Dive Brief:

• Google is, for the first time ever, going to begin offering ads in image searches.
• The move comes in recognition of the rise of mobile e-commerce and the need of retailers to reach that audience.
• The ads will be displayed next to related product images and will let viewers clickthrough to retailers’ websites, so when somebody searches "Fitbit" or "printer," as in the image below, pictures of those items will appear alongside store links.

Dive Insight:

Google has been hammering home the idea of marketing to people in "micro-moments," reaching them in the moments that matter so that when they do go make a purchase, even if it's not when they run their initial search, your brand is top of mind.

In a blog post Jonathan Alferness, Google Shopping's vp of product management, wrote, "Whether they're looking for a new sofa or the perfect pair of earrings, people who search and shop on their smartphones at least once a week say that product images are the shopping feature they turn to most. And it turns out, the top questions Google Images users ask us are 'What's the price of this?' and 'Where can I buy it?'"

Per Google, mobile shopping searches have gone up 30% in the last year, and as Adweek notes, one-third of all U.S. online research purchases now take place on mobile devices. This new option gives marketers a more dynamic way to reach mobile shoppers. For consumers, the move to add this new ad unit improves the user experience, which has been a point of concern and focus for the ad community. 

Right now the Google image search ads will only appear on mobile searches, but a desktop version is expected to roll out at some point.