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The 11 Best Image Search Engines

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These days, the humble image search is not so humble anymore.

You can find almost any kind of image imaginable with the tools waiting at your fingertips.

Need a high-quality, high-res image to use for your website or in your upcoming marketing campaign?

Today’s tools all feature advanced image search filters that will help you weed out the wrong sizes, orientations, colors, and even usage rights so you can find what you need and use it without fear of copyright infringement.

Want to purchase a license to use an image? There are image search engines that help you find what you need and purchase.

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Need to find the source of a specific image? Do a reverse image search.

Just looking for inspiration or desktop decoration? Curious about a specific topic (like Van Gogh’s paintings) or what something looks like (such as the eastern bluebird)?

Image search engines are perfect for these needs, too.

In no particular order, here are the top, go-to image search engines.

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.

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

Screenshot from TinEye.com, July 2022

TinEye also offers browser extensions for faster reverse image searches straight from any webpage. These allow you to right-click on any image and search for it using TinEye’s technology.

You can get an extension for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.

tineye for chromeScreenshot from tineye.com/extensions, July 2022

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 [blue bird], I can narrow down photos to just cartoons, clipart drawings, illustrations, or even logo designs.

Google Image SearchScreenshot from search for [blue bird], Google Images, July 2022

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 Images ToolsScreenshot from search for [blue bird], Google Images, July 2022; modified by author

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.

Google Reverse Image SearchScreenshot from search for [bluebird on a branch], Google Images, July 2022; modified by author

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.

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Yahoo Image SearchScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Yahoo Images, July 2022

4. Bing Image Search

Want an alternative to Google?

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

Bing ImagesScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Bing Images, July 2022

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).

Bing Image SearchScreenshot from search for [albert einstein], Bing Images, July 2022; modified by author

Pretty useful, right?

Bing ImagesScreenshot from search for [albert einstein], Bing Images, July 2022

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.
Pinterest Image SearchScreenshot from Pinterest, July 2022

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.

Pinterest Image SearchScreenshot from Pinterest, July 2022

6. Openverse

Looking for an image search engine with more varied results? Try Openverse (formerly known as Creative Commons Search).

This tool is part of the WordPress open source project.

In essence, this search engine indexes “openly licensed images from around the internet.” That means they’re free, in the public domain, or fall under a Creative Commons license.

Openverse Image SearchScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Openverse, July 2022

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.

Helpful filters also narrow your search by type of usage license, or whether you intend to modify/adapt the image or use it commercially.

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Openverse image searchScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Openverse, July 2022; modified by author

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.

Flickr home pageScreenshot from Flickr.com, July 2022

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.

Flickr Image SearchScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Flickr, July 2022
flicker image search license infoScreenshot from Flickr.com, July 2022; modified by author

8. Getty Images

For beautiful stock photos, check Getty Images.

Getty ImagesScreenshot from GettyImages.com, July 2022

You can search by keyword or image/video – just click “Search by image or video” in the search box.

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

Getty Images SearchScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Getty Images, July 2022

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.

Getty Images SearchScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Getty Images, July 2022

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 are just as in-depth.

Shutterstock Image SearchScreenshot from search for [bluebird], Shutterstock, July 2022; modified by author

Shutterstock offers pre-paid image packs as well as annual plans. Their most popular includes 350 image downloads/month for $169/month.

Another good option for marketers on a budget: Get a pack of any five 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?

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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.

nypl digital collections image searchScreenshot from DigitalCollections.nypl.org, July 2022
nypl digital collections image search - public domainScreenshot from DigitalCollections.nypl.org, July 2022; modified by author

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.

The NYPL Digital CollectionsScreenshot from DigitalCollections.nypl.org, July 2022
The NYPL Digital CollectionsScreenshot from DigitalCollections.nypl.org, July 2022
The NYPL Digital CollectionsScreenshot from DigitalCollections.nypl.org, July 2022

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

11. Yandex Image Search & Similar Images

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.

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Yandex Images SearchScreenshot from search for [Enceladus photos], Yandex Images, July 2022

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

Image Search Engines Are Bursting With Potential

The biggest takeaway from this list?

Dare to get out of your Google bubble and check out the other image search engines available right now.

There’s a tool out there for every type of image search you want to do – so don’t limit yourself to just one.

Finally, don’t forget to try out different keyword variations and search filters to unearth those hidden gems. You never know what you may find.

