Searching With Images

How-to search the internet using images instead of keywords.

Steve Smith demonstrates how to search the internet with images, instead of keys, and answers such important questions such as who is she, and what is that?

Episode #3-43 released on July 20, 2013

Watch on Youtube

Ever wonder who was in a picture? Ever want to know what was in the photo? If you have, this episode is just for you. Today, we talk about searching by images.

Traditionally, if you were trying to find an image online, you had to describe it, a really hard thing to do when you don't know what you are looking at. Sometimes we are looking for what is in the photo, or who. Nowadays, we can enter the URL of the photo, drag and drop it, or even upload the photo to search engines that can do this kind of search.

Now, I have have found two search engines that search by image, instead of keywords. And, I shall be demonstrating how to use these search engines, so you, too, never need to ask anyone in the Reddit Community, who is that, or what is that?

The first image searching website I will be demonstrating with is Tineye. This web-site offers drag and drop searching, uploading of a photo, or pasting the web address of the photo of interest. The second is image searching website I will be demonstrating with is Google Image. This web-site, also, offers drag and drop searching, uploading of a photo, or pasting the web address of the photo of interest.

If you already have the photo on your computer, you can visit any of these two web-sites, and drag the image over the page, or in the search box in the case of google. Another option is to use the upload feature on the page. These two methods can be used to find images online that are similar to those on your computer. You can, also, drag and drop and image from another web page to these sites, and this can, also, be achieved by inserting the related URL manually of the photo online to start a search.

What will these searches turn up?

Image searches will return a varying amount of results based on how obscure the image may be, or how common. Some searches, also, tend to show similar results, people, objects, or similar photos.

How is an image search achieved?

Many people may equate search engine results from an image to being a trick caused by the inclusion of an alternate text. This may be true in some cases, however, even the program Picasa from Google, is able to search images for traits and features, and doesn't require alternative text to be embedded. Hence, even though alternative text for photos is a great photo SEO trick, it is not required. Search engines can determine the image's content by comparing it to other images it has already collected, and therefore can tell you who may be in the photo, what it may be, or what is it.

Next week, let's talk about the packet. The packet is the most important part of the internet, as far as data transmission is concerned, and I will be talking origin, contents, and much more.

Remember to like this episode if you were interested in today's topic, share if you think someone else could benefit from the topic, and subscribe if you want to learn more. For the show notes of this episode and others, for more information on other ways to subscribe to our show, to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, and how to participate by submitting your questions, comments, suggestions, and stories, head over to TQAWeekly.com.

Host : Steve Smith | Music : Jonny Lee Hart | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Productions

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