Imagine you are working on a blog post.
You’ll find a great image that adds a lot of depth to your content. The problem is, the website you found it on is not the original source and doesn’t link to the original source.
Who created the image? You need this information if you want to properly cite your resources in your blog and give the right credit where it is due.
Answer: do a reverse image search Find the original source.
This feature is simple, fast, and available on most major search engines today.
Reverse image searches are also useful if you want to find where your own images appear on the web.
Here’s your comprehensive guide to reverse image search on today’s major image search engines, both desktop and mobile:
let’s start.
What is reverse image search?
Reverse image search is not as complicated as it sounds.
it only involves using picture instead of keywords.
In most browsers, you can upload your image (or paste the URL of the image), hit “Search” and you’ll get tons of valuable information, such as:
- The size of the image as it appears on the web.
- Keywords/possible image related searches.
- A list of links to images displayed online.
- Visually similar images.
As you can see, reverse image search lets you drill down into images, which is pretty handy.
Why use reverse image search?
Reverse image search is fun when you have a few extra minutes in your day and you want to play detective.
However, it is also very useful.
You can use it to:
- Find interesting facts about your favorite images.
- Know the copyright status of an image before using it.
- Track copyright violations of images you are already using.
- Find out if other people are using your images.
- Find the original source of the image you want to add to your content.
Why does reverse image search sometimes not work?
Reverse image searches don’t always work.
Sometimes you search for images and get zero results.
When this happens, it’s most likely because of the website displaying the image Prevent images from being indexed.
Also, datacenters may be slightly out of sync.
This means that some users can find images using reverse image search, while others cannot.
How to do a reverse image search on today’s major search engines
You can use your favorite search engine (Google, Bing, Yandex) to perform a reverse image search.
Or, if you want to use a search engine created specifically for reverse image searches, eye of the sky is the tool for that exact purpose.
In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you’re using a Mac or a PC for this task. It doesn’t matter which browser you use (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, etc. all work fine).
How to Do a Reverse Image Search on Google (Desktop)
1. Open Google on a compatible browser
Reverse image search works with Safari, Firefox and Chrome.
After accessing your browser, open google images.
2. Upload your image
If you find the image you’re looking for online, one option before doing a reverse image search is to save it to your desktop.
Then, once you navigate to Google Images, go to the right side of the search bar and click the camera icon.
Screenshot from Google Images, May 2022Upload images by dragging and dropping them into the search area or by loading a file from the desktop.
notes: Only one image can be searched at a time.
3. Alternatively, paste the URL of the image
You can also click the camera icon to paste the URL of the photo if the image is not saved to the desktop.
To get the URL of a photo, right-click on the image and select “Open Image in New Tab”.
With the URL highlighted in the browser bar, hold down the “Command” key (or “CTRL” key on PC) and the “C” key at the same time to copy the text.
Then, click the “Paste Image URL” tab.
Screenshot from Google Images, May 2022Insert the copied URL into the free space.
You can do this by right-clicking the text box and selecting “Paste”, or you can select the text box with the mouse and press the keys “Command” (or “CTRL” on PC) and “V” at the same time.
4. Explore your results
After you click “Search by Image”, you’ll see the uploaded photo at the top of the page along with some suggested keywords.
Next to the image, Google will also tell you if there are other sizes of images available for you to download.
From there, you can explore similar images or check out the website that contains the image.
Screenshot from Google Images, May 2022How to Do a Reverse Image Search on Google (Chrome App on Mobile)
Need a quick reverse image search on the go?
Here’s how to do it without turning on your computer.
1. Open Google Images in your Chrome app
If you’re pulling images from the web, using the Chrome app is an easy way to use reverse image search on your phone.
Open your Chrome app and bring up Google Image Search via images.google.com.
2. Search for your image
screenshot from search [computer backgrounds]Google, May 2022Enter a keyword for the image you’re looking for in the search bar and click the magnifying glass.
A list of images will appear.
Click on the image you want.
3. Select “Search Google for this image”
Screenshot from Google, May 2022With the picture open on your phone, click and hold on the picture.
A drop-down menu will appear with several options.
Click on the label at the bottom that says “Search Google for this image”.