More Resources:


Featured Image: Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

Content pruning sounds pretty appealing: delete a ton of content and see your organic traffic improve. But pruning has risks (like deleting useful pages and useful backlinks), and benefits are not guaranteed: So how does pruning actually work? And when

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

There’s no shortage of SEO reporting tools to choose from—but what are the core tools you need to put together an SEO report?

In this article, I’ll share eight of my favorite SEO reporting tools to help you create a comprehensive SEO report for free.

Price: Free

Google Search Console, often called GSC, is one of the most widely used tools to track important SEO metrics from Google Search.

Most common reporting use case

GSC has a ton of data to dive into, but the main performance indicator SEOs look at first in GSC is Clicks on the main Overview dashboard.

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As the data is from Google, SEOs consider it to be a good barometer for tracking organic search performance. As well as clicks data, you can also track the following from the Performance report:

  • Total Impressions
  • Average CTR
  • Average Position
gsc-performance-overviewgsc-performance-overview

Tip

If you’ve signed up for AWT using Google Search Console, you can view your GSC performance data in Ahrefs by clicking “GSC Performance” from the main dashboard.

But for most SEO reporting, GSC clicks data is exported into a spreadsheet and turned into a chart to visualize year-over-year performance.

organic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-yearorganic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-year

Favorite feature

One of my favorite reports in GSC is the Indexing report. It’s useful for SEO reporting because you can share the indexed to non-indexed pages ratio in your SEO report.

google-search-console-indexed-pages-reportgoogle-search-console-indexed-pages-report

If the website has a lot of non-indexed pages, then it’s worth reviewing the pages to understand why they haven’t been indexed.

Price: Free

Google Looker Studio (GLS), previously known as Google Data Studio (GDS), is a free tool that helps visualize data in shareable dashboards.

Most common reporting use case

Dashboards are an important part of SEO reporting, and GLS allows you to get a total view of search performance from multiple sources through its integrations.

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Out of the box, GLS allows you to connect to many different data sources.

Such as:

  • Marketing products – Google Ads, Google Analytics, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360
  • Consumer products – Google Sheets, YouTube, and Google Search Console
  • Databases – BigQuery, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
  • Social media platformsFacebook, Reddit, and Twitter
  • Files – CSV file upload and Google Cloud Storage

Sidenote.

If you don’t have the time to create your own report manually, Ahrefs has three Google Looker Studio connectors that can help you create automated SEO reporting for any website in a few clicks

google-looker-studio-partner-connectorsgoogle-looker-studio-partner-connectors

Here’s what a dashboard in GLS looks like:

ahrefs-seo-audit-dashboardahrefs-seo-audit-dashboard
Ahrefs Google Looker Studio integration

With this type of dashboard, you share reports that are easy to understand with clients or other stakeholders.

Favorite feature

The ability to blend and filter data from different sources, like GA and GSC, means you can get a customized overview of your total search performance, tailored to your website.

Price: Free for 500 URLs

Screaming Frog is a website crawler that helps you audit your website.

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Screaming Frog’s free version of its crawler is perfect if you want to run a quick audit on a bunch of URLs. The free version is limited to 500 URLs—making it ideal for crawling smaller websites.

screaming-frog-user-interface-screenshotscreaming-frog-user-interface-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

When it comes to reporting, the Reports menu in Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a wealth of information you can look over that covers all the technical aspects of your website, such as analyzing, redirects, canonicals, pagination, hreflang, structured data, and more.

Once you’ve crawled your site, it’s just a matter of downloading the reports you need and working out the main issues to summarize in your SEO report.

Favorite feature

Screaming Frog can pull in data from other tools, including Ahrefs, using APIs. 

If you already had access to a few SEO tools’ APIs, you could pull data from all of them directly into Screaming Frog. This is useful if you want to combine crawl data with performance data or other 3rd party tools.

screaming-frog-api-accessscreaming-frog-api-access

Even if you’ve never configured an API, connecting other tools to Screaming Frog is straightforward.

Price: Free

Ahrefs has a large selection of free SEO tools to help you at every stage of your SEO campaign, and many of these can be used to provide insights for your SEO reporting.

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when-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustrationwhen-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustration

For example, you could use our:

Most common reporting use case

One of our most popular free SEO tools is Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT), which you can use for your SEO reporting.

