Google announces picture ads for image-search results pages

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Google has announced plans to add adverts with images to its image search - and could extend the development to its general search results pages.

The introduction of picture ads to image search result pages follows a series of tweaks by Google to the design of the service.

The plans were announced by the search giant yesterday. A report by the New York Times from the Google press conference says image ads are just one of a range of new advertising types being tested by Google.

"Advertisers have in the past been able to include photos, but they have been small and the process has been complicated (...) The ads will appear on the top of the results page, clearly marked as ads, the way that text ads appear on top of Google results now. Google "will explore" whether image ads eventually also appear on the main Google search results page," says the Times' report.

According to Google, the new ad format will offer customers "richer, more relevant advertising" and will be priced at the same level as standard Google AdWords. The company had previously hinted at Google Image ad tests back in 2008 for users of the US site and has previously tested ads in Google News US search results.

Google has previously faced strong criticism from content creators, in particular newspaper publishers, for its advertising model, in particular the relationship of Google Ads around third-party content.