How to Optimize Images for Visual Search & AI Overviews

Visual search is when you search using an image instead of text. You might have seen tools like Google Lens, Pinterest Lens, or Bing Visual Search – these help you find similar images or related information using a photo.

For example, if you upload a picture of a flower, the search engine will show you web pages with similar flowers or helpful details about that flower.

You can also type a word along with the image – this is called multisearch. For instance, if you upload a photo of a dinner plate and type “cups,” Google Lens will show you matching cups that go with the plate.

Visual search is very useful when:

• You don’t know the name of an item. Just take a photo, and the search tool will try to identify it for you.
• You want to find similar items. These tools are great at showing results that look like your image.

Visual Search vs. Image Search

It’s easy to confuse visual search with image search, but they work differently.

• Visual search uses an image (and sometimes a word) to find results that match what’s in the photo.
• Image search uses only text. You type something like “round orange flower” into Google Images, and it shows pictures based on the words you used.

Use image search when:

• You don’t have a photo to use.
• You’re trying to describe what you’re looking for using words.

How Does Visual Search Work?

Tools like Google Lens and Pinterest Lens use machine learning to understand your image. The tool checks what’s in the picture and looks through its database for similar photos.

It then picks the most relevant results and shows them to you based on what matches best.

Why Visual Search Matters for SEO and Marketing

Being found through visual search can help people discover your brand. It builds trust and increases the chances that users will visit your website or buy your product.

Here’s why visual search is becoming more important:

1. More People Are Using It:

As more people use tools like Google Lens, it’s important for businesses to make sure their images are easy to find.

Marketers who improve their images for visual search can reach more people.

For example: According to Semrush, traffic to lens.google jumped to 10 million visits in May 2025. Just two years earlier, it had only 1 million.

Images Show Up in AI Overviews

When you optimize images for visual search, you also improve them for image search. And now, images are also showing up in AI Overviews on Google.

Even if users don’t click the image, showing your photo in an AI Overview helps more people notice your brand.

For example, when someone searches for “how do air purifiers work,” an image from an air purifier company appears in the AI Overview. This gives that brand valuable exposure.

How You Can Improve Your Images for Visual Search

Here are a few easy ways to help search engines understand your images better. This gives your pictures a higher chance of showing up in search results.

1. Use Clear, High-Quality Images:

Your images should be bright, clear, and focused on one main subject. This helps search engines recognize what’s in the photo.

If you’re showing a product, make sure it’s easy to see, both in small thumbnail views and in full size. That way, people can quickly understand what they’re looking at when they scroll through search results.

2. Compress Images and Use Better File Formats:

Large images can slow down your website. That’s why it’s a good idea to compress them (reduce their size) without losing quality.

Also, use newer formats like WebP or AVIF instead of older ones like JPG or PNG. These formats load faster and help your site perform better.

You can use Google’s Squoosh tool to easily compress your images and switch to next-gen formats.

3. Write Clear File Names and Alt Text

Search engines look at your image file names and alt text to understand what the image is about.

• Use simple, clear names like red-rose.webp instead of image1001.webp
• Use hyphens, not underscores or no spaces at all (e.g., red-rose.webp, not red_rose.webp or redrose.webp)

For alt text, describe the image in plain words. Example: “Red rose in full bloom on a white background.”

Alt text also helps people who use screen readers, so keep it short and meaningful. Using keywords in your file name and alt text can help your images rank better in search.

4. Add Helpful Text Around the Image:

The text near your image—like captions, product descriptions, or headlines—gives more information to search engines.

For example, if you post a picture of a hiking backpack and nearby text talks about the size, color, and features like “waterproof backpack for day hikes,” search engines are more likely to show your image for related searches.

This also helps with multisearch, where someone uses both a photo and a word to search. When your nearby text matches the search, your image is more likely to appear, even if it’s not an exact match.

For example, if someone uploads a picture of a wooden bird made by designer Kay Bojesen and types “elephant,” Google might show other wooden toys made by the same designer.