With AWT, you can:

  • Monitor your SEO health over time by setting up scheduled SEO audits
  • See the performance of your website
  • Check all known backlinks for your website
ahrefs-overviewahrefs-overview

Favorite feature

Of all the Ahrefs free tools, my favorite is AWT. Within it, site auditing is my favorite feature—once you’ve set it up, it’s a completely hands-free way to keep track of your website’s technical performance and monitor its health.

If you already have access to Google Search Console, it’s a no-brainer to set up a free AWT account and schedule a technical crawl of your website(s).

Price: Free

Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar is a free Chrome and Firefox extension useful for diagnosing on-page technical issues and performing quick spot checks on your website’s pages.

Most common reporting use case

For SEO reporting, it’s useful to run an on-page check on your website’s top pages to ensure there aren’t any serious on-page issues.

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ahrefs-seo-toolbar-overviewahrefs-seo-toolbar-overview

With the free version, you get the following features:

  • On-page SEO report
  • Redirect tracer with HTTP Headers
  • Outgoing links report with link highlighter and broken link checker
  • SERP positions
  • Country changer for SERP

The SEO toolbar is excellent for spot-checking issues with pages on your website. If you are not confident with inspecting the code, it can also give you valuable pointers on what elements you need to include on your pages to make them search-friendly.

If anything is wrong with the page, the toolbar highlights it, with red indicating a critical issue.

severity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbarseverity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Favorite feature

The section I use the most frequently in the SEO toolbar is the Indexability tab. In this section, you can see whether the page can be crawled and indexed by Google.

indexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbarindexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Although you can do this by inspecting the code manually, using the toolbar is much faster.

Price: Free

Like GSC, Google Analytics is another tool you can use to track the performance of your website, tracking sessions and conversions and much more on your website.

google-analytics-screenshotgoogle-analytics-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

GA gives you a total view of website traffic from several different sources, such as direct, social, organic, paid traffic, and more.

Favorite feature

You can create and track up to 300 events and 30 conversions with GA4. Previously, with universal analytics, you could only track 20 conversions. This makes conversion and event tracking easier within GA4.

Price: Free

Google Slides is Google’s version of Microsoft PowerPoint. If you don’t have a dashboard set up to report on your SEO performance, the next best thing is to assemble a slide deck.

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Many SEO agencies present their report through dashboard insights and PowerPoint presentations. However, if you don’t have access to PowerPoint, then Google Slides is an excellent (free) alternative.

google-slides-screenshotgoogle-slides-screenshot

Most common reporting use cases

The most common use of Google Slides is to create a monthly SEO report. If you don’t know what to include in a monthly report, use our SEO report template.

Favorite feature

One of my favorite features is the ability to share your presentation on a video chat directly from Google Slides. You can do this by clicking the camera icon in the top right.

share-video-chat-google-slidesshare-video-chat-google-slides

This is useful if you are working with remote clients and makes sharing your reports easy.

Price: Free

Google Trends allows you to view a keyword’s popularity over time in any country. The data shown is the relative popularity ratio scaled from 0-100, not the direct volume of search queries.

Most common reporting use cases

Google Trends is useful for showing how the popularity of certain searches can increase or decrease over time. If you work with a website that often has trending products, services, or news, it can be useful to illustrate this visually in your SEO report.

Google Trends makes it easy to spot seasonal trends for product categories. For example, people want to buy BBQs when the weather is sunny.

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Using Google Trends, we can see that peak demand for BBQs usually happens in June-July every year.

bbq-google-trends-graphbbq-google-trends-graph

Using this data across the last five years, we could be fairly sure when the BBQ season would start and end.

Favorite feature

Comparing two or more search terms against each other over time is one of my favorite uses of Google Trends, as it can be used to tell its own story.

google-trends-comparison-examplegoogle-trends-comparison-example

Embellishing your report with trends data allows you to gain further insights into market trends.

You can even dig into trends at a regional level if you need to.

regional-trends-via-google-trendsregional-trends-via-google-trends

Final thoughts

These free tools will help you put together the foundations for a well-rounded SEO report.

The tools you use for SEO reporting don’t always have to be expensive—even large companies use many of the free tools mentioned to create insights for their client’s SEO reports.

Got more questions? Ping me on X 🙂

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

A new study by Authoritas suggests that Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE), currently being tested with a limited group of users, could adversely impact brand visibility and organic search traffic.

These findings include:

  • When an SGE box is expanded, the top organic result drops by over 1,200 pixels on average, significantly reducing visibility.
  • 62% of SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results.
  • Ecommerce, electronics, and fashion-related searches saw the greatest disruption, though all verticals were somewhat impacted.

