Google Lens is Google’s visual search. Users search with a camera, a saved image or a screenshot instead of typing. For websites it is another entry point for images and products.
What can Google Lens do?
According to Google, Lens identifies plants, animals, artworks and landmarks, translates and copies text from images, looks up products by photo and offers explanations for subjects such as math or chemistry. Results can include AI Overviews, matching products, similar images and websites that contain the image.
Where is it available?
Google lists the Google app on Android and iOS, Chrome on the desktop, Google Photos and the camera app of selected Android phones. In Chrome, a right click on an image offers a Lens search. On Android phones, Circle to Search adds a similar search directly on the screen.
What does it mean for SEO?
Google describes no technical requirements specific to Lens. The image guidelines in Search Central are the obvious basis, which is an assessment. They recommend:
- descriptive alt text, without keyword stuffing
- meaningful file names instead of
image1.jpg - images in
<img>elements, since Google does not index CSS background images - an image sitemap for images that might otherwise go undiscovered
- structured data for rich results
Example
<img src="/images/brown-leather-backpack.jpg"
alt="Brown leather backpack with two side pockets">
Sources
- Google Lens – Google Search (ways to search)search.google
- Search with an image – Google Search Helpsupport.google.com
- 12 billion visual searches per month – Google Blog (June 14, 2023)blog.google
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