A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words and A New Google Image Badge!

Could your site’s images be doing more? This new feature in Google Image Search on mobile makes it easier to identify videos, recipes, products, and GIFs.

Google Image Search just got more robust. On mobile web and in the Android Google app, Google will now show “badges” to help you choose your next step.

“These badges will help you uncover images where next steps and more in-depth information is available—everything from bags to buy, to recipes to try,” says Google.

Do an Image Search on your smartphone and you’ll see badges in the lower, left-hand corner for videos, recipes, products, and GIFs. This image shows a few of our search examples for chocolate cake, tassel banner, and lamp:

Apart from the fact that you’re now craving an ooey-gooey slice of chocolate cake, what’s the big deal about Google Image Badges? Well, users are more likely to click on the image (and badge) that points them toward what the thing they want to buy or the task they need to complete. Do they want to place a custom order for a chocolate cake or bake their own? A DIY video or a lazy party decoration they can have shipped overnight? Badges can help you send more targeted traffic to your website and minimize friction points for users.

You already have hundreds, if not thousands, of images on your site. They could be pulling double duty and help you garner increasingly qualified traffic through Google Image Search. Apply rich schema markup to your images to tell Google which badges to apply and where. Schema is currently available for recipes, products, and videos. Google will automatically apply a GIF badge, so no need for markup on GIFs. Google’s Webmaster blog can help you learn how to get badges to show up for your images. The Structured Data Testing Tool can help you verify your image markup once it’s in place, and so can GPO!