3 Visual Search Engines to Keep an Eye On

Is regular, Google-style text search boring - or even inefficient? Is there anything wrong with plain text search? Not really. It's point blank simple to use and it usually doesn't take long to find what you want. Lately, Google has been displaying book cover art, video screenshots or news story image thumbnails in their results page. But is more chic, graphic intensive search more appealing to those eager product-buying and information-hungry demographics that matter? And could it be even more effective at quickly narrowing down search results?

1) SearchMe

SearchMe thinks that text search is boring. They're one of a few new players who are trying to develop a more visual search experience. They have received over 43 million in funding so far, signaling that they aren't alone in believing that visual search could be great. SearchMe first tries to help you out by suggesting categories as you type. I tried the keyword "˜computer monitor', and I wasn't too impressed. I was prompted to choose between computer hardware, labor, software, business news or US government. A fairly broad term, yes, but I feel like the category choices could've been more relevant. What if a user is searching for something more specific?

ABOVE: My search for "˜computer monitor' in SearchMe.

I tried "˜fair trade coffee shop Seattle' "“ pretty specific stuff. Suggested categories were beverages, restaurants and blogs. Better, but not perfect. While this feature isn't polished enough, SearchMe has a cool "results page". A searcher can very quickly flip through screenshots of their results, much like you'd scroll through your music by album art cover in iTunes. Is this just a cute way to search or are companies like SearchMe onto something that is substantial enough to make Joe Websurfer switch from his current favorite search engine?

2) oSkope

oSkope is another pretty search engine with a different approach. It enables users to browse and organize items from Amazon, Ebay, Flickr, Fotolia, Yahoo! Image Search and YouTube in a slick way. I just love playing around with this one. It's easy to search within Amazon books and judge books by their cover en masse, maybe trying to remember which one you keep seeing in people's hands but that you haven't yet picked up.

ABOVE: Using oSkope to view eBay auctions by price (y axis) and auction end date (x axis).

Perhaps the most useful application of oSkope is its new take on eBay auction search. I was able to view eBay auctions for "˜samsung plasma' by their relative prices and auction end dates simultaneously. While I'm not completely sold on oSkope's functionality overall, this is an easy way for addicted eBayers to search the marketplace. At the very least, it's an easy way to get a broad visual sense of what auctions are important to you in seconds, before you ultimately click through to an auction of interest. Image loading times are acceptable when using the average cable modem.

3) Viewzi

Viewzi, the newbie on the scene, is another company that's on my visual search radar. It currently gives you sixteen different ways to aggregate your visual search data, from SearchMe-like page screenshot results pages to specific aggregators for categories like MP3s (which pulls playable song samples from various online music sources), recipes and the weather. My favorite view from the "˜Viewmix' is the "˜Everyday Shopping' view by Joshua Stearns. This view takes the pain out of navigating through the all too often erratically-designed major company web sites.

ABOVE: Viewzi is helpful when browsing multiple storefronts within one simple interface.

Instead of fumbling around between sites and trying to sift through copious amounts of "It rules!!" and "It sucks!!" type customer reviews, "special" offers and other suggestive selling advertisements that saturate major retail web sites. Viewzi plans to open up their project to outside developers in the future. Viewzi could be a winner if it becomes the default platform that hosts the best ways of using visual search that are being submitted by the sharpest minds out there.

Visual search is definitely still in its infancy but I think that there are some real possibilities here. Most web users don't know about Google's advanced search options "“ let alone ever use them. Visual search could be the natural way for most people to find most things with the least amount of effort. While many of these visual search engines are popping up overnight and deliver results that are about as relevant as hitting Google's "˜I'm Feeling Lucky' button every time, I think we're about to see some really cool developments in this area of search.