Google turns Images into Shopping mall

Google‘s Images pages are increasingly looking like pages of the search engine’s Shopping section, now product information and prices, reviews and availability are added to Images search results.

Focus on shopping

The redesigned Images search results, which will be rolled out next month, will feature more information that is useful for shoppers. Pictures will be accompanied by product-related information and clicking on a picture of certain products will also return pricing and brand information. At a further click, reviews and availability will also be shown.

This way Google links Images with its Shopping pages, which also receive an update that allows consumers to shop on the search engine’s own pages. One of Google’s other subsidiaries, Youtube, will also be added to this ‘virtual shopping mall’ in a later stage.

Unfair competition?

With this new design that aims to please customers, Google may be creating new enemies however. Two years ago already, the European Commission has fined the search engine 2.4 billion euros because it unfairly promoted its own links in the Shopping pages, compared to competitors’ pages.

Google currently promises that the shopping-related information in the Images results would remain (for now) an organically created data set, without paid advertisements. However, Cnet concludes that the top results are the same in Images and in Shopping.