Searches with images are a Google functionality with which users can find similar images, source of photographs or until the date in which an image was uploaded to the Internet.
This functionality of Google Images is part of the advanced search options and allows users to use images to use the search engine instead of text.
It is a useful tool to identify if an original image has been shared on websites or has been modified and manipulated. It can give results on how many photos of a person are available and can also identify the original source of the images or the dates on which they were uploaded.
Google’s algorithm relies on features such as figures, metadata, and even portrayed elements to give answers to similar images.
The process is different on your desktop and mobile device. The steps for both are outlined below.
Doing a reverse image search on your desktop
1. In your Chrome browser or Google Images, click the camera-shaped icon in the search bar.
2. Select the image you want to relate to. To do this, you can choose to upload the file directly from your computer or copy and paste a link from the web.
3. Then the results related to the image will be displayed. There you will see links directed to publications and news where the image could have been used and also images similar to the initial sample.
How the process is different on your mobile device
One of the major downsides of having a mobile device is that you can’t conduct reverse image searches as easily. It didn’t used to be possible at all, but Google has recently created a workaround for mobile Chrome users.
You will need to go to your saved images on your smartphone. Hold down the image that you want to do a reverse search on. You will need to press it until a menu pops up. Then you will see a button on that menu asking if you want to conduct a search on Google. It is important to remember that this feature ONLY works for Chrome browsers on Android and iOS devices.
There is another option is this doesn’t work. You can select images that have been opened. You will need to get the URL and copy it. Then past that website address into images.google.
It shouldn’t matter which option you choose. You will see a list of images on Google search. You can also look for other sizes of the image in question if it has been resized on other websites. You can also expand your search to include various media types, including animated images, Youtube videos and .gifs.
At the moment there is still no optimized development for mobile devices, so to achieve an inverted search from your cell phone you have to have the Google Chrome application.
1. After entering, press the icon of three horizontal bars (three suspension points or the icon of adjustments according to the model of your cell phone) to display the options menu. There, I chose the option ‘open web browser’ or ‘desktop site’.
2. Next, you will see on your screen a version of the search engine page that you will be able to manage in the same way it is done through a computer. Do the same process described above. You can upload a file from the photo gallery or take a picture directly.
A very useful feature of Google is the ability to search from an image, rather than just words: it’s what’s called “reverse image searching”: instead of using text to find images, you can use images to find text… or other images.
The reverse image search has been going on for several years now in the Chrome browser, but Google did not have the option of reverse image searches from Android. So what happens when you want to do a reverse image search from a mobile device? Luckily we have several options.
Google built a reverse image search function on phones and tablets, albeit in a very limited way.
Another solution is to use the site “Search by image” in reverse.photos. It’s a very simple page with scripts to make a reverse image search work on Google, which helps to quickly discover visually similar images of the entire web.
The process is very easy. You just need to go to reverse.images. Then you will upload the image and click the icon specifying that you want to look at images that match it.