiful light fixture. You might ask where they bought it, try to remember the manufacturer's name or later search Google for something like "modern brass chandelier with round glass globes."
Google Lens dramatically simplifies that process.
You can take a photograph of the fixture and search using the image itself. Google can then return visually similar products, relevant webpages and other information related to what appears in the photograph.
The same thing can happen with a pair of shoes someone sees on Instagram, a chair in a hotel lobby, a plant growing in a neighbor's yard, a restaurant storefront, a replacement part for an appliance or a product sitting on a store shelf.
Google Lens can analyze visual characteristics and combine that information with other search signals to help determine what the user is looking for. Users can also refine visual searches with additional words, creating a search experience that combines images and language.
That's a significant development for marketers because it creates entirely new moments of discovery.
A prospective customer doesn't necessarily have to know your company name. They don't even have to know what your product is called.
They just have to see something that creates interest.
Your Images Are Becoming Searchable Business Assets
Most companies still treat website photography primarily as a design element.
A good photograph makes the homepage look attractive. Product photography helps customers understand what they're buying. Project photos make a portfolio more compelling.
Those things are still important.
But visual search gives businesses another reason to invest in strong imagery: your photographs can help people discover you.
Google recommends using high-quality images and says that sharp, appealing images can be more attractive to users viewing search-result thumbnails. Google also uses information from the page surrounding an image—including captions, titles and other contextual information—to understand the image's subject matter.
That means companies should start thinking about their image libraries almost the same way they think about written website content.
Every important product, service, project or location should have useful visual content associated with it.
A custom homebuilder, for example, shouldn't simply upload 50 beautiful photographs into a gallery.
Those photographs could be organized around individual projects, architectural styles, kitchens, outdoor living spaces, materials and other subjects prospective clients might search for.
A restaurant can feature professional images of individual dishes, the dining room, bar, patio and exterior.
A manufacturer can photograph individual products, components, applications and product variations.
A retailer can show products from multiple angles and in real-world settings.
A professional-services firm can use diagrams, charts, infographics and original imagery to visually demonstrate its expertise.
The goal isn't simply to have more images.
It's to create images that clearly represent the things your company wants customers to find.
Give Google Context
Great photography alone isn't enough.
Search engines need context to understand what an image represents.
Google specifically recommends descriptive filenames and useful alt text and notes that captions, page titles and surrounding content can provide information about an image's subject matter.
Instead of uploading a photograph named: IMG_4837.jpg
A custom homebuilder might use: modern-custom-home-atlanta-exterior.jpg
The page surrounding that photograph could discuss the home's contemporary architecture, materials, location, builder and design features.
Likewise, alt text should accurately and concisely describe what is actually visible in the photograph rather than simply becoming another place to stuff keywords.
This is one of the encouraging things about optimizing for visual search: many of the practices that make your website more understandable to Google also make it more useful to people.
Clear descriptions help customers.
Logical website organization helps customers.
Fast-loading images help customers.
Accurate product information helps customers.
Accessible alt text helps people using screen readers while also giving search engines information about the image.
Good visual SEO isn't about tricking an algorithm. It's about making your digital content easier to understand.
Product Businesses Have an Especially Big Opportunity
Visual search has obvious implications for ecommerce.
Imagine someone notices a jacket, handbag, piece of furniture or kitchen appliance they like. Instead of trying to describe it, they can photograph it and search visually.
That means the quality and accuracy of a company's product imagery can directly influence product discovery.
Google's ecommerce guidance specifically identifies Google Lens as one of the places ecommerce content can appear. Google recommends uploading product details through Merchant Center, participating in product listings and following its image SEO best practices to help products become discoverable through Lens.
Businesses should therefore consider providing several useful images for important products: front and back views, different angles, detail photographs, available colors or finishes, and images showing the product being used.
Product information should also be consistent.
Names, brands, model numbers, dimensions, colors, pricing and availability should be clearly presented and kept current.
Structured data can further help Google understand the relationship between a webpage and the product or other entity it represents. Google's ecommerce guidance recommends sharing structured product data so its systems can better understand ecommerce content and potentially display it across Google's various surfaces.
In other words, don't make Google guess what you're selling.
Make it easy to understand.
Visual Search Isn't Just for Ecommerce
The opportunity extends far beyond retailers.
Imagine someone driving through a neighborhood and seeing a house they love. They could photograph it and potentially discover information about the architect, builder or development.
