Visual search is quickly becoming an integral part of consumer search habits and digital marketing tactics.
What is Visual Search (VS)? VS uses images to promote online searches of products by consumers. Algorithms take an image online and generate buying options for that product or similar-looking products.
Check out the example below. The gray circle with a magnifying glass is part of Pinterest’s Visual Search tool.
Once you click on the tool, you’ll be taken to a page with images that match the content of your original searched Pin.
In this case, the Pinterest algorithm has understood the content of the Pin and related searches, then categorized them as “unique architecture.”
Since releasing this tool in 2015, Pinterest now sees roughly 600 million visual searches monthly.
Companies like Google, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Amazon each have native visual search tools that produce image search results related to the product the consumer is looking for.
In 2018, Google Lens announced that it could detect over one billion objects.
With 62% of Millenials and GenZ preferring visual search and visual search projected to become a $40 billion industry by 2025, it’s time companies start thinking of ways they can integrate this feature into their services.
