There are emerging marketing trends to watch out for, and the largest comes from our age-old method of finding something – through search. As our way of searching evolves over time, so should our marketing strategies.
Since people rely more on images and videos nowadays, search engines and social media platforms are adapting and integrating visual search technologies into their toolkits.
But what is it, and how can it help your brand? In this article, we’ll explore the following:
• What Is Visual Search?
• How Visual Search Technology Works
• The Rise of Visual-Based eCommerce Search
• 7 Strategies To Maximize Your Visibility in Visual Search
• The Future of Digital Marketing
By the end of this blog, you’ll be better equipped to create shoppable content and conquer the eCommerce search space through visuals.
What Is Visual Search?
We’ve all been spoiled by text-based tools from search engines and social media platforms, and visual search tools aim to spoil us even further.
“Visual search is a technology that harnesses AI and image recognition to enable users to search for information based on visual content, such as images and videos,” said Nanette Taripe, Thrive’s search engine optimization (SEO) strategist.
For example, you might like the blue sweater from The Devil Wears Prada, and now you’re searching for it.
GIF from Tenor
The most common method would be to ask your friend if they know where you can find the same sweater or describe the sweater to your search engine, including its:
• Color
• Pattern
• Texture
• Movie title
Obviously, text-based searches are only helpful if you’re immensely descriptive with your query. On the other hand, personally asking your friend won’t always yield answers.
To save you the hassle, visual search tools allow you to use images to search for the item directly.
“Products would benefit more from visual search than services,” said Pritesh Waghela, Thrive’s Amazon Strategist. He further explains that all industries ”where a product gets lost due to high variety and competition,” can maximize visual search marketing, including:
• Home and Kitchen
• Clothing and Accessories
• Lawn and Garden
• Electronic Accessories
According to Taripe, this technology “complements traditional text-based searches and offers a more intuitive way to explore and discover information from the world around us,” making it especially useful for “tasks like identifying objects, places and products.”
How Visual Search Technology Works
Visual search uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), image recognition and machine learning to identify the item in an image. It then searches for similar objects across a vast repository of photos and returns matching results.
There are several visual search products out there already, including:
Like AI in digital marketing, these tools are fed with data (in this case, images) that allows them to “see” photos and identify objects.
While image recognition has been wonky in the past, they’ve already come a long way.
A 2019 update of Google Lens makes it better at understanding structure, texts and objects. On the other hand, a 2021 Snapchat Scan update added 2D bounding box detection, which basically means it’s now better at detecting cups, pets, cars, bottles and more.
These updates are timely since eCommerce trends are shifting towards more visual shopping experiences. This means better visual content strategies could leverage these recent advances in eCommerce search.
The Rise of Visual Search Tools in eCommerce
So, we know that visual content and AI in digital marketing work. But why exactly are platforms and companies flocking to this technology?
“Visual search presents a significant opportunity for companies to more effectively market their brands and connect with customers in the age of eCommerce,” said Don Gruspe, Thrive’s Demand Generation SEO Specialist.
When you look at the eCommerce search of platforms like Amazon, you’ll realize that there’s too much work to do before you find a good product:
Screenshot from Amazon
Sifting through product categories, 10 filters and endless keywords disrupts the customer experience. This is what makes a camera-powered search so appealing.
According to research firm Data Bridge, the visual search market is expected to grow to $32 billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 17.50% between 2021 and 2028. Companies already recognize the importance of visual search eCommerce strategies and are already pivoting towards it.
In another study by Intent Lab from BusinessWire, more than 85% of their respondents think visuals are more important than text, while 36% have used visual search alongside voice search.
The eCommerce trends are looking more and more visual as consumers and companies veer away from text-based search for a more streamlined shopping experience.
“Mastering visual search best practices enables brands to be top-of-mind when consumers utilize image-based search technology,” said Gruspe.
7 Ways To Elevate Your Visual Search Game
So, how can you effectively ride the wave of visual content as an eCommerce brand? These seven expert insights can help:
1. Make Your Content Shoppable
What makes people tap your product after using an eCommerce search tool?
The looks.
Your product should look professional, aesthetically pleasing and accurately represent what you’re selling. Here’s how a simple search of “Concrete Candle Gold Magnolia” pulls the best-looking products across websites and eCommerce platforms like Etsy:
Screenshot From Google
“
“Combining lifestyle images with the product being sold would add more visual appeal along with the ability to display more than one product that the company is selling.”
You’ll also benefit from a larger social media presence of your social media presence, according to Waghela:
“Ensuring those images have a larger presence online on social media, marketplaces and more will make it more search-friendly.”
