LA RECHERCHE MULTIPLE DE GOOGLE
The world’s dominant search engine has combined image and text search in a new feature. Known as “Multisearch”, the new tool by Google allows users to photograph and search for items they see before adding written refinements, like colour, material, size or retailer, to further specify the result. This tool is designed to be used for searches that aren’t as straightforward as a singular image or textual phrase (cue keyword analysis).
The intuitively compelling application for Multisearch is that it will allow fashion-inclined consumers to take photos of items before using these images combined with written descriptors to quickly track down buyable equivalents online. This straightforward form of “product discovery” is now built into Google’s Lens image search feature, which currently processes more than eight billion searches a month. It typically generates results from a number of platforms – from Amazon and Etsy to Farfetch and Pinterest.
Still officially in beta, the Multisearch feature represents a new source of visual footfall for online fashion retailers — as well as a new challenge for SEO. There is a formula to identify keywords that boost brands to the top of searches – but what happens when adding visual into the mix? This may also facilitate the rise of counterfeits, considering that competitors may create knockoffs and generate imagery to prioritise their product over the original.
To make the most of the feature, brands will have to use compelling images for their products that are clearly readable by Google with the appropriate alt text. The brands that will do best out of the changes are the ones with robust product visuals for the different SKUs they sell. If there’s a specific design or badge on a garment, but the associated picture is not clear on the brand’s site, then Google won’t be able to link customers to the product if they look for it. So rather than a straightforward SEO play, brands will need to estimate how many sales they could generate via Multisearch and then make sure that they’re investing in product imagery appropriately, or training merchandising teams in that area.
It was launched in the US in April and is being tested in beta form in the UK this month, ahead of a global rollout.
Sources: Search Engine Journal, Vogue Business