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Yes, Google Does Read Text on Images

Yes, Google Does Read Text on Images

July 11, 2019 by Aaron Weiss

On a blog post on June 20th this year, I wrote a blog post wondering, “Can Google Read Images?” Well, it turns out they can. I found similar blog posts that have reported the same, but I wanted to try for myself in a small experiment.

To complete this test, I created an image that included the text “The Worst St Pete SEO Expert.” The only place that exact phrase existed was on the rendered image. No where else. Not the filename, ALT text, etc.

Within 4 or 5 days, I found the following in an image search:

Google search result showing an image displaying with text only found in the rendered image.
Proof that Google does read text within images, but they seem to only display in Image searches.

So, there’s no doubt that Google can indeed read images. However, this didn’t show any increase any organic web rankings. Therefore, this appears to only affect image searches.

If you click the link, it goes to my homepage. That’s because the homepage is most-likely a high-priority crawl target as I developed my most recent blog posts to appear on the homepage.

I suspect if you’re a photographer or image creator looking to improve your stock photography sales, this might be an excellent option to grow your incoming traffic.

For those who are focused solely on organic web searches, this may not provide much of a rankings boost. However, it’s great information to know.

Overall, I’m impressed and tickled. Perhaps I should have provided a less self-deprecating phrase, but I wanted this to really stick out. Let’s see what trouble it brews for me later.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: google, image search

About Aaron Weiss

Aaron Weiss has been working with search engine optimization since 2008, and has been certified twice in the field. He enjoys Google Analytics, website administration and management, and looking for ways to improve his skillset. He has a Masters degree in Cinema Studies from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and learned the film criticism and website administration ropes with his movie review website, CinemaFunk. When not nerding out about websites, he's nerding out about guitar, other tech, and spending time with his girlfriend and dog.

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