Someone could photograph signage outside a restaurant and quickly learn more about the business.
A homeowner might photograph an unfamiliar plumbing fixture or building material because they need to repair or replace it.
A gardener might photograph a plant and then look for a local nursery selling it.
A business traveler could photograph a landmark and discover nearby attractions and businesses.
Google Lens can identify and provide information about objects, landmarks, plants, products and storefronts, making visual search relevant to a wide range of industries.
For small and medium-sized businesses, that's particularly exciting.
Visual search can create discovery opportunities based on what you do, make or sell, rather than simply how much money you can spend competing for popular keywords.
Don't Forget Your Physical Business
For companies with physical locations, visual search creates another reason to maintain a strong and consistent real-world and digital presence.
Your storefront, signs, products, menus and other physical features can potentially become starting points for searches.
Make sure the photographs on your website and business listings accurately represent what customers will encounter in the real world.
Use clear exterior photographs.
Show recognizable signage.
Include photographs of your interior.
Restaurants should showcase representative dishes and dining areas. Retailers should show products and displays. Hotels can highlight rooms, amenities and distinctive architectural features.
And make sure the basic information associated with your business—name, location, hours and other relevant details—is accurate and consistent.
The easier it is for search engines to connect your physical presence with your digital presence, the better positioned your business is for visual discovery.
Speed Still Matters
There's one potential downside to building a more visually rich website: enormous image files can make it painfully slow.
That's why image optimization matters.
Google recommends balancing high-quality imagery with performance and using responsive-image techniques so users receive images appropriate for their devices. Google also recommends designing responsive webpages and optimizing images to improve the user experience.
Businesses therefore shouldn't simply upload enormous original photographs directly from a camera.
Images should be appropriately sized and compressed while maintaining good visual quality. Modern formats and responsive image techniques can also reduce unnecessary file size.
Think of it this way: You want Google to see your images, but you don't want customers waiting around for them to load.
Create a Visual Content Strategy
For many companies, the biggest shift isn't technical. It's organizational.
Businesses already have editorial calendars for blogs and social media. Increasingly, they should have a strategy for visual content as well.
Start by identifying the products, services, projects and expertise that are most important to your company.
Then ask: If someone searched visually for something related to this, would our company have a strong image that Google could potentially connect with it?
If the answer is no, you've identified an opportunity.
Build a library of original photographs. Photograph important products from several angles. Document completed projects. Create diagrams explaining complicated services. Develop useful before-and-after images. Photograph your physical location and signage. Create step-by-step visual content when you're teaching customers how to do something.
Then connect those images with strong written content.
That combination is powerful because modern search is becoming increasingly multimodal. Google can return information based on images while also considering the webpages and context associated with them.
A Simple Google Lens Checklist for Businesses
You don't need to completely rebuild your website to begin preparing for visual search.
Start with the fundamentals:
Use original, high-quality photography for your most important products, services and projects.
Use descriptive image filenames rather than generic camera-generated filenames.
Write accurate alt text explaining what important images depict.
Surround important images with relevant written content that gives search engines additional context.
Optimize image sizes and website performance so visual content doesn't slow down your site.
Use appropriate structured data for products, articles, organizations and other relevant content.
For ecommerce businesses, maintain accurate product information and consider Google Merchant Center so Google can better understand and surface your products.
Keep your physical and digital presence consistent, particularly if customers interact with a storefront, showroom, restaurant or other location.
Create visual content intentionally, rather than treating photography as decoration added after the website is finished.
Keep doing traditional SEO. Visual search isn't replacing good website content, technical SEO or useful information. It adds another layer to them.
The Businesses That Adapt Can Gain Another Way to Be Found
Google Lens illustrates a much bigger shift taking place in digital marketing.
Search is becoming less about a box where people type keywords and more about helping people find answers however they choose to ask the question.
Sometimes they'll type.
Sometimes they'll speak.
Sometimes they'll ask an AI assistant.
And increasingly, they'll simply point a camera at something.
For businesses, that's not something to fear. It's an opportunity.
The companies that create high-quality visual content, clearly describe what that content represents, organize their websites intelligently and make their digital information easy for search engines to understand are positioning themselves for this new generation of search.
You don't need to predict exactly how Google Lens or visual search will evolve.
You simply need to make sure that when someone sees something connected to your business and thinks, "I want to know more about that," Google has enough information to help them find you.
And that could turn a photograph, screenshot or passing moment of curiosity into your next customer.
