SEO

The 11 Best Image Search Engines

Published

2 years ago

July 8, 2022

These days, image search engines are more advanced than ever.

No matter what kind of image you want to find, chances are, with the right keywords, search filters, and tools, you’ll find it.

That’s not all, though.

Need to find a source for an image? Do a reverse image search.

Want a high-res image to use in your next marketing campaign or on your website?

Use advanced image search filters to find images with the correct usage rights.

Even if you just want a big, beautiful photo to use as your desktop wallpaper, there’s an image search engine for that, too.

Here are the best ones for picture search, in no particular order.

1. TinEye Reverse Image Search Engine

TinEye is a reverse image search engine that helps you source images and finds where they appear on the web.

This tool lets you search by both URLs and uploaded images.

Just click the arrow icon in front of the search box and upload any image from your computer to find where it appears online.

There’s also a TinEye Chrome extension for faster reverse image searches. It allows you to right-click on any image and search for it using TinEye’s technology.

2. Google Images

You can’t beat Google Images for basic image searches. Just enter a keyword and go.

For more in-depth searching, there are lots of filters, too.

For example, when I search for “bluebird”, I can narrow down photos to just cartoons, clipart drawings, and illustrations, or even logo designs.

To go even further, clicking “Tools” gives you access to more filters: size, color, usage rights, type of photo, and when it was uploaded/created.

This is super-handy for finding exactly the kind of image you want, as well as images that are royalty-free.

Google Reverse Image Search

Google Images also offers a reverse image search tool. To access it, click on the camera icon in the search box.

3. Yahoo Image Search

Another option for image search engines is Yahoo Image Search.

This tool looks similar to Google Images, but the results are slightly different.

You’ll also notice the filtering tools aren’t hidden, but easy to access.

4. Bing Image Search

Want an alternative to Google?

The layout and features in Bing Image Search are still pretty close to Google, though, and you’ll see similar results:

One interesting feature is the People filter, which lets you choose photos of people according to how they were photographed (just faces or head & shoulders).

Pretty useful, right?

5. Pinterest Visual Search Tool

Did you know Pinterest has its own visual search tool? It makes sense since it’s an image-based platform.

It’s pretty simple to use:

Log into your Pinterest account.
Click on any pin in your home feed (or on any profile or board).
Click the icon in the bottom-right corner of the pinned image.

The tool will return visually similar results to the image you searched.

Pinterest has quite a large database of images thanks to user-created pins, so this is a source you shouldn’t rule out when you need to find a particular image.

6. Picsearch

Looking for an image search engine with more varied results? Try Picsearch.

You won’t get results as specific as what you’ll find in Google, Bing, or Yahoo, but if you don’t need that, this could be a good tool for finding interesting photos that broadly match your keyword.

There’s also a nice feature in the Advanced Search option that lets you filter images by size, including wallpaper-size.

7. Flickr

Flickr is a different kind of image search engine because the pool of images comes from amateur and professional photographers sharing their work on the platform.

If you enjoy browsing and searching for beautiful photos, this is your spot.

If you’re looking for photos to use in commercial or marketing projects, make sure you filter your searches by the correct usage license.

8. Getty Images

For beautiful stock photos, check Getty Images.

You can search by keyword or search by image – just click the camera icon in the search box.

If you search by keyword, the auto-suggest feature has some helpful options to narrow down your search.

Getty Images has an incredible array of search filters, too, so there’s no way you won’t find the exact type of image you’re looking for.

Keep in mind: You’ll have to pay for a royalty-free license for whatever photo you want to use. Getty Images offers this licensing on an image-by-image basis, or you can purchase packs of photos for a flat price.

9. Shutterstock

Another, cheaper image search engine for royalty-free stock photos is Shutterstock.

Their image library is just as large as Getty Images, and their search filters just as in-depth.

Shutterstock offers pre-paid image packs as well as annual plans. Their most popular includes 350 image downloads/month for $199/month.

Another good option for marketers on a budget: get a pack of any 5 royalty-free images for $49.

