Image and Visual Search for Ecommerce

Image and Visual Search is a field that SEOs tended to neglect in the past. However, with the ever-growing importance of the visual elements in SERPs, the central part Lens is having in the Multimodal idea Google is developing for Search, and the completely established preferred behavior people have about Visual Shopping, ignoring Image and Visual Search is something that cannot be tolerated anymore.

Transcript

1. Gianluca Fiorelli
   SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant,
   ILoveSEO.net
   @gfiorelli1 @gfiorelli1@mastodon.social
   

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2. Image and Visual Search
   for e-commerce
   by Gianluca Fiorelli
   

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3. 3 Takeaways
   1) Visual Search is the most natural search
   2) Images & Visual Search SEO is not only
   ’’Alt tag’’ optimization
   3) The Devil is in the details
   

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4. “People have always been visual; our
   brains are wired for images. Writing
   was a hack, a detour. Pictorial
   languages are how we all started to
   communicate; we are coming full
   circle”
   - Kevin Systrom (Instagram Co-Founder)
   

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5. Visual Search is perfect for people, who
   have these common dilemmas :
   

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6. Visual Search is perfect for people, who
   have these common dilemmas :
   1. Do not know what they desire, but know it
   ASAP they see it.
   

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7. Visual Search is perfect for people, who
   have these common dilemmas :
   1. Do not know what they desire, but know it
   ASAP they see it.
   2. Do know what they want, but they do not
   know how it is called.
   

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8. “In the English language there’s
   something like 180,000 words, and
   we only use 3,000 to 5,000 of
   them. If you’re trying to do voice
   recognition, there’s a really small
   set of things you actually need to
   be able to recognize […] So the
   problem of search in vision is just
   vastly larger than what we’ve seen
   with text or even with voice.”
   Clay Bavor (VP, Labs and Virtual &
   Augmented Reality at Google)
   

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9. However, SEO for Images & Visual
   Search tends to be considered a
   low priority because:
   1. “It is time consuming”
   2. “Image CTR is ridiculous”
   3. “People search images just to
   steal them”
   4. “We have to create 1000000
   pieces of content with
   ChatGPT”
   5. …
   

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11. Image & Visual Search can help us
    generating conversions in just one
    click from the image to the shopping
    cart eliminating intermediate steps,
    which could cause the loss of that
    same conversion.
    

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13. Image
    Search
    The Past
    

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14. Image
    Search
    Visual
    Search
    Past tence
    

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15. Multimodal
    Search
    Visual
    Search
    Image
    Search
    Present
    times
    

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16. IMAGES SEARCH
    

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17. IMAGES SEARCH
    Search Images Tags
    Organic Images
    Search Results with
    or without Product
    tag
    Shopping
    

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18. IMAGES SEARCH
    Search bar with Lens
    Merchant feed with product images
    carousel
    Image gallery of products listed in an
    ecommerce category page
    

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19. IMAGES SEARCH Organic Shopping
    (desktop)
    Query: Star Wars Legion miniatures
    Title from Title tag or H1
    Structured Data
    Relevant text taken from
    the description of the
    product
    

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20. IMAGES SEARCH Organic Shopping
    (mobile)
    Query: Star Wars Legion miniatures
    If we mark up our product pages
    with Schema.org/Product, then
    Google presents the product tag
    and the availability (’’in/out of
    stock)
    If the product is available also in
    Merchant from other merchants,
    Google will indicate it.
    

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21. IMAGES SEARCH Organic Shopping
    (mobile)
    Query: Star Wars Legion miniatures
    If other stores present the same product,
    Google shows them under the main result.
    It is therefore essential to offer the
    greatest possible degree of information to
    make our Search Snippet so attractive as
    to ''to make'' users forget to click on the
    alternatives.
    The merger between classic research data
    and Merchant Center is increasingly
    present.
    

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22. IMAGES SEARCH Organic Shopping
    (mobile)
    Query: Star Wars Legion miniatures
    On mobile, then, we can create
    ‘’Collections’’, which we can
    recover to retake our Search
    Journey in a later moment.
    

