SEARCH/TECH NEWS: Google Tests Web Marketing Related to Picture-Searching App

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google Inc. is working with several companies in a web-marketing experiment related to its picture-searching app, Google Goggles.

Published on November 16, 2010

Available on both Google's own Android platform and as part of the Google Mobile app on Apple Inc.'s iPhone operating system, Google Goggles lets you use pictures taken with your mobile phone to search the web. It's ideal for things that aren't easy to describe in words. There's no need to type or speak your query - all you have to do is open the app, snap a picture, and wait for your search results.

Now they'll be able to sometimes turn up sponsored search results. Through the new partnership, General Motors Co.'s Buick, Walt Disney Co., DeutscheTelekom AG's T-Mobile, Diageo PLC and Delta Air Lines Inc. have developed print ads, posters and other media that will be recognized by the Goggles app. When a user takes a photo of a Goggles-enabled ad, their phone will take them directly to a site for the brand.

The Goggles marketing partnership is just the latest way Google has looked to boost its revenue, as the vast majority of its top line comes from search revenues. The company recently debuted a new instant-search feature that automatically starts delivering results as a user types, a move industry professionals have said could help boost revenue.