What Is Google Lens and How Do You Use It?

Google has so many different tools and features that you could probably fill a whole ocean with them. But one of the most interesting tools they offer is Google Lens, a tool you might have spotted on your phone if you’re an Android user. But while you might have seen it, you might not have been sure what it is.

If you’re wondering about Google Lens, you’re in the right place. We’ll give some basic information about the tool below, including:

• What is Google Lens?
• How to use Google Lens
• A look at past Google Lens updates
• How to appear in Google Lens results

Keep reading to find out more, and then subscribe to Revenue Weekly — our email newsletter — to get even more Google info sent straight to your inbox!

What is Google Lens?

Google Lens is a smartphone feature that allows you to search for things by scanning images of them. You can do this with images you find online, or you can take photos of things in the world around you to search for them. This feature is built into Androids, but you can also access it on iPhones with the right apps.

How to use Google Lens

To access Google Lens on Android, all you have to do is pull up the regular Google app. On the right-hand end of the search bar, you should see an icon that looks like a camera. Tapping on that icon should open up Google Lens.

If this is the first time you’ve used Google Lens, you’ll see a screen that looks something like this:

You have the option of using your camera or going to the images already saved on your phone. If you choose the camera, you’ll have to grant Google permission to access it.

You can then point your camera at anything you like to search for it.

Google will highlight the object it thinks you’re trying to scan, and you can then scroll down to see search results for it.

Then let’s say you want to search for something in an image already on your phone. Again, you’ll have to grant Google permission to access your photos, but then you can select one that you want it to scan.

Google will highlight the object it thinks you want to search for, at which point you can scroll down to view search results.

Google Lens doesn’t stop at letting you conduct regular searches. It also allows you to get help with homework (as if teachers didn’t have enough AI struggles to deal with) and translate things in other languages. It all works the same way — for instance, if you want help with a math problem, you can just point your camera at it and Google will scan it.

Then you can scroll down for an explanation of how to solve the problem. (Whether that explanation is always accurate or helpful is a different matter.)

Likewise, you can scan text written in other languages to have it translated. Here, I’ve written down a sentence in Dutch and then scanned it with Google Lens.

Once Google reads and processes the text, it will display the translation on top of it.

For iPhone users, it’s a pretty similar process, but the difference is that you have to specifically download the right apps — Google, Google Chrome, and Google Photos. That last one is necessary if you want to scan photos already on your phone — the photos in question have to be in the Google Photos app for Lens to access them.

As you can see, using Google Lens isn’t too complicated, but it’s definitely a handy tool to have on hand.

A look at past Google Lens updates

As with all of Google’s products, there have been numerous Google Lens updates since it was initially launched. One such update occurred in August 2024, and it mainly affected parts of the interface (and made a lot of people very irritated).

But the biggest Google Lens update came two months later, when Google announced a series of new features that were being added to the tool. Those features include the following:

• Video searches: You can now search with videos in Lens as well as still images. To do this in camera mode, hold down the shutter button rather than just tapping it.
• Voice searches: When you scan an image or video with Lens, you can speak a question aloud about the thing you’re scanning, and Google will respond based on the combination of the two.
• Shopping results: If you scan an image or video of a product, Lens will provide more specific and relevant shopping results that enable to you to quickly find and purchase the product online.
• AI overviews: Google has been prioritizing AI overviews in general, but this update brings them to Lens search results, too. If you’re not familiar, AI overviews are AI-generated search responses that appear above the list of links in search results.

All four of these features represent one mega-update, which leans heavily on AI and machine learning to expand what you can do with Lens. How useful or effective these features will prove to be in the long term remains to be seen.

How to appear in Google Lens results

If you run a business, and you’re interested in optimizing your website for Google Lens, you might be wondering how you can do that. Unlike with traditional search engine optimization (SEO), your options are pretty limited in Google Lens, since users are searching with images and videos rather than keywords. If your business offers services, Google Lens probably isn’t much benefit to you.

However, if you sell physical products, there’s always the chance that someone will scan one of your products with Lens. If that happens, you want to do everything you can to ensure that they get directed to your website in the search results. To do that, you can take the following steps:

• Feature plenty of product images on your website. The more photos of your products exist on your site, the more likely it is that Google will direct users there when they scan an image of one of those products.
• Show your products from different angles. Bear in mind that when people scan your products, it might not be from the exact angle that a given photo on your website uses. To help Google recognize your products, be sure to provide photos from multiple directions.
• Add context to your images. When you feature images on your site, don’t do so in a void — add some text around them to help Google understand what they are. You can do that with alt text attached to the images themselves, as well as with surrounding text on the page.

Get more Google search traffic with WebFX

Google Lens is only one outlet for appearing in search results, and it’s certainly not the most effective one. If SEO is your priority, there are a lot of other areas you should be focusing on, from keyword research to page speed optimization. If you want help managing any of that, WebFX has your back.

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