Google to enhance image thumbnail information

Posted by Edith MacLeod on 26 Feb, 2020
View comments Search News
Image dimensions to be replaced with product, recipe and video icons, with licensable badges to follow.

Google has announced changes to the information shown on image thumbnails, displayed when you hover over an image. 

Currently when you place your mouse over an image you’ll see the dimensions:

Image dimensions.

Google SearchLiaison tweeted yesterday that later this week, Google images would start showing new icons on desktop indicating if images lead to pages with products for sale, recipes or video content. Hovering over with the mouse will show further information with text or video length.

Google gave a screenshot of what it will look like.

New image icons.

Image dimensions can still be accessed by hovering over the image in the information display that appears when a thumbnail is selected.

Image dimensions.

Licensable images

Google added that “Licensable" icons, announced last week, remain in beta testing.  This is a new way to display licensing information through a badge on image thumbnails in Google Images. It indicates that license information is available for the image, with a link to the license in the Image Viewer, providing detail on how someone can use the image.

Licensable icons.

Google says you can provide metadata in advance, to ensure your images are eligible when the feature becomes available.

There's detailed help on how to do this here: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/image-license-metadata

Recent articles

Google unveils new ways to search with video and audio
Posted by Edith MacLeod on 8 October 2024
Google launches Ads in AI Overviews
Posted by Edith MacLeod on 7 October 2024
Google rolls out AI-organized search results
Posted by Edith MacLeod on 7 October 2024
New AI video capabilities for Ads and YouTube
Posted by Edith MacLeod on 24 September 2024
Why web hosting matters - optimising UX and Core Web Vitals
Posted by Daniel Watkinson on 18 September 2024