A reverse image search is a retrieval and consult technique that usually implies providing a sample image to base your image search on. In order to retrieve this information, the sample image is the data needed to look for the search terms. Any reverse image search is usually characterized for lacking the basic search terms, this makes up for the fact that the user needs to guess certain keywords or terms.
A precise and concrete reverse image search could allow a user to discover related images, or even find the main source of an image. The algorithms of a reverse image search usually include a transformation of data and terms in order to reach the original image. There are many ways in which you can benefit from a reverse image search as well as various ways of doing it, let’s explore it all here.
How to Use Reverse Image Search
Reverse image search is a technique that sounds and looks more complicated than it really is. In fact, doing a reverse image search can be as easy as clicking a few times on your computer or your phone. There are three main and easy ways to do a reverse image search; one of them is using free online tools, another one is by using your phone and the third one and most recommended is by using Google.
1. Use Free Reverse Search Tools
If you look for this service online, you’ll find several free reverse search tools that can be used without needing to download any software or even have a handy Chrome Extension to use at any time. These reverse search tools are very helpful because you can input either the URL or upload the image you want to search for and, with a simple click, you’ll get the source you’re looking for. You can use tools such as TinEye to perform this task.
2. Reverse Search Images From Your Phone
Although it is still a slightly limited tool, now it is possible to do a reverse image search directly from your phone’s browser. All you have to do is download the Chrome browser app for either iOS or Android and from there go directly to the link of the search bar. Tap on the bottom menu of your browser and you’ll find an option that says “Request desktop site”.
3. Reverse Search Image From Google
If you want to do a reverse search image but you don’t feel like downloading a tool or using an external website, you can take the easy road and do it directly from Google. This powerful search platform lets you fulfill a reverse search image by just going directly to “images.google.com”, clicking on the camera icon and then you can either paste the URL for the image you saw online or you can upload it directly from your hard drive, or even drag an image from a different window and you’ll get the source or similar images.
Related: 9 Symbols and Phrases to Make Your Google Search More Precise
How a Reverse Image Search Will Benefit Your Business
So, doing a reverse image search is not hard at all, as you can see, but what about the benefits? You might want to do a reverse image search for personal reasons and use like you want to include it in a presentation or paper, or it might even be as important as needing to find the source of the image because it actually belongs to you and it’s being wrongfully used. Either way, let’s explore the many benefits of doing a reverse image search.
1. Find Your Competitors
When you post images that are not directly taken by you, you can’t really avoid them being used by pages similar to your niche. A great way to take advantage of a reverse image search is to find websites or e-commerce sites that share your industry and might even be your direct competition. Not only will you discover competitors, you’ll know how they’re using the photographic content and give you new ideas to improve your own images and the way you present them.
2. Find a Similar Campaign and Improve Your Work Accordingly
One of the main reasons why images are uploaded to the internet by websites is in order to create marketing campaigns. If you want to use a reverse image search, you might find that this method is great to help you find similar campaigns to yours and either find their weaknesses or identify what you’re doing wrong and improve your campaigns accordingly in terms of design, copy or objectives.
3. Protect Your Work
If, instead of using existing images, you create your own photographic content, then it’s very important that you use a reverse image search in order to protect your work. This way, you’ll learn who’s using your images without permission. After locating those websites that are using your images you have two choices: you can either ask them to pay you for image royalties or you can have them link the image back to your site in order to gain more traffic. If the person or website that’s using your images doesn’t do either of these actions, you’ll be eligible to issue a lawsuit for infringing intellectual property rights.
Related: 15 Handy Tricks to Master Google Photos
4. Spot Fake Stories to Avoid Sharing Them
If you’re a content creator and you’re in charge of writing articles and sharing stories, it’s very important that you build yourself a good reputation by sharing only truthful and reliable stories. In order to do so, you can use a reverse image search in order to get to the main source of information and confirm if the news you’re about to write is in fact true or it’s wrong.
5. Create Natural Backlinks
If you want to write interesting content for your blog or website you know that one of the most important things when creating digital content is including engaging and relevant images that go well with the topic. In your search for the best images, you can do a reverse image search in order to reach the main source of an image and create a natural backlink that has higher quality and will help your website’s rank.
6. Find the Real Source of the Images You’ll Use
In order to avoid infringing on any copyrights and avoid being penalized by Google, it’s important to always use a reverse image search to find out the first and main source of an image. This way you can safely place the source and link for an image and avoid yourself having any further trouble.
Now that you know some of the main benefits of doing a reverse image search and the different methods available, it’ll only take you a few minutes to get to the main source of all the images you’re trying to use or you’ve personally uploaded.