10. The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Looking for high-quality digital images, including high-res scans of historical books, maps, papers, sketchbooks, ledgers, photographs, and more?

The NYPL Digital Collections has a vast archive of images in the public domain, which means you can use and reuse the images any way you like.

It’s a great image search engine for finding unique photos.

Once you start searching, it’s fun to explore the different digitized items.

For example, this search led me to an illustrated page from a book on New York fauna.

Quite simply, these are images you won’t find anywhere else.

11. Yandex Image Search & Similar Images

Russian search engine Yandex offers a few different ways to find and browse images.

At Yandex.Images, you can explore collections of images by topic.

Clicking through takes you to a robust image search where you can filter and sort by size, orientation, image type, file format, and more.

Similar Images is another Yandex image tool that helps you find items similar to your existing one—for example, products with like features.

And its regular Image Search is actually a reverse search that needs only a fragment of an image to scan for it on the web. Of course, if you have the full image that’s even better.

Image Search Engines Are Bursting With Potential

Overall, image search engines are better than ever. Don’t settle for just one – use the tool that best suits your needs.

Make sure you play around with keywords and search filters to find those hidden gems.

Furthermore, dare to stray from the confines of Google. You never know what you’ll find – you just might be pleasantly surprised.

Image Credits

All screenshots taken by SEJ Editor, February 2021

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SEO

Google Hints At Improving Site Rankings In Next Update

Published

9 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Max

Google Hints At Improving Site Rankings In Next Update

Google’s John Mueller says the Search team is “explicitly evaluating” how to reward sites that produce helpful, high-quality content when the next core update rolls out.

The comments came in response to a discussion on X about the impact of March’s core update and September’s helpful content update.

In a series of tweets, Mueller acknowledged the concerns, stating:

“I imagine for most sites strongly affected, the effects will be site-wide for the time being, and it will take until the next update to see similar strong effects (assuming the new state of the site is significantly better than before).”

He added:

“I can’t make any promises, but the team working on this is explicitly evaluating how sites can / will improve in Search for the next update. It would be great to show more users the content that folks have worked hard on, and where sites have taken helpfulness to heart.”

What Does This Mean For SEO Professionals & Site Owners?

Mueller’s comments confirm Google is aware of critiques about the March core update and is refining its ability to identify high-quality sites and reward them appropriately in the next core update.

For websites, clearly demonstrating an authentic commitment to producing helpful and high-quality content remains the best strategy for improving search performance under Google’s evolving systems.

The Aftermath Of Google’s Core Updates

Google’s algorithm updates, including the September “Helpful Content Update” and the March 2024 update, have far-reaching impacts on rankings across industries.

While some sites experienced surges in traffic, others faced substantial declines, with some reporting visibility losses of up to 90%.

As website owners implement changes to align with Google’s guidelines, many question whether their efforts will be rewarded.

There’s genuine concern about the potential for long-term or permanent demotions for affected sites.

Recovery Pathway Outlined, But Challenges Remain

In a previous statement, Mueller acknowledged the complexity of the recovery process, stating that:

“some things take much longer to be reassessed (sometimes months, at the moment), and some bigger effects require another update cycle.”

Mueller clarified that not all changes would require a new update cycle but cautioned that “stronger effects will require another update.”

While affirming that permanent changes are “not very useful in a dynamic world,” Mueller adds that “recovery” implies a return to previous levels, which may be unrealistic given evolving user expectations.

“It’s never ‘just-as-before’,” Mueller stated.

Improved Rankings On The Horizon?

Despite the challenges, Mueller has offered glimmers of hope for impacted sites, stating:

“Yes, sites can grow again after being affected by the ‘HCU’ (well, core update now). This isn’t permanent. It can take a lot of work, time, and perhaps update cycles, and/but a different – updated – site will be different in search too.”

He says the process may require “deep analysis to understand how to make a website relevant in a modern world, and significant work to implement those changes — assuming that it’s something that aligns with what the website even wants.”

Looking Ahead

Google’s search team is actively working on improving site rankings and addressing concerns with the next core update.

