Much space had been devoted to optimization of web search that image search is totally ignored. Image search offers immense potential in the fields of marketing and optimization.

Data on image search reveals that it constitutes 15% of all searches. It is estimated that there will be half a trillion images in circulation by the end of this year. With a whopping 800 million camera phones sold last year, this trend is definitely not going out of fashion.

The importance of images in the search results page is often not given much thought. When images appear in the combined search results, irrespective of the ranking, images are capable to catching the eye. The chances of the user clicking on the image are higher and images are found to speed up the decision process.

( Read more )

Collecta, the real-time search engine that entered the Search scene barely a month back and still in Beta version, has announced tremendous improvements to its image and video handling features.

With the new features, Collecta Search includes video feeds from 12seconds, uStream and Qik. This makes good use of the ever-increasing video clips from mobile phone, digital cameras and webcams. Other enhancements enable better handling of TwitPic and yfrog, the photo and media sharing services of Twitter.

Gerry Campbell, CEO of Collecta explains these enhancements as their constant strive for user satisfaction. After its launch, Collects has seen some amazing patterns in its use. Collecta users were keeping the site open for half an hour or more, which allows the user to experience real-time action.

( Read more )