Why Google is Improving Ways to Search and Shop Visually

Google continues to dominate search. No one comes close to touching Google’s 86 percent search market share. When you add the number of searches happening on YouTube, which Google owns, then you can see why Google has owned the search world for years. But this does not mean Google leads the world for every kind of search. Case in point: Amazon, the world’s third-largest search engine, is the top destination for product searches – even bigger than Google.  

Amazon’s popularity with product searches is a problem for Google. When people search for products, they’re searching with intent to buy. This makes Amazon more appealing to retailers to sell their products on Amazon and to advertise on Amazon. As a result, Amazon is beginning to eat into Google’s advertising business. In particular, Amazon is a threat to Google’s advertising base with retailers.  

But Google is fighting back. 

How Google Is Fighting Amazon in Product Search 

Recently, Google announced the launch of a number of products designed to integrate search and shopping on Google. Here are some examples: 

• Product feeds for a shoppable YouTube experience. At Google’s Marketing Live event, the company said that it will soon make it possible for retailers to create shoppable video ads on YouTube Shorts by connecting product feeds to their campaigns. Google introduced YouTube Shorts recently so that anyone could connect with a new audience through short-form videos that are up to 60 seconds long. It was clear from the start that YouTube Shorts was intended to be an answer to Instagram and TikTok, which have refined short-form video. By introducing shoppable video on YouTube Shorts, Google clearly wants to create another way to monetize search on YouTube (beyond the multitude of ad units already available on YouTube). This development targets retailers, but what about smaller, standalone creators? For them, Google operates the YouTube Shorts Fund, a $100 million fund for creators. This is important because creators can become popular influencers and potential partners for brands to do advertising and product campaigns – yet another incentive for retailers to pay closer attention to YouTube Shorts. 

• More visually appealing ad formats. Google is also empowering retailers with more visually engaging ad formats in Google Search, which is Google’s bread-and-butter product. For instance, retailers will be able to have 3D models of their products appear directly on Google Search, allowing shoppers to easily see them in their spaces. Google also introduced swipeable shopping ads in search. This pairs organic shopping results with shopping ads, which makes online shopping more visual. These developments build on some major changes Google has been making over the past several months. In 2021, Google said it was introducing a new way to search visually, by using artificial intelligence to help searchers ask questions about what you see. According to a Google blog post, “With this new capability, you can tap on the Lens icon when you’re looking at a picture of a shirt, and ask Google to find you the same pattern — but on another article of clothing, like socks. This helps when you’re looking for something that might be difficult to describe accurately with words alone. You could type ‘white floral Victorian socks,’ but you might not find the exact pattern you’re looking for. By combining images and text into a single query, we’re making it easier to search visually and express your questions in more natural ways.” 

Google's multimodal search

We believe these developments reflect a bigger move by the major technology platforms to continue pushing brands and people toward the use of visually oriented content and video. Twitter recently launched 3D advertising, TikTok is launching more video-based ad units, and Meta keeps making inroads into an all-encompassing metaverse. Google’s strategy is to keep as many people using Google products as possible. More eyeballs on Google means more advertisers. As Google and its competitors make the world more immersive, brands need to ask themselves how they can keep pace. For example, how might your business capitalize on visual search enhancements launched by Google?  

Contact Investis Digital 

Investis Digital helps businesses create visible and compelling content. To learn how we can help improve your website's visibility, contact us today.