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23. IMAGES SEARCH Organic Shopping
    (mobile)
    If we click on any of the images we saved,
    the Search Snippet is slightly different.
    In any case, it will occupy all the viewport
    of the smartphone.
    TL;DR
    • Our products images must be able to
    nudge the click or, at least, the searcher
    to save them in a Collections.
    • Images Search especially is a mobile
    experience.
    

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24. How can we
    individuate Image
    Search opportunities
    for our product?
    

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25. Keyword Research
    Project > Position Tracking
    Filter keywords to see those, which
    SERPS presents an Image Box and…
    

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26. … AdWords, Shopping,
    and Merchant search
    features.
    These are the keywords
    for which a Visual
    Shopping behavior is
    more evident, being their
    Search Intent clearly
    transactional.
    Keyword Research
    

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27. Images, however, is
    not just a synonym
    for ’’Google Images’’
    

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28. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    

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29. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    

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30. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    

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31. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    

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32. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    • Image Metadata
    

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33. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    • Image Metadata
    • LocalBusiness
    (Restaurant)
    

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34. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    • Image Metadata
    • LocalBusiness
    (Restaurant)
    • Logo
    

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35. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    • Image Metadata
    • LocalBusiness
    (Restaurant)
    • Logo
    • Movie
    

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36. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    • Image Metadata
    • LocalBusiness
    (Restaurant)
    • Logo
    • Movie
    • Product
    

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37. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    • Image Metadata
    • LocalBusiness
    (Restaurant)
    • Logo
    • Movie
    • Product
    • Recipe (also in HowTo)
    

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38. Rich Results – Images
    • Article
    • Carousel
    • Event
    • How To e HowToSupply
    / HowToTool
    • Image Metadata
    • LocalBusiness
    (Restaurant)
    • Logo
    • Movie
    • Product
    • Recipe (also in HowTo)
    • Video
    

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39. Google Discover
    

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40. ‘’Images’’ in Universal
    Search is not just a
    synonym of Rich Result
    

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41. Knowledge Graph
    

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42. Featured
    Snippet
    

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43. Organic
    Merchant Feed
    Images required for each product!
    Minimum requirements:
    • Replace any symbols or spaces
    (i.e.: “&” = %26).
    • URLs must be indexable.
    • Submit only 1 value (image_link).
    Other images can be added using
    the additional_image_link attribute.
    • The URL must be stable.
    • Updated images can take 3 days to
    be crawled.
    • Enable automatic image
    improvements
    

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44. Organic
    Merchant Feed
    Images required for each product!
    Minimum size requirements:
    Non apparel > 100x100
    Apparel > 250x250
    Resolution > No more than 64
    Megapixels
    Weight > No more than 16 MB
    Shot type > Display the entire product
    > If a bundle, all products
    must be visible
    (is_bundle)
    No placeholder
    More:
    https://support.google.com/merchants/an
    swer/6324350?hl=en
    

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45. Images Search SEO
    

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46. Images Search SEO
    • Descriptive file names
    

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47. Images Search SEO
    • Descriptive file names
    • Alt tag (aka alt text)
    

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48. Images Search SEO – Alt tags
    Steps:
    1. Crawl your website.
    2. Filter your image resource
    URLs to see all without alt
    tags defined.
    3. Discard all the template
    images (they are sitewide).
    4. Decide the prioritization
    workflow depending on the
    relative importance of the
    content
    1. product pages
    2. category pages
    3. magazine/blog articles
    What if there are thousands
    images to optimize?
    Use AI for captioning the images:
    LAVIS (Language-VISion) and
    BLIP2:
    More information here:
    https://wordlift.io/blog/en/image-
    seo-using-ai/
    Colab link:
    https://wor.ai/image-captioning
    

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49. Images Search SEO
    • Descriptive file names
    • Alt tag (aka alt text)
    • Caption
    

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50. Images Search SEO
    • Descriptive file names
    • Alt tag (aka alt text)
    • Caption
    • Image Description (Image Galleries)
    

