Let’s play a game. I’ll show you an image. You type in the keyword to find the exact product featured in the image online. Ready?
Google her sunglasses…
What did you type? Brown sunglasses? Brown sunglasses with heavy frame? Retro-look brown sunglasses with heavy frame? It doesn’t matter how long-tail you go, it will be difficult to find that exact pair, if not impossible. And you’re not alone.
For 74% of consumers[1], traditional text-based keyword searches are inefficient at helping find the right products online.
But much of your current search behavior is based on the false premise that you can describe things in words. In many situations, we can’t.
And this shows in the data. Sometimes we forget that Google Images accounts for 22.6% of all searches — searches where traditional methods of searching were not the best fit.
But I know what you’re thinking. Image SEO drives few to no sessions, let alone conversions. Why should I invest my limited resources into visual marketing?
Because humans are visual creatures. And now, so too are mobile phones — with big screens, multiple cameras, and strong depth perception.
Developments in computer vision have led to a visual marketing renaissance. Just look to visual search leader Pinterest, who reported that 55% of their users shop[3] on the platform. How well do those users convert? Heap Analytics[4] data shows that on shopping cart sizes under $199, image-based Pinterest Ads have an 8.5% conversion rate. To put that in context, that's behind Google’s 12.3% but in front of Facebook’s 7.2%.
Not only can visual search drive significant conversions online. Image recognition is also driving the digitalization and monetization in the real world.