Adapting to generative search may require a shift in SEO strategies, focusing more on long-form content, expert insights, and multimedia formats.

As Google continues to invest in AI-powered search, the Authoritas study provides an early look at the potential challenges and opportunities ahead.

High Penetration Rate & Industry-Wide Effects

The study analyzed 2,900 brand and product-related keywords across 15 industry verticals and found that Google displays SGE results for 91.4% of all search queries.

The prevalence of SGE results indicates they impact a majority of websites across various industries.

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The research analyzed the typical composition of SGE results. On average, each SGE element contained between 10-11 links sourced from an average of four different domains.

This indicates brands may need to earn multiple links and listings within these AI-curated results to maintain visibility and traffic.

The research also suggests that larger, well-established websites like Quora and Reddit will likely perform better in SGE results than smaller websites and lesser-known brands.

Shifting Dynamics In Organic Search Results

With SGE results occupying the entire first page, websites that currently hold the top positions may experience a significant decrease in traffic and click-through rates.

When a user clicks to expand the SGE element, the study found that, on average, the #1 ranked organic result drops a sizeable 1,255 pixels down the page.

Even if a website ranks number one in organic search, it may effectively be pushed down to the second page due to the prominence of SGE results.

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New Competition From Unexpected Sources

The study revealed that SGE frequently surfaces links and content from websites that didn’t appear in the top organic rankings.

On average, only 20.1% of SGE links exactly matched a URL from the first page of Google search results.

An additional 17.9% of SGE links were from the same domains as page one results but linked to different pages. The remaining 62% of SGE links came from sources outside the top organic results.

Challenges For Brand Term Optimization & Local Search

The study reveals that SGE results for branded terms may include competitors’ websites alongside the brand’s own site, potentially leading to increased competition for brand visibility.

Laurence O’Toole, CEO and founder of Authoritas, states:

“Brands are not immune. These new types of generative results introduce more opportunities for third-party sites and even competitors to rank for your brand terms and related brand and product terms that you care about.”

Additionally, local businesses may face similar challenges, as SGE results could feature competing local brands even when users search for a specific brand in a regional context.

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Methodology & Limitations

To arrive at these insights, Authoritas analyzed a robust dataset of 2,900 search keywords across a spectrum of query types, including specific brand names, brand + generic terms, brand + product names, generic terms, and specific product names. The keywords were distributed across 15 industry verticals.

The study utilized a consistent desktop browser viewport to quantify pixel-based changes in the search results. Authoritas also developed proprietary “alignment scores” to measure the degree of overlap between traditional organic search results and the new SGE links.

While acknowledging some limitations, such as the keyword set needing to be fully representative of each vertical and the still-evolving nature of SGE, Authoritas maintains that the insights hold value in preparing brands for the new realities of an AI-powered search ecosystem.

Why We Care

The findings of the Authoritas study have implications for businesses, marketers, and SEO professionals. As Google’s SGE becomes more prevalent, it could disrupt traditional organic search rankings and traffic patterns.

Brands that have invested heavily in SEO and have achieved top rankings for key terms may find their visibility and click-through rates diminished by the prominence of SGE results.

SGE introduces new competition from unexpected sources, as most SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results. This means businesses may need to compete not only with their traditional rivals but also with a broader range of websites that gain visibility through SGE.

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As Google is a primary source of traffic and leads for many businesses, any changes to its search results can impact visibility, brand awareness, and revenue.

How This Could Help You

While the rise of SGE presents challenges, it also offers opportunities.

Taking into account what we’ve learned from the Authoritas study, here are some actionable takeaways:

  • As SGE favors in-depth, informative content, businesses may benefit from investing in comprehensive, well-researched articles and guides that provide value to users.
  • Incorporating expert quotes, interviews, and authoritative sources within your content could increase the likelihood of being featured in SGE results.
  • Enriching your content with images, videos, and other multimedia elements may help capture the attention of both users and the SGE algorithm.
  • Building a strong brand presence across multiple channels, including social media, industry forums, and relevant websites, can increase your chances of appearing in SGE.
  • Creating a trustworthy brand and managing your online reputation will be crucial, as SGE may feature competitors alongside your website.

Looking Ahead

While the long-term impact of SGE will depend on user adoption and the perceived usefulness of results, this study’s findings serve as a valuable starting point for businesses and SEO professionals.

By proactively addressing the challenges and opportunities SGE presents, you can increase your chances of success in the new search environment.


Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

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