Google brings search engine marketing to image search

Google has introduced a new form of paid search engine marketing to its advertisers alongside a new design for Image Search.

The new advertising format, named “Image Search Ads” will only appear on Google Images SERPs and priced in on the same PPC basis as standard AdWords ads. The new format lets advertisers include a thumbnail image alongside the lines of text copy and can be created using the company’s Display Ad Builder application.

Within Display Ad Builder, advertisers can use a template to pair ad text with targeted images. To access this new feature advertisers need to go their AdWords account, select the campaign or ad group they want to create an Image Search Ad in then select the Ad Builder from the ‘new ad’ drop down menu in the Ads tab.

Google recommends that advertisers create a new ad group for their Image Search Ads so that they can review performance metrics specifically on Google Images to better target keywords and adjust bids.

The new format was introduced at the same time as a redesign of image Search which replaced the old format with a tiled layout that features instant scrolling between pages. Each scrolling page can have up to a thousand images.

It also changes how users see images in Image Search once they click on them. Instead of the old format, where the hosting website would be displayed below a thumbnail of the image, the new Image Search will feature a new landing page that displays a large image with the hosting website visible behind it. “Click anywhere outside the image and you’re right in the original page where you can learn more about the source and context,” says Nate Smith, the Google Images Product Manager.

In the announcement for the new design, Google also revealed the massive growth of its image search index. When first introduced in 2001 Google says Image Search indexed around 250 million images; this grew to over a billion by 2005 and now, five years later, this figure has reached over 10 billion images.