Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)
Editor: Matt Paines

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Google breakthrough in image search

Google look set to address the problem of returning relevant results for image searches with the introduction of new tool that can recognise objects within images.The search giant unveiled the new technology, which it is calling PageRank for Image Product Search, that will be able to analyse images and rank them according to relevancy.

The new algorithm could bring the most radical transformation to web searches since Sergey Brin and Larry Page first introduced Google PageRank, as a way to rank websites according to the number of inbound links.

Until now, image searches have fundamentally remained text-based, with engines attempting to order results by examining the text content, primarily captions, they identify as belonging to the image.

Google has gone a step further beyond the standard approach, where an image is recognised by comparing it against a standard outline of the object.

Instead it will attempt to recognise objects within a graphic by comparing it with a set of images or visual theme it holds for that object.

Google trialled the technology on a panel of 150 people, who were asked to compare results from the new engine with the existing engine for its 2,000 most popular image searches.

According to its findings, the new engine reduced the number of images that the panel considered irrelevant by 83%.

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