July 14, 2026
Brad Kellett
Senior Director of Engineering, Search
This week marks the 25th anniversary of Google Images, representing the evolution of Search from a text-based experience into a product that lets you explore the world visually. To celebrate this milestone, we are introducing two new ways to help you explore and create visual content, while looking back at our major innovations in visual search.
Explore images in entirely new ways
Today, we are launching a brand-new, browsable Google Images homepage featuring a dynamic, immersive gallery of images from across the web—updated in real time and intelligently tailored to your unique interests. As you browse and save inspiration to your Collections, they will appear as tabs above the main gallery, making it easy to return and continue exploring the ideas that inspired you. This feature will roll out over the coming weeks, starting with English desktop users in the U.S. Sign in to your Google Account to try it out.
Create new images directly in Search
Sometimes, the perfect image is already on the web, just waiting to be discovered. But other times, you might have a very specific vision in mind, and the corresponding image doesn’t exist yet. To help bring these unique ideas to life, we are bringing image generation capabilities directly into AI Overviews in Search. Powered by our latest Nano Banana model, this update transforms simple text prompts into high-quality, custom visual content generated entirely from scratch, seamlessly bridging the gap between imagination and reality. Image generation in AI Overviews will roll out gradually in English over the coming weeks, available in all regions that currently support image creation in AI Mode.
Both of these updates build on 25 years of innovation aimed at making 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 key milestones that transformed how we use and search 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—was no longer enough. People didn’t just want to read about the dress; they wanted to see it. So, in July 2001, we launched Google Images, giving people the ability to search and instantly browse visual content from across the web for the first time.
2009: Similar Images
The Similar Images feature allowed you to find images without relying solely on text. For example, if you searched for “bow,” you might see hair bows or archery bows. By clicking on the result you wanted and tapping “Similar Images,” you could see more of what you were looking for without having to type a brand-new query.
2011: Search by Image
We introduced Search by Image, changing the way you browse the web—moving beyond text to let images do the searching for you. By simply uploading an image or pasting its URL directly into the search box, visual content became the search query. This allowed you to quickly identify the original source, track where a photo appeared across the web, or discover visually similar content.
2018: Google Lens in Search
Google Lens made your everyday life searchable—allowing you to ask questions about the world around you using your smartphone camera. With Lens, you could identify objects, translate text, and pull up product links in real time, without ever typing a query into a search box.
2022: Multisearch in Lens
Multisearch marked a major step forward into the era of multimodal search. Now, you could search using both text and images simultaneously—for example, taking a photo of a unique landmark and adding “what is the inspiration for this design,” or snapping a picture of a minimalist dining table you saw on social media and typing “coffee table” to find similar styles for your own home.
2024: Circle to Search
To help you search for anything on your Android phone screen, we introduced Circle to Search. With a simple gesture—like circling, highlighting, scribbling, or tapping—you can select whatever interests you on your screen and get more information instantly, without switching apps. Circle to Search is now available on over 580 million Android devices worldwide.
2025: Lens + AI Mode
Last year, we combined the [multimodal capabilities of Lens](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/ai-mode-multimodal