Google unveils new prototype image search system “VisualRank”
Google has revealed a new page ranking system for images called VisualRank. The biggest search engine in the world today uses PageRank and this determines a websites value, based on its content and is scored from 0-10. The higher the websites PageRank, the higher the site appears on Google’s listings for the related keyword if all things where equal, title, h1 number of page etc etc…
It is different with images, as rankings largely rely on analysing the text near the image, the images file name and the ALT text associated with the image. Whilst progress has been made in the field of face detection for images, other more traditional objects like stereos and food items remain largely untouched.
VisualRank works using image recognition software, which groups images together that seem most similar to each other. It then estimates “visual hyperlinks” which in turn produces a final ranking.
Google have said that they concentrated on 2000 of the most popular search queries to make the prototype, including iPods, Xbox and Ps3. It then sorted the top 10 images from both its PageRank system and from Google Image search results, after that they created a scoring system for an images relevance. Researchers have estimated an 83% drop in irrelevant images returned by the search system.
Dudibob 1483 days ago
When’s this live? coz the results seem pretty ordinary to me, also an 83% drop is quite a bold statement at an early time isn’t it?
Ryan 1483 days ago
http://www.virtualfrazee.comDave,
I think someone is messing with you.
About a week ago, I logged on to your site and read one of your articles. About halfway through the article, Firefox encountered an error and shut down. I restarted it, and it happened again. I figured it was an issue with something on my machine and I didn’t have time to review it. I went on with my daily routine (a lot of it in Firefox) and the program did nothing.
This morning, I came to read this article above, and also your Firewall Script Affiliate article. Guess what…… It told me I had an error and had to close.
I decided to see if Safari would have a problem. So far, it hasn’t closed on me yet. That leads me to the question, is this a harmless error, or is someone messing with your site? Is it possible that one of my extensions that I have installed sees when I am reviewing your site, and creates an “Error on purpose” to cause the site to shut down and not have anyone read your blog?
Wayne Smallman 1483 days ago
http://www.blahblahtech.com/To be honest, I’m surprised Google have taken so long.
I saw this kind of stuff over 4 years ago at a seminar in Sheffield, England, being previewed by guys from the University of Sheffield.
There’s a lot to be said for good use of images and the alt attribute. Now, it could score some extra points…
ken 1481 days ago
http://tropicalillusions.net/forums/all-inclusive-resorts/Very interesting. G has has problems with images. I wonder if this will really work? I wonder how in the heck they could group pics that are “similar”? I know a lot of people game G on the images. It will be neat to see how this pans out.
:O)
Martin 1478 days ago
http://www.saulis.com/@Ryan, #2:
I have a feeling you’re using FF3 Beta. If so – it sometimes crashes on pages with some kind of specific JavaScript. so if you’re using the FF3 Beta – stop worrying, no one’s hacking no one in this particular case
» Pandia Weekend Wrap-up 1477 days ago
[...] Google unveils new prototype image search system “VisualRank” [...]
Ryan 1469 days ago
http://www.virtualfrazee.comMartin,
I wish that was the case, I am currently using Version 2.0.0.14 of Firefox.
It may be harmless, but if it is not, that is also pretty devious trick.
As an update, I am writing this comment from inside Fireworks, so the problem may be solved.