And since you’re competing with a vast selection of nice-looking products, there’s absolutely no reason to slack off in that department.
2. Optimize Your Image Captions and Descriptions
Search engine optimization (SEO) will always be part of emerging marketing trends, even visual search. That’s why you must also optimize non-image-related elements of your eCommerce store.
This sneaker boutique is an excellent example of how SEO can help you reach more people over time:
This company needed help with on-page content, captions, descriptions and other text-based assets like blogs. After an effective SEO campaign, it increased its leads by 324.1% and added $137,000 in purchase value.
Achieving this level of results might require working with a search and conversion rate optimization agency, but you can always start by creating and optimizing your content.
3. Image Size (and File Type) Matters
You want your images to load fast enough for your audience to see them. This is why optimizing your image size is so important. The ideal image size is 200KB, but this can vary depending on the size and height of the image.
There are several image compression tools out there that help you with this, such as:
• TinyPNG
• Squoosh
• FileOptimizer
• ImageOptim
File types matter for websites and eCommerce platforms, too. Here are the file types that work best for the web:
• JPEG (.jpg)
• PNG (.png)
• GIF (.gif)
• SVG (.svg)
These are the most common file types used for web images, so make sure you use them when optimizing your website for SEO. This helps ensure your images load quickly and display correctly on all devices.
4. Don’t Forget the Alt Text
When you hear personalized marketing, alt texts don’t usually come to mind first. As backup plans, however, they’re essential.
Alt texts are descriptions of images that help search engine crawlers understand what your image is about and serve as a failsafe when the visuals don’t load. They also help out with accessibility since they can be read aloud by screen readers for people using assistive technology.
In search marketing, alt texts also allow you to target specific keywords for your page and help you rank higher in search engine results.
5. Use More Descriptive Image Titles and Meta-Data
Image recognition technologies and AI in digital marketing use meta-information to qualify the relevance of an image.
Adding more descriptive titles and meta descriptions to your images helps search engines index them better, making it easier for potential customers to find them.
Better meta-data also helps with personalized marketing since it provides more context to the image. For example, adding tags to your images allows AI algorithms to make better decisions about which pictures to show in various campaigns.
Here’s what a compelling meta description looks like:
Screenshot From Google Search
The meta description is infused with the company’s brand name, a keyword and a call to action (CTA). These elements create a more engaging customer experience right from the start.
This and other optimizations helped this company achieve 360% more organic traffic and 167% more leads.
You can work with a conversion rate optimization agency to spike your organic presence while enhancing your goal completion rates and purchases.
6. Partner With Influencers
Influences are part of the emerging marketing trends. In fact, over 63% of Americans follow brands that influencers feature in their content.
Your visual campaigns can use them to bolster purchases and online presence. However, you don’t need to collaborate with A-list celebrities for this, as that may be too expensive.
Instead, look for someone who matches these characteristics:
• Aligns with your brand values
• Has content related to your industry
• Is relatable and engaging with their audience
These influencers are also vital to a more personalized marketing strategy since they keep tabs on what works for your audience. You can connect with them on platforms like Shopify Collabs, LinkedIn and other platforms.
7. Use Structured Data
Here’s another technical thing that a conversion rate optimization agency can do for you: structured data.
Basically, this is the process of making it easier for search engines to read, understand or index your website’s content.
Structured data helps improve rankings and visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It also enables rich snippets so that your website shows up as a featured listing with additional information in the snippet.
To include your image in structured data, you must have a valid schema type. For example, if you are using Google’s rich snippets, you will need to include the following code on your pages:
<img itemprop=”image” src=”your-image-url” />
Your images can only be properly understood and featured via visual search if properly indexed with the correct data.
Is This the Future of Digital Marketing?
So, should you dive right into visual search? We suggest you do.
eCommerce trends have been more visual and AI-driven. We actually discussed that in multiple articles already: here, here and here.
We predict that visual search eCommerce will demand more higher-production-value digital assets from brands so AI tools can better utilize them. If you want to flourish in the future of digital marketing, then you have to seriously ramp up your visual game.
Create Shoppable Content With Thrive
The eCommerce space is becoming more competitive as consumers find more ways to find products. While adjusting to emerging marketing trends is challenging, it’s also rewarding once you get it right.
Thrive Internet Marketing Agency is a team that helps you breeze through these changes. Since 2005, the Thrive way of succeeding online has helped several eCommerce brands across industries dominate their niche.
We build web designs, optimize online stores and boost your organic traffic through bespoke digital marketing solutions.
If you need a full-service team to help you make the most of your digital presence and convert more, Thrive is here for you. Schedule a free consultation today.