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51. Images Search SEO
    • Descriptive file names
    • Alt tag (aka alt text)
    • Caption
    • Image Description (Image Galleries)
    • XML Sitemap (required)
    

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52. Images Sitemaps
    Remember:
    ‘Image URLs must be crawled and indexed’’.
    Namespace where you define the image tags:
    xmlns:image="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap
    -image/1.1"
    Tag:
    For each URL we can indicate up to
    1000 images.
    The URL of the image. If the images are
    in a CDN, its domain must be verified in Search
    Console.
    You may combine sitemap extensions but, in this
    case, pay attention to the size the XML sitemap
    

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53. Images Search SEO
    • Descriptive file names
    • Alt tag (aka alt text)
    • Caption
    • Image Description (Image Galleries)
    • XML Sitemap (required)
    • Consistence between the image and
    the text surrounding it
    

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54. Images Search SEO
    • Descriptive file names
    • Alt tag (aka alt text)
    • Caption
    • Image Description (Image Galleries)
    • XML Sitemap (required)
    • Consistence between the image and
    the text surrounding it
    • High quality images
    

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55. High Quality Images - Categories
    First N visible
    images
    Images following
    the first scroll
    All the other
    images below the
    fold
    • Fetchpriority high
    • Preload
    • Loading eager
    • Fetchpriority high
    • Loading auto
    • Fetchpriority low
    • Loading lazy
    • Decoding async
    

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56. High Quality Images - Carousels
    Immediately
    visible elements
    First 2 elements
    following the first
    swipe
    All the other
    elements of the
    carousel
    • Fetchpriority high
    • Preload
    • Loading eager
    • Fetchpriority auto
    (high if it is in ‘’Autoplay’’)
    • Loading auto
    • Fetchpriority low
    • Loading lazy
    • Decoding async
    Note: do no use composited animations
    

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57. High Quality Images – Product pages
    Immediately
    visible elements
    Second element of
    the carousel
    All the other
    elements of the
    carousel
    • Fetchpriority high
    • Preload
    • Picture scrset
    • Loading eager
    • Picture scrset
    • Fetchpriority high if it is in ‘’Autoplay’’
    • Fetchpriority low
    • Loading lazy
    • Decoding async
    

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58. High Quality Images – Image format
    Format Transparency Animation Browser
    PNG YES NO ALL
    JPG NO NO ALL
    WebP YES YES ALL MODERN BROWSERS
    AVIF YES YES NOT ALL (Safari and Firefox
    have limitations
    QUESTIONS
    Are animations needed? Use elements instead of Gifs.
    Need fine details with highest
    resolution?
    Use PNG but remember it is not lossy, hence the weight of the file can
    be very big.
    Use WebP and it is lossless, hence more efficient than PNG.
    Use SVG if image is composed of geometric shapes
    Reconsider the use of Text in images
    Are you optimizing photo? JPG is the first choice (both lossy and lossless. Test different quality
    levels)
    Lossy WebP or Avif, but weaker on color chroma
    

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59. High Quality Images – a checklist
    • Prefer Vector formats.
    • Minify SVG assets.
    • Whenever possible, choose WebP or AVIF formats (see previous slide).
    • Experiment with optimal quality settings for raster formats.
    • Remove unnecessary image metadata (i.e.: geo information, camera
    information…).
    • Serve scaled images (see: https://web.dev/i18n/en/serve-images-with-
    correct-dimensions/).
    • Compress images using image compression software like Imagemin (see:
    https://web.dev/i18n/en/use-imagemin-to-compress-images/).
    • Use Images CDN, which normally take care of everything image
    performance optimization.
    • If it is possible, automate.
    

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60. High Quality Images – What if the base resources are
    no high quality?
    You can use Super-Resolution for images, which can
    enlarge and enhance images using generative AI and
    Deep Leaning.
    A good model is ESRGAN (Enhanced Super Resolution
    Generative Adversarial Network) available in the
    Tensorflow Hub:
    https://www.tensorflow.org/lite/examples/super_resolution/
    overview
    https://www.tensorflow.org/hub/tutorials/image_enhancing
    https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.00219
    https://github.com/hiram64/ESRGAN-tensorflow
    

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61. Conversational
    Search
    Visual
    Search
    Image Search
    Do you
    remember
    this?
    

