Google Talks Multisearch

 In the Google blog a very interesting and considerable piece about using search via image and beyond.   Impressed by what they have done with capabilities like Lens. Using it more. Also thing more about integrating it with capabilities  like searching via voice.     Doing much more of that now.  

Go beyond the search box: Introducing Multisearch

Apr 07, 2022, Belinda Zeng  in the Google Blog

Product Manager, Search

How many times have you tried to find the perfect piece of clothing, a tutorial to recreate nail art or even instructions on how to take care of a plant someone gifted you — but you didn’t have all the words to describe what you were looking for?

At Google, we’re always dreaming up new ways to help you uncover the information you’re looking for — no matter how tricky it might be to express what you need. That’s why today, we’re introducing an entirely new way to search: using text and images at the same time. With multisearch in Lens, you can go beyond the search box and ask questions about what you see.

Let’s take a look at how you can use multisearch to help with your visual needs, including style and home decor questions. To get started, simply open up the Google app on Android or iOS, tap the Lens camera icon and either search one of your screenshots or snap a photo of the world around you, like the stylish wallpaper pattern at your local coffee shop. Then, swipe up and tap the "+ Add to your search" button to add text..... ' 

Implications of Google Visual Search: Bringing Eyeballs to Shopping

Been thinking of the implications of Google Lens for some time, will it now more generally emerge.

Will visual search bring eyeballs to Google Shopping?

DISCUSSION

Will visual search bring eyeballs to Google Shopping?

Oct 14, 2021, by Tom Ryan   in Retailwire  with further expert discussion: 

Google is updating the look and format of product search pages so that feature images better resemble a digital store rather than a long list of links and text.

One method involves the use of Google Lens, an image recognition technology that lets a smartphone camera conduct digital searches by identifying real objects. The “search images” button on the Google app makes all the images on a page searchable through Google Lens, providing information on those products as well as views of similar products.

In a blog entry  Bill Ready, president of commerce, payments & NBU at Google, said, “Whether it’s an image that you see online, a photo you saved on your phone  or something in the real world that catches your eye, Google Lens makes the products you see instantly shoppable.”

Google Lens will soon be extended to Chrome on desktops to provide product search results for website images, video and text.

A second method (demonstrated in the video below) enables visual searches directly from mobile search. A search for “cropped jackets,” for example, shows a visual feed of jackets in various colors and styles, alongside other information like local shops, style guides and videos. Users can filter the search down to style, department and brand and access ratings, reviews and price comparisons.

Wrote Bill Ready in his blog article, “This new experience is powered by Google’s Shopping Graph, a comprehensive, real-time dataset of products, inventory and merchants with more than 24 billion listings. This not only helps us connect shoppers with the right products for them, it also helps millions of merchants and brands get discovered on Google every day.”

Google has overhauled its shopping search over the last year as Amazon has surpassed the company as the leader in first product search and lately has also taken share in digital advertising. Google’s changes include no longer requiring merchants to advertise to have their products listed in shopping searches as well as eliminating commission fees. Another newer update has been adding in-store inventory checks to product search.   ..... '