5. Use Product and Image Schema Markup:

Schema markup is a small piece of code that helps search engines understand what’s on your page. When you use product schema, you can include details like the product’s price and whether it’s in stock. These details can show up in search results and make it clear that the product is available to buy.

Adding schema to your product images can also help your content stand out in search results.

You should also include other useful schema types that match your page. This can increase how often your pages appear in different kinds of search results.

After you add schema markup to your site, don’t forget to check for errors. Here’s how:

• Open your Site Audit tool.
• Click on your project name.
• Under “Markup,” select View details.
• Scroll down and click on View all invalid items to see any problems that need fixing.

6. Create and Submit an Image Sitemap:

An image sitemap is a file that tells search engines which images are on your website and where they are located. This helps your images get found and shown in search results.

In many cases, search engines can find your images just by crawling your site. But if you rely heavily on images—like product pages, photo galleries, or large image collections—it’s best to submit a sitemap. This gives search engines a clearer picture of what you want them to index.

You can either:

• Add image details to your main sitemap or
• Create a separate image sitemap, which Google also supports.

A sitemap generator tool like DYNO Mapper can help you make one quickly and easily.

7. Test How Google Sees Your Images:

If you want to know how Google views your images, try using Google’s Cloud Vision API. This tool shows what Google sees in your image—like products, colors, objects, text, and logos.

You simply upload a photo, and the tool tells you what it detects.

If Google can’t clearly identify the main subject of the image, your photo might not rank well in visual search. In that case, you may want to take a new photo or make some changes to improve clarity.

Here’s a quick example:

Two photos of sneakers are uploaded—both on plain backgrounds.

• In the first image, Google mostly sees colors like “Red” (98%) and “Orange” (95%).
• In the second image, it sees more helpful labels like “Footwear” (97%), “Fashion” (95%), and “Walking Shoe” (84%).

This shows that small things—like lighting, angles, and background—can change how search engines read your image.

Also, using clear on-page text and alt text gives Google more clues to understand the image better and show it in the right search results.

8. Show Products from Different Angles:

Taking photos of your product from different angles can improve your chances of showing up in visual search results.

It also helps your customers. When they see a product from all sides, it’s easier for them to decide whether to buy it or not.

For example, when we uploaded four photos of a wooden figure (each from a different angle) into Google’s visual search, the results changed with each image. Different angles showed different websites, products, and search suggestions. No single page appeared for all four images.

This shows how useful it can be to upload more than one photo of the same product.

How to Fix Common Image Issues

If your images aren’t showing up well in search results, there could be a few things to check. You might need to update your alt text, improve file names, or change the text around the image.

You can use the Site Audit tool to help spot and fix problems. Here’s how:

• Open your project in Site Audit
• Click on “Issues”
• Type “image” in the search bar
• You’ll see all image-related issues
• Click any issue to view affected pages
• Click “Why and how to fix it” for easy steps to solve the problem

Fixing these small issues can boost how well your images show up in visual search and image search.

We looked at two furniture brands—TOV Furniture and Rove Concepts—to see the difference. Even though TOV ranks for fewer keywords (about 17.5K vs. 33.8K for Rove), it shows up in almost twice as many Google image packs. This shows that better image SEO can still bring great results, even if your site ranks for fewer terms.

How to Improve Images for AI and Visual Search

Today, images are not just showing in regular search results—they also appear in AI-generated answers.

Here’s how you can check how your images are doing:

• Use Keyword Overview to find out if your keywords show images in search results
• Try doing visual searches and multisearches (adding text to an image search) to see if your images appear
• Use Position Tracking tool to see how often your images and pages appear in AI Overviews and other visual features

Start Optimizing Your Images Today

If you want your website to stand out in Google and other AI-powered search tools, start by improving your images.

With tools like Site Audit, you can quickly find out which images need work. Then, make small updates that could lead to big improvements in your search visibility.

Give it a try—and see how far your images can go!