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63. Lens is everywhere!
    Syndicalize your images so to
    have them used on other
    websites frequently used by
    your audience.
    

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64. Lens is available also on
    desktop.
    We can upload an image we have
    saved in our PC or drag & drop
    an image from Image Search.
    

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70. MULTISEARCH
    https://blog.google/products/search/multisearch/
    

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71. There are ways to present
    visual facets of our
    products without needing
    to create/open to index
    HTML URLS that may
    harm the SEO
    performance of our
    ecommerce
    MULTISEARCH
    

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72. MULTISEARCH NEAR ME
    

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73. MUM, with its capacity of using images, text, and voice search in the same search
    session in a fluid and seamless way, nothing else is but combining search options
    already existing separately.
    HOW WE TARGET
    THESE KIND OF
    SEARCHES?
    ENTITY SEARCH
    ENTITY SEARCH
    ENTITY SEARCH
    

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74. MUM, with its capacity of using images, text, and voice search in the same search
    session in a fluid and seamless way, nothing else is but combining search options
    already existing separately.
    HOW WE TARGET
    THESE KIND OF
    SEARCHES?
    ENTITY SEARCH
    ENTITY SEARCH
    ENTITY SEARCH
    

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75. Visual Search SEO
    

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76. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO
    

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77. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO.
    • Structured Data.
    

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78. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO.
    • Structured Data.
    • High Quality Images.
    

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79. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO.
    • Structured Data.
    • High Quality Images.
    • Attention to PageSpeed and CWW.
    

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80. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO.
    • Structured Data.
    • High Quality Images.
    • Attention to PageSpeed and CWW.
    • Avoid confusion in the image. The main object must be clear, and avoid
    “artistic” effects like cinematic and blur.
    

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81. Visual
    Search SEO
    •Classic Image Search SEO.
    •Structured Data.
    •High Quality Images.
    •Attention to PageSpeed and
    CWW.
    •Avoid confusion in the image.
    The main object must be clear
    and avoid “artistic” effects like
    cinematic and blur.
    •If possible, avoid “stock images”:
    create them!
    

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82. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO.
    • Structured Data.
    • High Quality Images.
    • Attention to PageSpeed and CWW.
    • Avoid confusion in the image. The main object must be clear, and avoid
    “artistic” effects like cinematic and blur.
    • If possible, avoid “stock images”: create them!
    • Republish your images portfolio in sites like Pinterest.
    

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83. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO.
    • Structured Data.
    • High Quality Images.
    • Attention to PageSpeed and CWW.
    • Avoid confusion in the image. The main object must be clear and avoid
    “artistic” effects like cinematic and blur.
    • If possible, avoid “stock images”: create them!
    • Republish your images portfolio in sites like Pinterest.
    • Curate every detail of your product images, using ”correlated products”
    in them. You don’t know what object user they focus on in a photo.
    

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84. Visual Search SEO
    • Classic Image Search SEO.
    • Structured Data.
    • High Quality Images.
    • Attention to PageSpeed and CWW.
    • Avoid confusion in the image. The main object must be clear and avoid
    “artistic” effects like cinematic and blur.
    • If possible, avoid “stock images”: create them!
    • Republish your images portfolio in sites like Pinterest.
    • Curate every detail of your product images, using ”correlated products”
    in them. You don’t know what object user they focus on in a photo.
    • Optimize internal linking also for your images.
    

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85. Visual Search SEO
    The more pages use our images, the better they will be tagged with related entities
    and, therefore, the more visible they will be in Lens image searches and visual
    searches.
    

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86. TL;DR
    1) Visual Search is the most
    natural search
    2) Images & Visual Search SEO is
    not only ’’Alt tag’’ optimization
    3) The Devil is in the details
    

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87. Gianluca Fiorelli
    SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant,
    ILoveSEO.net
    @gfiorelli1 @gfiorelli1@mastodon.social
    

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