Google Simplifies Image Searches With Helpful Icons On Thumbnails
By Thanussha Priyah, 27 Feb 2020
![](https://editorial.designtaxi.com/editorial-images/news-Google270220/google.jpeg)
Image via Google Search Liaison
Google has revealed that it will include new icons to images on search result pages for clearer identification.
The labels, which appear through mouseovers, will indicate where the images will point to, such as if they’re part of a recipe, video, or if they’re for product photos. For videos, the labels will also include the duration of the content.
Previously, users might have faced problems trying to save images from Google’s Image Search results. For example, they could have downloaded a video thumbnail instead of an actual image, or get redirected to an e-commerce site tied to the image. Through these new icons, users will be better informed of where the images are from.
“Giving users a quick heads-up before they click through is a nice change,” Google’s public liaison of search, Danny Sullivan, shared.
The new icons, previewed in the tweet below, will replace the dimensions details previously located at the bottom-right corner of the images. However, users can still check the images’ dimensions by clicking on them.
Later this week, Google Images will show new icons on desktop that provide useful information to indicate if images lead to pages with products for sale, recipes or video content. Mousing-over icons expands them to show the icons with text or length of video…. pic.twitter.com/RrbGnk27iq
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 25, 2020
As part of this change, image dimensions that currently appear for mouse-over on Google Images thumbnails will be removed. These can still be accessed by mousing-over the image in the information display that appears when a thumbnail is selected.... pic.twitter.com/AcI8rSe49m
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 25, 2020
“Licensable” icons that we shared about last week remain in beta testing, so not everyone will see those yet. You can learn more about those here: https://t.co/g4eeuHgg7K
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 25, 2020
[via Mashable, cover image via Google Search Liaison]