Celebrating 25 years of visual search innovation

Both of these updates are built on 25 years of innovation to make the world’s visual information instantly accessible and useful. To see how we got here, let’s take a look back at some of the major launches that transformed how we search with — and for — images.

2001: Google Images

When Jennifer Lopez’s iconic green Versace dress broke the internet in 2000, we realized that the standard search page at the time — a list of blue text links — simply wasn’t enough. People didn’t just want to read about the dress — they wanted to see it. So in July 2001, we launched Google Images, making it possible for the first time to search and instantly explore visual content from across the web.

2009: Similar Images

The Similar Images feature made it possible to find pictures without relying on text alone. If you searched for “bow,” you might see images of hair bows and bows and arrows. By clicking the one you had in mind and tapping “find similar images,” you could see more of what you wanted without typing a whole new query.