Google will roll out a redesigned image search tool that displays results in an inline panel. The update also promises faster image search and keyboard controls.
"Based on feedback from both users and webmasters, we redesigned Google Images to provide a better search experience," Hongyi Li, an associate product manager at Google, said in a blog post. The improved image search will arrive "in the next few days" for everyone, he added.
The updated Google image search will display a large image preview and metadata inline under the search results instead or redirecting you to a separate page, so there will be less going back and forth browsing through results, especially as you will also be able to scroll through the results with keyboard controls.
In the information panel, Google will show more prominently the page title where the image is hosted, the domain name and the image size. Webmasters will also be happy to hear that the domain name in the results is now clickable along with the visit page button, basically doubling the number of clickable targets on an image result to four.
Probably the biggest improvement with Google image search will come from speedier image loading, as the source page won't load in an iframe in the background of the image detail view anymore. This should speed up the experience for users, reduce the load on the source website's servers, and help with the accuracy of webmaster metrics such as page views.
In its previous image search update, Google changed the way it handles search queries so that pornographic pictures are less likely to be shown to those who aren't looking for them.
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Comments received
Trines10 said on Fri, 25 Jan 2013
But have they actually tried to use it in a real life situation? The reality now is that you have to click 2 times on each image to find out what it is actually of (when before you could just hover over).
Unnecessary and time consuming.
At least Bing show the image name and a small bit of information.
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