However, recovery requires patience, thorough analysis, and persistent effort.

The best way to spend your time until the next update is to remain consistent and produce the most exceptional content in your niche.

FAQ

How long does it generally take for a website to recover from the impact of a core update?

Recovery timelines can vary and depend on the extent and type of updates made to align with Google’s guidelines.

Google’s John Mueller noted that some changes might be reassessed quickly, while more substantial effects could take months and require additional update cycles.

Google acknowledges the complexity of the recovery process, indicating that significant improvements aligned with Google’s quality signals might be necessary for a more pronounced recovery.

What impact did the March and September updates have on websites, and what steps should site owners take?

The March and September updates had widespread effects on website rankings, with some sites experiencing traffic surges while others faced up to 90% visibility losses.

Publishing genuinely useful, high-quality content is key for website owners who want to bounce back from a ranking drop or maintain strong rankings. Stick to Google’s recommendations and adapt as they keep updating their systems.

To minimize future disruptions from algorithm changes, it’s a good idea to review your whole site thoroughly and build a content plan centered on what your users want and need.

Is it possible for sites affected by core updates to regain their previous ranking positions?

Sites can recover from the impact of core updates, but it requires significant effort and time.

Mueller suggested that recovery might happen over multiple update cycles and involves a deep analysis to align the site with current user expectations and modern search criteria.

While a return to previous levels isn’t guaranteed, sites can improve and grow by continually enhancing the quality and relevance of their content.

Featured Image: eamesBot/Shutterstock

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SEO

Google Reveals Two New Web Crawlers

Published

1 day ago

May 18, 2024

Max

Google revealed details of two new crawlers that are optimized for scraping image and video content for “research and development” purposes. Although the documentation doesn’t explicitly say so, it’s presumed that there is no impact in ranking should publishers decide to block the new crawlers.

It should be noted that the data scraped by these crawlers are not explicitly for AI training data, that’s what the Google-Extended crawler is for.

GoogleOther Crawlers

The two new crawlers are versions of Google’s GoogleOther crawler that was launched in April 2023. The original GoogleOther crawler was also designated for use by Google product teams for research and development in what is described as one-off crawls, the description of which offers clues about what the new GoogleOther variants will be used for.

The purpose of the original GoogleOther crawler is officially described as:

“GoogleOther is the generic crawler that may be used by various product teams for fetching publicly accessible content from sites. For example, it may be used for one-off crawls for internal research and development.”

Two GoogleOther Variants

There are two new GoogleOther crawlers:

GoogleOther-Image
GoogleOther-Video

The new variants are for crawling binary data, which is data that’s not text. HTML data is generally referred to as text files, ASCII or Unicode files. If it can be viewed in a text file then it’s a text file/ASCII/Unicode file. Binary files are files that can’t be open in a text viewer app, files like image, audio, and video.

The new GoogleOther variants are for image and video content. Google lists user agent tokens for both of the new crawlers which can be used in a robots.txt for blocking the new crawlers.

1. GoogleOther-Image

User agent tokens:

GoogleOther-Image
GoogleOther

Full user agent string:

GoogleOther-Image/1.0

2. GoogleOther-Video

User agent tokens:

GoogleOther-Video
GoogleOther

Full user agent string:

GoogleOther-Video/1.0

Newly Updated GoogleOther User Agent Strings

Google also updated the GoogleOther user agent strings for the regular GoogleOther crawler. For blocking purposes you can continue using the same user agent token as before (GoogleOther). The new Users Agent Strings are just the data sent to servers to identify the full description of the crawlers, in particular the technology used. In this case the technology used is Chrome, with the model number periodically updated to reflect which version is used (W.X.Y.Z is a Chrome version number placeholder in the example listed below)

The full list of GoogleOther user agent strings:

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; GoogleOther)
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; GoogleOther) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Safari/537.36

GoogleOther Family Of Bots

These new bots may from time to time show up in your server logs and this information will help in identifying them as genuine Google crawlers and will help publishers who may want to opt out of having their images and videos scraped for research and development purposes.