4. Explore your results
A new tab will open in Chrome showing you the other locations of the image and the different sizes available.
How to do a reverse image search on Google (mobile version, in A) browser)
1. Open Google Images in your web browser
The easiest way to do a reverse search on your phone is to download the aforementioned Chrome app, but It can also be done in your browser.
The natural first step is to open Google Images in your browser.
2. Switch to desktop view
Screenshot from Google, May 2022You’ll notice that once you open Google Images on your phone, there’s nowhere to search for images.
To get this functionality, change your website settings to desktop view:
- Click the double “AA” icon in the upper left corner of the search bar.
- Select the third option in the drop-down menu for “Request Desktop Site”.
This will change the screen to look like the Google Chrome you traditionally see on your computer.
3. Upload pictures
Screenshot from Google Images, May 2022Click the camera icon to the right of the Google Image search bar to browse for the image you want.
Two options will appear: “Paste Image URL” and “Upload Image”.
If the image is already uploaded to your camera roll, select “Upload Image”, click “Photo Library” and select your photo.
The browser will then upload the photo for you.
When uploading a file, you can also choose to take a photo or browse previous documents or screenshots.
4. Alternatively, paste the image URL
Screenshot from Google Images, May 2022If the image is not saved on your phone, select the “Paste Image URL” tab.
To get the URL of an image, open the image in your browser, press and hold the image, and select Copy.
After that, paste your URL into the URL upload tab. This is done on most phones by double-clicking the search box and selecting “Paste”.
5. Explore your results
After uploading an image or pasting the URL, click the search icon.
The site will show you related searches, other available image sizes, and sites that contain the same image.
How to Do a Reverse Image Search on Google (iPhone)
Open your browser and go to image.google.com.
If you’re using Safari, click the double “AA” icon to the left of your browser’s search bar.
If you’re using Chrome, look at the three dots in the bottom right corner of the screen and click on it.
Select Request Desktop Site.
Upload your image to see the result.
How to do a reverse image search on Bing
Click on “Picture“ top left options Bing Homepage.
Select “Use Image Search“ icon on the search bar.
Bing Image Screenshot, May 2022At this point, you can choose to drag the image into the search box, upload the image manually by searching for the file on your computer, or paste the image or URL.
Bing Image Screenshot, May 2022notes: Unlike Google, you can drag multiple images into the search bar!
This is the result of a photo uploaded from the desktop.
Bing Image Screenshot, May 2022You can click the tabs to view pages where the image appears, similar images, and related searches.
How to do a reverse image search on Yandex
exist Yandexclick “picture” in the upper left corner of the search bar.
Yandex screenshot, May 2022Click the camera icon.
Screenshot of Yandex Visual Search, May 2022You can choose to enter the URL of an image or upload a photo from your desktop.
Suppose you decide to save and then upload the photo from your desktop. You will get results like this.
Yandex image screenshot, May 2022If you scroll down, you will see a similar image and a list of all pages that display that image.
How to do a reverse image search on TinEye
eye of the sky is a search engine where you can do a quick, no-nonsense reverse image search.
Screenshot of TinEye, May 2022First, click the “Upload” button to the left of the search bar to browse for images saved on your desktop.
Alternatively, paste the URL of the image into the search bar.
You can also drag and drop images from open browser tabs directly into the TinEye homepage.
When you’re done, you’ll get something like this.
Screenshot of TinEye, May 2022The cool part is that you can use the filters to search by image size, newest or oldest posts, best matches, and most changed content.
You can also filter by site or collection to narrow the results.
Screenshot of TinEye, May 2022Reverse Image Search: An Easy Way to Research Images
Reverse image search is very useful, easy and fun.
There are many reasons why you might want to do a reverse image search.
- You want to know if it’s possible to post images on your website.
- You want to find the original source or creator of the image.
- You want to know who is using your images.
- You are just curious about the images you like.
And, you can do a reverse image search on your favorite browser, whatever it is.
You are also not limited by devices. It’s easy to do on Mac or PC, iPhone or Android, mobile or desktop.
Now, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t track down the source of that mysterious but stunning image that will add depth to your blog post.
So, go out and play Image Detective!
More resources:
Featured Image: About Life/Shutterstock
