Google Allows Users Search by Combining Images and Words

Google wants to make it easier to find things that are difficult to convey in a few words or with an Images. Google (GOOG) introduced a new search option on Thursday that allows you to combine text and Images in a single query. Users might use this function to discover a blouse similar to one in a photo by typing “polka dots” in the search box, snapping a picture of your couch, and typing “chair” to find similar ones.

The tool, dubbed “multisearch” by Google and first saw in September, is now accessible for US users in the Google Lens section of the Google mobile app. According to Liz Reid, vice president of Google Search, the feature would initially be considered experimental. It’s likely to be used for shopping-related searches at first, but it’s not restricted to that.

Google’s latest initiative, Multisearch, aims to make search more flexible and less reliant on words on a screen. Google has had an Images search engine for a long time. There’s also Google Lens, a technology that debuted in 2017 that can detect things in a photo or instantly translate text when viewed via the camera lens of a phone.

In 2020, another project gave users the option to hum to find specific music. In Google’s mobile app, press the camera symbol on the right side of the search bar to bring up Google Lens and find multisearch. You can capture or upload a photo, then tap a small bar with a plus symbol and the phrase “add to your search” to add it to your search.