Google Images has been upgrades to include a great new set of options and filters. This great new upgrade allows image searches to be refined to much finer level, but not everyone can see it. It seems as though the update is either a new functionality test or is being rolled out slowly from data centre to data centre.

 

We tested out a search for “Eliza Dushku” using the UK version of Google Images and we are glad to say it seems to be fully working.

Images can be searched by Files size, exact size or larger than. Exact size allows you to search for an image that is a specific pixels size, allowing you to enter both the width and the height and larger than searches allows you to search for images above a pixel size allowing you to select a pixel size and ratio or a mega pixel size number.

Images can also be filtered by type including, face shots, photos, clip art and line drawing. Images can also search by colour allowing full colour, black and white or a specific colour searches. This really is an exciting update and really helps to provide great results.

Check it out for yourselves http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_en-GB&um=1&sa=1&q=eliza+dushku&aq=0&oq=eliza&aqi=g10&start=0#start=0&imgsz=2mp

Article by Creative SEO UK

Technorati Tags: Google, google image search, google images, google images upgrade, image search upgrade, images

Images offer a valuable addition to any content; they engage the reader and improve the user experience. It’s really important to use images as part of any blog or website in order to improve the sites visual experience but unfortunately its becoming harder and harder to find free to use images which are not under licence or protected by companies like Getty Images or Istock.

Google images offer a great resource for search and finding images based on keywords and search terms but in order to legally use any image it is necessary to find out is the image has a creative commons licence and is free to use. This can take a very long time and needs research. Most companies do not know about licensing or do not have the time to research and find the owner or licensing agent. There are many horror stories of companies who have innocently used an image from Google Images and unfortunately a few months later received a legal letter from the licensing agent requesting back licence fees. One of the worst cases we have heard of was of a blog that used an image of a celebrity as part of an article, after a lengthy legal battle they were forced to pay over £3000 to the licensing agent for the use of the image.

In order to help its users to identify if an image has a creative commons license and it free to use, Google have added a new filter to the advanced search facility on Google Images. Within the advanced image search section you will now be able to see a new option called “User Rights”. This new option allows you to filter the results to display images with creative common licenses for reuse, reuse with modification, commercial use and commercial use with modification.

“There’s some fine print, of course. This feature identifies images that are tagged with licenses that authorize reuse. You’ll still have to verify that the licensing information is accurate. We can help you take the first step towards finding these images, but we can’t guarantee that the content we linked to is actually in the public domain, or available under the license.” Taken from the Official Google Blog.

Google are offering there users a valuable addition which will prevent misuse of the service, but it is still important to remain vigilant and to verify the use of any image before publishing on your website.

Author: Creative SEO UK

Technorati Tags: creative commons, creative commons license, free images, free to use images, getty, getty images, Google, google image search, google images, image search, images, istock, istock images.

Google Image search has long come under controversy for the amount of pornography that is available to find within its database. In order to help protect users Google introduced the “safe search” filter system which allows users to filter the results according to adult content. The filter has three settings, off, moderate and strict. The filter used to be accessed via a second page and an approval and confirmation window but now Google have simplified this process and have included a quick access safe search drop down option box which appears directly below the Image search box at the top of the page.

You might also want to check out the legendary Barry Schwartz at SEO Roundtable.

Article by Creative SEO UK

Technorati Tags: Google, google filter, google image search, google safe search

Google has launched two new products, as part of the Google Labs concept, both still experimental and in testing. The first feature is known as “Similar Image” and the Second is a new Timeline to the current Google News Database.

Similar image is a unique system which allows the user to search for images which are similar in photographic composition based on the image itself and not the title or text of the image. It allows the user to sort through image results more efficiently by simply clicking on the “Similar Image” link. This allows the user to be displayed more contextually relevant images which are based on the picture composition itself and not on the title and description. Effectively the technology is able to visualise the image subject, understanding  the context and composition.

“Image search is an inherently hard problem to solve because it is a visual problem and explains why people say an image is worth a thousand words because it is so difficult to describe,” said Ms Malpani.


This new technology could potentially have a wide implication within the SEO community if successfully tested. Imagine if Google was able to spider a website and use this technology to read images and understand the exact context of a web site, this potentially would be the one step closer to Google being able to understand how to index a website based on a “human” interpretation of the site and its content. Although this will be a long time in the future the possibilities are extremely exciting.


Google News Timeline is another tool which has been designed to provide Google users with more relevant results. It’s the brainchild of the original Apple Macintosh development team. Timeline will display a historical timeline of news articles by date, week, month and year and will include Videos, Images and articles. The search can also be refined by publication type, including magazine, newspaper, blog, movies and music. The new features potentially provide a very valuable wealth of information which will be free to access.


Article Writen by Creative SEO, Search Engine Marketing Agency.

Technorati Tags: Google, google human, google image search, google labs, google news, google news timeline, Google similar Image, similar image