April 25, 2017
Move Over Pinterest, Two Can Play That Game
Many of us turn to Google's image search to find pictures of items, people, places and sometimes to win that heated office meme battle. What you may not know is that 55% of social shoppers turn to Pinterest to find products over other social platforms*. Recently Google released two updates they hope will influence how in-market consumers use their image search functionality, firing a warning shot at Pinterest.
First, image search will now sometimes include similar images within the search results. So if you're looking for that perfect summer bag, Google will show you images that are similar to the one you're looking for but may not have known about otherwise. The second update is an inclusion of "style ideas". You got the bag, what about the rest of the outfit? Google, your personal fashionista, to the rescue.
The skinny on similar items and style ideas
- This update is being rolled out slowly, for now similar items will only affect apparel items
- Google is leveraging machine learning and pulling images from sites that usemarkup
- Currently this feature is only available on the Android Google app and mobile search
- Webmasters can opt out of similar image search
What's the deal, Google?
Google is usually the one leading the "me too" game. In this case Google is taking a page right out of the Pinterest playbook. No longer do consumers have to go to Pinterest to find similar items and style ideas, instead they can use Google image search. It's also clear that Google is trying to combat the growing market share that the eCommerce monster Amazon is taking from them. Did you know that 55% of consumers in 2016 started their product search on Amazon? That's up from 44% the year prior**.
Reaching more consumers
If you're a brand or retailer selling apparel items online, this update expands your ability to reach more in-market consumers. To take advantage of this opportunity make sure your website is leveraging schema.org markup and all of your product images are properly optimized for image search. It also helps to have good looking photos (no-brainer right?). Furthermore, consider running PLAs (product listing ads) so that in-market consumers can easily purchase your products. For those outside of the apparel category, get ready.
If you’d like to learn more about MCD’s ecommerce capabilities or how this update could impact your business, please contact us today.
*Source: State of Amazon, BloomReach Survey 2016
**Source: Kleiner Perkins’ 2016 Internet Trends report, % of US users on each platform using it for finding/shopping products in 2016