Google has introduced new visual search features to mark the 25th anniversary of Google Images, which launched in July 2001 following search demand for Jennifer Lopez’s green Versace dress at the 2000 Grammy Awards.
The company is launching a redesigned homepage for Google Images on desktop in the United States in English over the coming weeks. The updated interface features a real-time visual gallery tailored to personal interests, allowing signed-in Google Account users to save ideas into collections that display as tabs above the primary gallery.
Image generation is also coming directly into AI Overviews in Search. Powered by Google's Nano Banana model, the tool creates custom visuals from text prompts and will roll out in English across regions that currently support image creation in AI Mode.
Evolution of visual search
Google detailed its history of visual search developments leading up to the current updates. After introducing Google Images in 2001, the search engine added Similar Images in 2009 to help users find visuals without relying strictly on text queries. In 2011, Google released Search by Image, allowing people to upload photos or paste image URLs directly into the search bar.
Mobile visual tools expanded in 2018 with Google Lens in Search, enabling smartphone cameras to translate text, identify objects, and pull up product links in real time. Multisearch arrived in 2022 to combine simultaneous text and image queries. In 2024, Google introduced Circle to Search, which now runs on more than 580 million Android devices worldwide.
Recent AI developments
Multimodal capabilities expanded in 2025 by integrating Lens with AI Mode, using a visual image fan-out technique to split single images into dozens of sub-queries. That same year, Google launched Search Live for live camera feeds with voice conversations, alongside Visual Results in AI Mode for conversational shopping grids.
In 2026, Google added multi-object recognition to Circle to Search, allowing searchers to examine and shop for multiple items within a single image at once. The company also introduced an intelligent search box that lets users upload multiple photos at a time using a plus icon to ask detailed questions inside Search.
