Google Images Soon to Bring Instagram-Like ‘Shoppable’ Ads

• Google announced new shopping-focused features that are coming to its search platform.
• Google Search and Google Images will soon host picture-based ads that can connect users to online retailers.
• The feature is currently limited to only a few product categories and retailers but will be expanding in the coming months.

Social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest have always been used by businesses to promote their products, and these websites have evolved into mini e-commerce stores over time. Google is trying something similar with its image search feature, and users will soon start seeing product listings appear at the top of search results.

According to Google, its new shopping ads feature will let brands overlay their products along with price tags on search results. Ads in search results are not new for Google by any means with text search results being used the same way, but 'Google Images' has always been an ad-free experience. However, that's about to change soon. Users will be able to easily differentiate sponsored images from the actual search results fairly easily, and if they are interested, they can tap on a blue icon and be taken to the landing page of the product or service.

Google stated that it is testing the feature on a very small scale and it is currently limited to only a few product categories. The number of partnered retailers at the moment is also very low with more partnerships expected in the coming months. The implementation with Google Images is done quite well with products being displayed in a small carousel instead of being very intrusive. According to the search giant, the carousel can be used by advertisers to display important information like product descriptions and promotions along with the product imagery itself.

Google has been slowly shifting its focus towards visual content, but it is not alone in the ordeal. Pinterest recently started adopting 'product pins' to help users shop via the social media platform. Instagram adopted similar features for both commercial and non-profit organizations and the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app may also offer a standalone shopping app sometime soon.

What do you think about the Showcase Shopping Ads coming to Google Images? Let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to join our discussions on Facebook and Twitter.